Xenon headlight bad?

[BC99]

Hi, my low beam, drivers side headlight has stopped working.

Changed the bulb, checked the fuse.

I assume this means the ballast has gone and that's inside the headlight unit? Is there anything i can check, or is it a case of replace the entire unit?

All other lights inside it work.

[Herbie]

First check that you have a 12V supply to the ballast/unit - that won't cost you any money and it could be down to a broken wire or bad connector somewhere.

If you have got voltage to the ballast then yes, it looks like that's faulty.

Make sure to turn off the lights and leave for a few minutes to drain any residual charge. It takes about 20-25,000V to strike the arc and about 80V to sustain it.

[Linas.P]

Not as well what is said above - ballast is high-voltage circuit which can kill, so only work on it if you know what you doing.

Ballast is not part of the headlight housing (so no need to replace whole unit), it is kind of a box attached to the bottom of the headlight and connects.

Have you checked the fuses? Right and Left hand lights have separate circuits. 

[BC99]

I've now removed the headlight, the ballast unit is very dodgy looking, crusty. This headlight had condensation in it so seal had failed somewhere and presumably water found it's way in to the unit, so replacing it seems like it'd fail again.

Going to check the price of a new one but probably buy a second hand one, front bumper was a pig to remove which was fun.

[Mr Vlad]

Hi James. Forget new unless you can spare about 450 quid. Look on eBay. There are a few on there. I bought one last year of eBay and it was like brand new and for just 130 quid. Yeah the bumper is a pain. I just undid the top screws and studs and sprung the top of the bumper away, there's plenty of play but don't pull the top part away too much incase you break the bottom screws.

[Linas.P]

6 hours ago, BC99 said:

I've now removed the headlight, the ballast unit is very dodgy looking, crusty. This headlight had condensation in it so seal had failed somewhere and presumably water found it's way in to the unit, so replacing it seems like it'd fail again.

Going to check the price of a new one but probably buy a second hand one, front bumper was a pig to remove which was fun.

Bumper will be even bigger pig to put back 🙂 

[BC99]

11 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Bumper will be even bigger pig to put back 🙂 

I've ordered some new screws which should make it a little easier...

I'm going to try repairing the existing one first, probably won't last but since it's removed and some guides recommend splitting it to remove the ballast, or at least i have full access to the unit i can try and find where the leak is from to seal it before replacing it.

[Linas.P]

4 hours ago, BC99 said:

I've ordered some new screws which should make it a little easier...

I'm going to try repairing the existing one first, probably won't last but since it's removed and some guides recommend splitting it to remove the ballast, or at least i have full access to the unit i can try and find where the leak is from to seal it before replacing it.

There is no way to separate front "glass" from the unit without destroying it, it is just glued in place by what seems like epoxy. So I guess you could separate it by cutting around with Dremel, but it is not coming back together.

[BC99]

3 hours ago, Linas.P said:

There is no way to separate front "glass" from the unit without destroying it, it is just glued in place by what seems like epoxy. So I guess you could separate it by cutting around with Dremel, but it is not coming back together.

the Videos show people using a heat gun on the seal, or suggestion to put it in the oven. 🤔 Might not even be neccessary and i can seal it from the outside hopefully.

[Linas.P]

Yes I think it would be better idea - identify where it leaks and just try to patch that area in particular, rather than resealing whole unit. I tried to open mine once and the sealant was more like plastic (as I said epoxy) and less like rubber, so I am not sure even oven would help. 

[JeffD]

I bought my replacemnet ballast from http://www.oemxenonshop.com/ which was $135 delivered (a coupe of years ago mind).

Dont try and split your lens.  Instead just take the plug off the end and using something stiff you can feed the lead through the unit and then put the plug back on 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BC99]

I ended up buying a second hand unit, Removing the ballast was a nightmare, and I ended up with the inside of the headlight covered in muck. Everytime i touched that headlight something went wrong. Tried splitting it, but just managed to mangle the casing, i think to do it would need placing it in oven.