My dip beam lights (HID) are at fault. I've read similar thread's to this but are more or less vague to what the symptoms are on my car.

On start up, (if my lights do come on) the right side will slowly get brighter and brighter. Most times it doesn't turn on at all.

I've also noticed that my right side as well as the left side beams will sometimes cancel out midway of driving. Not to sure if its a fuse or not. Bulbs are perfectly fine.

Any recommendations? Thanks a lot.

 

Fezz, when you say that the bulbs slowly get brighter and brighter, is this over a few seconds, or is this over say minutes? A few seconds is normal. If we are talking minutes, then that is something completely different.

As for the lights cancelling out, this can be caused by the voltage going to the headlights getting too low. Then what happens is the ballast can not maintain the arc inside of the HID bulb, and therefore it goes out. I would say to start with swapping the DIP beam relay with another (say R9-Dip beam and R1-windshield wipers). This will allow you to see if the relay is what is causing the problem. You can try sweeping the wipers and seeing if they seem to run slower now and your headlights work good again. If this is the case, replace the relay that is now in slot R1.

After this, you are looking at doing some voltage measurements. Are you familiar with using a multimeter and/or have one? If so, I can help you out.

 

Switched the relay's, but to no avail.

As for the multi-meter, I do have one but I am vaguely familiar with it. If you could guide me from here on this would be a lot of help. Thank you Thermo.

 

Fezz, what I want you to do is to open up the fuse box in the engine bay and locate fuses F16 and F17 (these provide power to your HIDs). Now, rotate the ignition key to the RUN position, but do not start the engine. Now, turn on your headlights (I do not care if they come on or not). Now, with your multimeter, set it to the "VDC" range, one something like "20" or the "AUTO" scale. Take the black lead of the multimeter and touch it to the negative battery terminal and hold it there. With the red lead, look at the tops of fuses F16 and F17. You should see 2 small metal tabs in the top of each fuse. I want you to touch the red lead to each of these posts (4 in total, 2 on each fuse) and note the voltage that you read on the multimeter. Did all 4 of them read 12.3 VDC or higher? If so, skip to the next paragraph. If 3 of 4 voltages were above 12.3 VDC, the one that had the lower voltage needs a new fuse installed (match the fuse rating and install a new fuse and re-perform this step). If all 4 of the voltages were below 12.3 VDC, then your problem is inside of the fuse box. Try replacing fuse F1, but if that does not fix your issue, you are looking at needing a new fuse box.

If all 4 of the voltages were 12.3 VDC or higher from the initial check, what you are going to need to do is to access the back side of a headlight assembly (might be able to access by reaching in, but I wish you luck). Turn the car back off and put the headlight switch back in OFF. Odds are, this is going to involve removing the front bumper cover. Do not get intimidated by this. It is really pretty easy. You will need a 10mm socket and a T-25/27 Torx bit. If you need help with removing the bumper cover, let me know. Now that you have access to the plug on the back of the headlight assembly, power the car back up and turn on the headlights. On the back side of the passenger headlight, find the green wire with a white stripe (if using the driver's side, find the orange wire with a yellow stripe). This will be on Terminal 5. Using a paper clip, open the paper clip up some and slide it along the wire past the insulation till you can feel it hit something solid (this will be the metal connector inside the connector). While pushing the paper clip in, touch the red lead to the paper clip (black lead will need to be still touching the negative battery post). Do you get the same voltage that you got earlier at the fuses (ie, above 12.3 VDC)? If no, you have a wiring issue between the fuse box and the headlight assembly. Seek professional assistance with this. If the voltage is essentially the same, then remove the red lead and remove the paper clip. Move the paper clip over to the black wire in Terminal 8 (you will see 2 black wires side by side, you want the black wire more towards the center of the connector). Touch the red lead to the paper clip. Does the multimeter read less than 0.5 VDC? If no, then you have a problem with the black wire (seek professional help as you will be replacing this wire). If the voltage was less than 0.5 VDC, then your problem is internal to the headlight assembly. I would say to first start off with replacing the headlight bulbs (requires a 35W D2S headlight bulb, factory temp rating was either 4300K or 5000K depending on what they had, but you can put in 6000K, if not sure, just ask and I will explain the differences between the different bulb ratings). If things still are not 100%, then your problem is most likely bad ballasts and they will need to be replaced.

Before you go replacing ballasts, with the car turned off and the headlight switch back in OFF, remove the plug off of the back of the headlight assembly and take a look at both sides. All the metal that you see should be silver in color. If it looks like rust, you will need to clean that off (use a small screw driver and scrape it off). If you do find this, plug things back together and see if things are better. May be just a high resistance connection (this will be especially true if the lights seem to turn off on you when you are driving in bad weather). At this point, if you have found nothing else, you have bad ballasts. They will need to be replaced. If you are not comfortable with this, have someone that does know replace them for you.

hope this helps you out.

 

Very helpful Thermo thanks for the indepth details. It seems to be the ballast though. Any idea's where to buy them aside from a scrap yard?

 

Fezz, looking at "Jaguar Parts" - Jaguar parts and accessories catalog, you are after a part called "ignitor back". That is the ballast for what you need. It runs $106.86 plus whatever the S&H will be. I would also check out JPLV and see what they can get it for you. But, I don't see it getting much cheaper than about $100 per ignitor.

Hopefully this gets your car back to 100%

 

Thermo I did a simple test on switching the igniters on opposite side and realized it isn't it. I have the multimeter, but you're stating "VDC".. and the only option I have on mine is "DCV".. is that what you meant? Or maybe my multimeter isn't advanced enough.

 

Yes Fezz they are different ways of stating the same thing, DC Voltage (or Voltage DC).

 

Fezz, if you are doing voltage measurements of the ballasts, just be careful. Where the bulb plugs in, you DO NOT!!!!! want to measure there. You can get upwards of 23,000 volts (yes, 23,000). Your multimeter is not rated to handle that. If you are lucky, you simply blow the fuse in the multimeter. Otherwise, damage to the multimeter can occur.

In short, if you are getting 12 VDC in but nothing out (as seen by a bulb and you know the bulb is good), then that only leaves the ignitor. HIDs are a slightly different monster than a conventional (halogen) bulb. This is why I mention it. By no means do I want you not to test this, but be aware of what some of the dangers are that you are going to be near.