Xenon headlight issues

[andrew_j]

Hi unfortunately my 2013 Acura RDX had Xenon headlights.

Since buying it the passenger light on has been intermittent. I tried bulb but it failed. Using $45 amazon parts replace ballast and igniter beyond bulb which involves removing front bumper skin. (Friend charged $100) these lasted 6 months and the flickering came back and intermittent operation.

I replaced parts again with supposedly highly rated more expensive aftermarket ones for $100 ish and it failed quicker this time in about a month.

Real Acura parts cost about $900 for ballast / igniter . Bulb is reasonable $40 ish.

I am wondering if there is something else potentially wrong?

 

[rijndael]

Flickering and dimming is a sign of the ballast failing, I don't think you've missed anything.

 

[Jetronic]

check the wiring, especially the ground used by the ballast.

 

[Cujet]

There are some D2s to LED conversions that might be worthwhile.

Some use the OEM ballast, some are direct wire.

But in the end, an OEM HID setup is generally pretty good.


EDIT to add. On my older Jaguar, I have one HID on the right side, and an LED replacement on the left. The LED is pretty good. Different color, but just as bright and comes on instantly. It is a direct wire type. No HID ballast. I too became tired of the HID expense. I did not spend a lot on the LED replacement pair. Maybe $45 or so.

 

[Escape08]

LED conversion is a game changer if available. Did it to my Escape and a whole world of difference

 

[wsar10]

Make sure you are not touching the HID bulb with your skin for one, and it sounds like a ballast issue. You cant go cheap on a ballast in an OE application as there are significant differences in OE ballasts. Most of the differences are to deal with noise common (EMI, RFI) to that vehicle and system and possibly specific CAN parameters.

Based on my findings to date I would not go from a proper HID setup to LED... Having done a ton of vehicles over 20+ years, while being agile in technology, the HID output and ability is well beyond the LED offerings currently for any reasonable cost. You just cant saturate light with LED as you can with an HID setup at the same price point, then the HID setup focuses that saturation for consistency. HIDs can be tricky to get right, but when they are you just cant beat the ability. The industry pushes us all towards LED for reasons of efficiency, which is fine in many ways, but its really a similar story to 0-20.

To be honest, I just again tried an LED conversion to see if things have changed in offerings at the consumer level. I took my ES from HID to LED in 2024, and now back to OE. I have now also taken our CX-5 from OE LED to HID. LEDs look great for a few yards, but to get the distance they are organically mounted high due to the blead off issue which is why even brand new LED setups blind people. Does a setup exist to overcome this? I'm sure. But that setup is not going to be conversion cost friendly due to the efforts of trying to get HID ability out of the LED.

 

[Skippy722]

If it’s easy, swap the bulbs side to side and see if the problem follows. If it does, you have a bad bulb, if not ballast.

I was never a fan of aftermarket HID bulbs. I always ran Philips or Osram bulbs. Too many fakes on Scamazon/fleabay.