Weird Headlight Behaviour

[Rob's Lexx]

Evening all,

Well, me being the numpty that i am decided to leave the map light switched on on Sunday evening and went to the car this morning to go out and it was as flat as a pancake (haven't used it since the weekend)!! The central locking wouldn't even work! lol! Anyhow, i sorted that this evening and the cars running fine, but i noticed that the dipped beam on the drivers side headlight (the one that redz helped me replace a few weeks back) was not illuminated - i have HID's by the way......

I had a nosey and it turned out that one of the connectors (the one that connects to the back of the headlight levelling motor/unit??) was unplugged so i re-attached it and switched the lights on - wicked! it was all fine and dandy..... but then after about 15 seconds the lights switched itself off!!

all the other lights were on including the sidelights on the drivers side, but the dipped beam went out. When i switched the lights off and on again, it worked again, and then switched off after 15 or so seconds.

Anyone got any ideas what could be the cause??

Any help much appreciated,

Rob

[Chris.S]

have you checked the headlamp fuse for that side, maybe a bad conection

[Rob's Lexx]

no mate i haven't.... where abouts is that mate if you pardon my ignorance. I haven't been anywhere near any fuses recently so unsure about why its all of a sudden started doing this......

my initial thought was the ballast? but its lighting up normal when u switch lights on or off then on.

there couldn't/wouldn't be anything on the replacement headlight housing/unit that could cause something like this could there?? like the connector for the leveling motor thingy??

[Chris.S]

main fuse box by the Battery

[Rob's Lexx]

fuses look ok matey.

it does this also when the engine is off and just the headlights are on.

Noticed that the bulb has a slight flicker before it goes out. so its obviously not the bulb itself as it wouldn't ignite if it was caput, and the connection must be there so i'm thinking maybe the ballast is overheating?? maybe somehow the drain on the Battery and then jump starting the car has for some reason pushed the ballast over the edge??

[redz_UK]

check all the connections mate..

im about if you need to pop up?

[Steviewevie]

I would tend to suspect the ballast too. You could always try swapping the ballasts over (if they're not stuck down too securely !) and see if the problem moves with the ballast or not.

[Rob's Lexx]

checked all the connections and they are fine - well as good as i can get them.....

and the connector that wasn't connected to the back of the levelling motor thing wouldn't make a difference as to whether the bulb illuminates or not, so that's not an issue either.

i can't easily swap the ballasts over as they are stuck down very well indeed and will be a bit of a PITA to be honest, but i'll do it if it needs to be done etc.

was thinking about connecting a standard filament bulb up to the drivers side and seeing if that stays lit alright - if so, then it must be the HID/Ballast combination.

don't really wanna buy a new set of HID's unless i know for a fact the ballast is knackered etc. just wondered if anyone else had ever experienced this as whats confusing me is that after the bulb goes out, you can get it to come straight back on again by turning the lights off and then on. so for some reason it seems like it doesn't like being on for more than 20 seconds or so.......

[Steviewevie]

ok, yes, if you don't want to unstick the ballast for now (which I can perfectly understand, I'd be reluctant to pull mine up too !), then putting a regular halogen back in sounds like the next best thing. As you say, if that works fine then you know it's to do with the HIDs, if it fails in the same way you know it's not the HIDs.

[Rob's Lexx]

well looks like it could well be the ballast.

i switched the HID bulb/ballast for a standard halogen on the drivers side and it stayed illuminated with no problem.

Put the HID back and it cut out again after 20 seconds or so - i think it must be overheating or something.

So anyone reccomend a decent cheap set of HID's as i don't see the point in paying over the odds for some when i know you can pick some good quality one's up for a reasonable price....

cheers

rob

[Steviewevie]

If it was me, I'd just pick up the cheapest set of HIDs on eBay. I don't think there's enough information to go on regarding which set might be "better" than another etc. The only reason I'd so something different is to pick up some of the Philips HIDs which I think Aztec managed to find for a pretty good price on eBay, i.e. since they're a named brand (but I don't know if they're any better than the others).