troubleshooting xenons, is it def either bulb or ballast?

blacksail337 · 03-03-2011, 08:05 AM

my drivers side headlight kept going out intermittently awhile back and then finally went out for good, both high and low beams, still have parking light and angel eyes.

so i assume this means the bulbs are fine and the ballast failed but have never repaired or modified HID's before, are there any other components, control modules, or anything it could be?

tried scanning with my BT tool but it's not detecting the headlight fault for some reason to give me any more info.

saw that the ballasts are universal for drivers or passenger side so i plan on swapping them to determine if thats the problem, can't wait to pull the whole front of the car apart to change the stupid things

any info/advice much appreciated

E92-Lighting · 03-03-2011, 02:36 PM

hopefully its just the bulb itself, switch the D1S bulbs from side to side to see if the issue carries over

DESI4life10 · 03-03-2011, 02:57 PM

Sounds like the ballast failed.

Did you notice any pinkish color from your xenon bulbs?

blacksail337 · 03-03-2011, 03:03 PM

yea i'm assuming ballast, never noticed any pink

i'll def try swapping the bulbs first though since i can do that without yankin the bumper, thanks for the tip e92lighting

from what i've been reading it could also be a bad footwell module, wish the damn bt tool would just tell me exactly whats failed

03-03-2011, 08:05 AM	#1
blacksail337 Private First Class 54 Rep 190 Posts Drives: 07 335xi Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: fredericksburg, va iTrader: (0)	troubleshooting xenons, is it def either bulb or ballast? my drivers side headlight kept going out intermittently awhile back and then finally went out for good, both high and low beams, still have parking light and angel eyes. so i assume this means the bulbs are fine and the ballast failed but have never repaired or modified HID's before, are there any other components, control modules, or anything it could be? tried scanning with my BT tool but it's not detecting the headlight fault for some reason to give me any more info. saw that the ballasts are universal for drivers or passenger side so i plan on swapping them to determine if thats the problem, can't wait to pull the whole front of the car apart to change the stupid things any info/advice much appreciated
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03-03-2011, 02:36 PM	#2
E92-Lighting 889 Rep 35,253 Posts Drives: Next Generation LED Lighting Join Date: May 2008 Location: Walnut iTrader: (324)	hopefully its just the bulb itself, switch the D1S bulbs from side to side to see if the issue carries over
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03-03-2011, 02:57 PM	#3
DESI4life10 Banned 205 Rep 3,328 Posts Drives: Coding: Desi4life10@gmail.com Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: West of Toronto, Canada iTrader: (18)	Sounds like the ballast failed. Did you notice any pinkish color from your xenon bulbs?
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03-03-2011, 03:03 PM	#4
blacksail337 Private First Class 54 Rep 190 Posts Drives: 07 335xi Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: fredericksburg, va iTrader: (0)	yea i'm assuming ballast, never noticed any pink i'll def try swapping the bulbs first though since i can do that without yankin the bumper, thanks for the tip e92lighting from what i've been reading it could also be a bad footwell module, wish the damn bt tool would just tell me exactly whats failed
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