when i got the car, i noticed one of the low beam HID's was a different color than the other, thought the bulb was on its way out,,,,
After a week it would start to flicker... so now sometime it comes on and stays and sometimes it comes on then goes out... so im pretty sure its the ballast going out and not the bulb....
So my question is....i read in my book the it was an H7 bulb, so is it an H7 bulb socket ? if so , ill most likely order an after market HID bulb and slim ballast set up and put that in in place of the factory.... i can get the whole thing for less than the cost of one Jag certified OEM replacement bulbs.... ive done a kit like this on my truck and its really quite simple......has anyone else switched their system over instead of replacing just a bulb or ballast.?....another benefit is future replacement bulbs are like $20

 

No No... It's a D2S.

H7 was the bulb used if it was an S-Type originally equipped with halogen bulbs.

You can order 6000k ones if you want a diff look they are a bit whiter / slightly bluish. But the stock 4300k gives you the best visibility in all types of conditions.

Take care,

George

 

thx George, but i think im losing the ballast also....are there aftermarket ballasts around?

 

ok.... there are D2S kits available as well... so i think ill go that route and circumvent the factory set up all together...

 

You are going to have to do some cutting and splicing to accomplish that... I think I have a stock ballast at my shop if you need one.

Swap the bulbs l-r and that will tell you if it's the bulb or the ballast.

Take care.

George

 

Swap bulbs from side to side before you order a kit or new ballast. I'm guessing its a bulb issue. If the other side starts flickering then it's a bulb. If the same side stays the same it's a ballast. But 9 times out if 10 it's the bulb

 

the kit i put on the truck was plug and play? the factory bulb plug plugged into ballast and provided the switch. i them powered from the battery so i had direct power to the system......would this not work on the jag as well?

 

Also try this place. Philipsxenon.com
I ordered new bulbs from them. $80 shipped. Plus they are legit bulbs made in Germany not Taiwan or China!

 

If your gonna do it do it right! Don't butcher it! This is a high end luxury car, not the neighbors honda civic!

 

butcher it?




im very comfortable customizing my rides.....

 

You don't seem to understand. Maybe you have never seen a factory HID system before. Aftermarket kits are just that. Aftermarket. Usually designed to replace a halogen bulb with an HID bulb which for the most part is illegal, yet widely tolerated.

An OEM hid system is completely different. I don't know if you have ever seen an OEM ballast so look below.



There is no "plug and play" kit designed to replace an OEM system. The ballast has one wiring harness both for the 12v input, as well as the 35kv output to the hid bulb which has a d2s connector on it.

The aftermarket kits and their ballasts all use a 9006 halogen female connector as the 12v input. And amphenol (or chinese copies of the amp connector) to connect to the bulb in separate harnesses. From there "plug and play" is accomplished via various wiring harnesses / adapters.

The aftermarket crowd does make an "adapter" to connect an aftermarket ballast to a standard D2S bulb. See below:



However there is no adapter to convert the harness coming from the car to the factory hella HID ballast to the 9006 input of the generic hid ballasts. You will have to cut the connector off, and identify the +12v and ground and solder (please don't crimp) a male 9006 connector to the wires coming from the car. There is no plug and play solution here. Now can you do it, sure. IF you get a d2s kit it will prob have a d2s bulb with the standard amp connectors designed to connect to an aftermarket ballast. BUT you will not have a plug and play solution, you will have to modify the wiring and use generic components. To some that may be considered butchering.... It's not about a fear of modifying, it's an unnecessary modification. Your car HAS hid's as Jaguar intended from the factory.

Honestly the best bet is to replace the ballast with another OEM type. IT bolts right into the bottom of the headlight housing, uses the OEM wiring. No modifications no issues.

I hope this clears things up.

Take care,

George

 

Great pics!

 

ok, so the aftermarket does not plug into the d2s bulb and the aftermarket d2s bulb does not lock into the factory projector housing? if the aftermarket bulb plugs into the factory housing and the factory plug plugs into the aftermarket balast then this would work,....so you are saying that is not the case... i was thinking bulb plugins were universal fit as to type...not so? i can buy an H11 bulb and it will plug into any H11 socket...hmmm... i have hids on the bmw but have never pulled them apart..... i think its the ballast because im assuming once the bulb goes out it does not come back on again and its a different color my bulb comes on, goes out comes on back again later....implying that there is an output power issue the ballast....yes?

 

it used to be a 60K luxury car, it's now worth less than half of that.

 

You're confusing things. Maybe I wasn't clear, or maybe I need to be more detailed.

Bulb size is bulb size. An aftermarket D2S bulb will physically lock into the headlight housing. Aftermarket D2S bulbs come in two flavors. First is designed to be an OEM replacement. Using a standard D2S male connector. (My 2nd picture above) The red round connector on the top. These are designed to be used as replacements for a factory bulb, AND powered by a factory ballast.

What a factory / OEM hid bulb looks like:



I have also seen aftermarket d2s bulbs that are designed to work with an aftermarket ballast, which have the two single amp type connectors - the other side of that adapter.

These look like this:


There is no aftermarket ballast that the factory wiring will plug into.

That's where your plan runs afoul. You will HAVE to cut the connectors off the car, sort the wires, solder etc to get an aftermarket ballast to work either with the stock bulb - using the adapter I showed you, or with an aftermarket bulb which has the amp connectors already on it. You will also probably have to drill out the headlight back for the wires to come out. The connection between the bulb and the ballast in the factory setup is INTERNAL. The harness is run into the headlight housing. This is not a plug and play deal like converting a car originally equipped with halogen bulbs to hid using one of the aftermarket kits. Period, end of story.

Now diagnosing a failing bulb v/s a failing ballast is kind of tricky. Either one can produce the results you describe. Like me and others have mentioned already, the easy way to figure it out is to swap bulbs left to right. If the problem changes sides, it's the bulb. IF it stays on the problem side, it's the ballast. Either way the solution isn't an aftermarket kit.

Take care,

George

 

thx for your responses George, ok i see now... there is no plug to plug the factory bulb into, internally wired, so you would have to start hacking into the factory wiring not interested in doing that... ill order 2 bulbs and go from there, i just wanted to make sure i had everything i needed to fix it at the time i take it apart cause im not wanting to pull the bumper cover off multiple times thx again for the posts ..

 

OK.... THX guys just ordered the 2 bulbs from Philips thx Wasuup for the link if its the ballast then ill try to beg that one off you George

 

too late to this thread....too bad. The Philips bulbs are usually from China and are more green than blue among having other imperfections. You need to buy Philips with the red filament, anything other than the red filament (salt) is Chinese knock off crap. I bought two via eBay and one is great while the other is not perfectly 90* on all side so it wont focus correctly. These are the ones you want:

Genuine Philips Ultinon D2S 85122WX 6000K Xenon HID Bulbs 200 Made in Germany | eBay

Unfortunately, $100 a piece in 2013 dollars, a bit more this year. IMO its worth paying $100 more a bulb knowing that it works perfectly.

 

well chit......you are to late......ill post up after install to report on the qualitiy of my purchase....

 

Did you swap the bulbs left to right to determine if that is the problem? Or are you just throwing bulbs at it and hoping that's the problem?

Take care,

George