HID light intermittently won't turn on

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I'm wondering about the generalized failure mode of an HID system where the following conditions are met.
1) Of the two headlights, the right side headlight no longer comes on every time.
2) When the headlight won't come on, it stays that way. It won't turn on later with the light switch still turned ON.
3) On several occasions, I was able to get the bad light to turn on by cycling the light switch through on/off cycles several times.
4) When the faulty headlight does turn on, the light output is normal, and it stays on and works properly until it is shut down again.

The system is the headlight setup of a 2002 Acura TL-S. Factory HID lights.
I verified that the electrical connections are clean, secure, and that +12v is being supplied to the bad headlight's interface point at the electrical transformer box. (I think that's the one, the ballast.)

Long story short, I am leaning towards just ordering a replacement ballast. I don't have the means to test whether the ballast is providing +25,000V to the headlamp for obvious reasons, and I am not inclined to do any left to right switcheroo diagnosis to narrow out the bad parts.

So, anyone who has had any experience or anecdotal knowledge of the failure mode of an HID system, regarding which component is likely the culprit among the several components that are involved - what say you? Any reason for me not to just order a ballast?

In the time it took for me to type out this rambling nonsense, I could have had a ballast already ordered and on the way. But I wanted to bend some ears first.
 
This happened with my '00 Acura 3.2TL. I replaced the bulb and I never had the problem again.
 
Standard way to throw parts at a problem is to replace the bulb first and if that doesn't fix it, the ballast is next. Just don't get cheap bulbs, fake bulbs for $10 will also give you problems.
 
Originally Posted By: Blokey
This happened with my '00 Acura 3.2TL. I replaced the bulb and I never had the problem again.
Wow, so the bulb would sometimes work and sometimes wouldn't, and replacing it fixed it?? Shows what I know about HID lights. I figured once a light bulb is dead, it should really be dead and not play half dead.
 
Thanks guys, watch this space. My replacement bulbs arrive tomorrow, and I will update accordingly. Prepare to see a post where someone actually follows up on their problem's resolution, rather than leaving everyone hanging on the edge of their seat with nowhere to go!
 
Some bulbs have the ignitor circuit in the bulb base (DS1) and some have it in the ballast.
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Wow, so the bulb would sometimes work and sometimes wouldn't, and replacing it fixed it?? Shows what I know about HID lights. I figured once a light bulb is dead, it should really be dead and not play half dead.


Yup, I had a similar experience. One light wouldnt fire up, but would after cycling. Replaced the bulbs and was back to them operating as intended. Ordered a pair of them to get consistent color temps between the bulbs. I hope that fixes it for you!
 
Originally Posted By: jaj
Can you swap bulbs or ballasts from side-to-side? Try that - then you'll know if the problem is the bulb or the ballast.


+1 I would try ^^^ first.

Other thing you might try is starting the engine first and revving it a little and then turn on the headlights. If there's not enough current, the ballast sometimes may have a hard time starting the bulb.
 
HID bulbs do that. They start by a high voltage pulse ionizing the gas inside. As they get older it requires more an more voltage until it is more than the ballast / starter can always supply. So, put in a new bulb.

Swapping parts side to side runs the risk of breaking both sides. All of the parts are the ones that came with the car, right, so they're 15 years old. If it turns out the problem was the ballast you have a well-used "good" bulb to keep as a spare.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Originally Posted By: Blokey
This happened with my '00 Acura 3.2TL. I replaced the bulb and I never had the problem again.
Wow, so the bulb would sometimes work and sometimes wouldn't, and replacing it fixed it?? Shows what I know about HID lights. I figured once a light bulb is dead, it should really be dead and not play half dead.


Its a gas-discharge bulb, more similar to a fluorescent tube or metal-halide streetlight than a regular bulb. They can (and do) fail by becoming hard to "ignite," but once on they'll work fine. Its not like an incandescent where there's a filament that fails and never works again.

Be careful with the old bulb, they're under pressure and once they get hard to light they are at higher risk for bursting.
 
The fluorescent analogy is perfect 440Magnum. Gas discharge. Eureka! I am disappointed in myself for taking the blame straight to the HVDC transformer. I'm eager to put the new bulbs in. This thread is going places
cheers3.gif
 
Like bigger industrial HID lamps what goes wrong is the center bulb eventually gets coated with black something inside. This then cause too much heat retention ad the bulb and pop with melted glass. had some do this over stored cardboard at the old cheese factory once and stared a fire.

With the bulbs I have and replace about every 18 months they turn pink and if you look closely at the center bulb it is dark colored.
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
SHOZ - sodium vapor?
For the fire it was 400w MH, sodium bulbs are a bit different. When they get bad they start to cycle, but the center filament will be dark too. But until they start to cycle their light output is fairly stable. The MH and mercury bulbs will start to get dimmer almost immediately.
 
Status update: The new D2S generic HID light went in the place of the old Osram light. The bulbous center of the glass tube was caked with residue. This light was definitely done for, and exactly how you guys said. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in a genuinely helpful way, folks.
A couple of test firings later, and the new light seems to work fine. If things turn out to be otherwise, I will update again as soon as I find out, but for now, the light was the culprit, and problem solved!
Cheers
 
The ballasts in OEM HID setups are hardy devices - but they don't like to be overdriven beyond the 25-30kV it takes to strike an arc in a bulb. Hg-free bulbs are recently being used as OEM equipment - those show signs of failure differently as I saw a color shift towards purple and then it dies.

Are you using the generic D2Rs for troubleshooting before you spend the $ on genuine Osram or Philips bulbs? A lot of the stuff on eBay and Amazon are fake - you'll need to run the authentication code and take a very close look at the bulb to see if it's the real deal.
 
I've been running cheap HIDs for 7 years. The bulbs last about 18 months but they are also cheap. Whole kit is less than $30. Same with the mechanical ballast, they are a bit rusty but still running 100%.
 
Originally Posted By: nthach
The ballasts in OEM HID setups are hardy devices - but they don't like to be overdriven beyond the 25-30kV it takes to strike an arc in a bulb. Hg-free bulbs are recently being used as OEM equipment - those show signs of failure differently as I saw a color shift towards purple and then it dies.

Are you using the generic D2Rs for troubleshooting before you spend the $ on genuine Osram or Philips bulbs? A lot of the stuff on eBay and Amazon are fake - you'll need to run the authentication code and take a very close look at the bulb to see if it's the real deal.

So far the cheap D2R has been working fine. Its funny because the cheap one was part of a 2-pack. The 2-pack was $12 on Amazon. Two HID lights for $12. Incredible. Halogens cost more than that at parts stores! The genuine deal lamps cost about $100 for one, so this means that the real thing costs about 18 times as much as the 1HungLo/Shenzhen Market lamp.

To exactly answer your question, I did initially purchase the generic D2R set as cheap n' easy troubleshooting with a mind towards investment in the genuine article. But unless the generic D2R starts acting up and failing inside of a 1 year lifespan, I have decided to run them instead. It doesn't make sense for me to spend $100 on a headlight for a car that I bought for $1200 in the first place.

At that cost savings, I'm happy to keep the spare lamp in the car and have it on hand for a roadside replacement if needed.
Regarding color shift - I have heard of that failure mode too, and in fact that's what I was expecting a failing HID lamp to do. The failing lamp had perfectly matched color to the other lamp when it did work. That made me scratch my head a lot until I came here and got the excellent advice that I did.
 
Brief update, it's been something like a month, the headlight continues to work flawlessly, so the bulb was indeed the issue. Cut and dried. The new headlamp works properly, even though it was hilariously cheap to purchase.
 
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