The general consensus will likely be GROUND ISSUE but hear me out. One of the HID bulbs went out so I installed a new set. Mind you, it was a $15 set off eBay. When I crank up, lights work perfectly as long as the car remains still. Soon as I start moving and hit the slightest bump, one or both of the lights start flickering similar to when you're trying to crank on a dead battery. After about 5 minutes, the lights will decide whether they want to come on FULL or go completely out. When they go out, I turn them off at the stalk switch, turn them back on, and the process begins again. When they go FULL under 5 minutes, good chance that another bump sends them back into flicker. If I make it to FULL for 5 mins, zero problems. To me, I can't see where a ground issue would come into play because all I did was pop out the old bulbs and put in new ones. Did I just go too cheap on the bulbs or does this still sound like something electrical gone awry.

 

pull the bulbs and inspect. perhaps maybe the bulb in question wasnt seated correctly and not making contact..

perhaps it really is a cheap $15 bulb

 

It's hard to buy decent set of incandescent bulbs for $15 and you got HIDs for that amount? "We" on the forum really like Osram CBB or CBI. Expect to pay ~$100-150 for 2 bulbs and avoid eBay (even Amazon seen some counterfeit bulbs tho).

 

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/hi...bulbs-d-series


The only aftermarket bulbs I would even remotely consider would be Morimotos.. else get Osram/Sylvania/Phillips bulbs.



You get what you pay for comes to mind.

 

i have run into the same exact situation myself, pass side went out, bought hella 5000k (from rock auto), replaced them both. right side starts flickering as i drive over bumpy terrain and sometimes even turns off mid drive. toggling headlights restores the light. sometimes the drivers side turns off as well, so i dont believe this is a bulb issue. lights decide when they want to work on a day to day basis.

 

Likely the ballasts and ignitors.
I had the same symptoms several months after changing the right headlight bulb, and before both headlights just stopped working.
Everything works as new after I replaced the ballasts, ignitors and driver side bulb.

 

I had the issue 2 or 3 times so far. Each time in autumn. Each times tried moving ballasts / bilbies between sides. Each time checking voltage. Each time trying different solutions. Last time I did everything step by step. It appeared that flickering stopped after cleaning the ballast ground connection. It started to rust and when it was getting colder it simple was loosing the ability ground.
BTW. I have aftermarket ballast set on board and had to ground it on my own.