HID question

[MajorCavalry]

Hi all,

Have a 2012 Acura TL with a HID headlight issue.
The facts:
original bulbs
driver side bulb starts out normal, turns reddish, goes out. I thought the bulb was blown.
after cooling, the bulb will restart the normal color and then go through the same sequence as above.

Diagnosis?

Thanks

 

[silveravant]

Switch bulbs from side to side, see what happens.

 

[Blokey]

This was happening with my '00 Acura 3.2TL. I think my driver's side HID bulb was dying. I replaced the bulbs and they're working perfectly.

 

[901Memphis]

Could be the bulb or could be the ballast

 

[Vikas]

That is very early to die. Do you leave it on Auto and park the car in the garage? HID do NOT like to be turned ON and then OFF quickly.

 

[Nissan101]

Most likely its the ballast...once it gets hot the problem will start

 

[Kira]

Gotta disagree with you Vikas. An HID bulb (aka source) dying in a 2012 car is no where near too early.

It is true they do not like to be started and run briefly.

In fact, after firing up our systems 60 to 90 minutes before a show we were told by the lamps' engineers to leave them on all the way through to the end the night show.
That means ON at 12:30 PM and OFF at ~11:00 PM.
Outdoor concerts ALWAYS recommend leaving the lamps on between performances due to possible condensation at Sunset.

The advice of swapping bulbs first is the best. It's the easiest way to diagnose a bad ballast.

If an HID bulb went in my 2012 I would replace the pair and keep the "good one" as a spare.

 

[Wolf359]

It's considered early for HID because they're supposed to last longer than halogens. I think HID are supposed to be good for 2500 hours and halogens are about 1000 hours. I think the ones in my 2008 are still original. Just depends how much you drive at night. And yes, they should be replaced in pairs. Lots of people put in fake ones that flicker and don't last as long as original because they're trying to put in higher color temperatures when in theory 4300k is supposed to be ideal color temperature which is why the manufacturer put those in in the first place. The swap is the easiest, cheapest way to tell.

 

[MajorCavalry]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
That is very early to die. Do you leave it on Auto and park the car in the garage? HID do NOT like to be turned ON and then OFF quickly.


Thanks for all of the input. I have indeed used the auto headlight function which does seem to cycle the lights more frequently. Seemed like a great feature, now not so much. Swapping bulbs seems to make sense diagnostically but is really a pain in this car. Wheel and fender liner need to be removed for access. May leave this to the dealer.

 

[Vikas]

Will cost you HUGE amount of money if you leave it to the dealer. He WILL replace both the bulbs and igniters to prevent a come back. Expect bill in four figures. And I will NOT blame the dealer because that is the correct way to handle if it is being done for a customer.

By the way, don't beat yourself much. The newer Acura TLX has NO way to turn off the headlight. The only settings on the stalk is Auto/On. If you want to turn off the lights, that setting is spring loaded and it goes back to Auto. HOWEVER, it uses LED, so that might be OK.

 

[DoubleWasp]

This equipment is not rated in hours. It is rated in cycles. I bet if you look on your ballast, it says so.

The ones I pulled out of my Navigator? Rated for 1000 cycles.

Now think about how many times your auto lights have flicked on and off over the years.

 

[Vikas]

1000 cycles is ridiculously small number. I am not arguing with you but if you are correct, that is very unfortunate.

 

[SHOZ]

It's the bulb. I use cheap HIDs and the bulbs last about 15 months before I change them out. They start at 4300k white but then start to yellow and finally turn pink. Mine only cost about $10 a pair so I just change them both as soon as one starts to get the pinkeye.

But when first switched on they are the original 4300k color for a few minutes to seconds. After a while they fail to light.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
This equipment is not rated in hours. It is rated in cycles. I bet if you look on your ballast, it says so.

The ones I pulled out of my Navigator? Rated for 1000 cycles.

Now think about how many times your auto lights have flicked on and off over the years.


I can imagine if the startup cap is driven really hard and to really high voltage, it could eat up the film in there in that many cycles. Otherwise, Im having a hard time seeing what in the system would fail that fast.

Slamming the bulbs with a kick of 75kV or whatever the startup is could do it to them I guess.

That's why there's smarts to prevent hot restart on good systems...

 

[PeterPolyol]

Originally Posted By: MajorCavalry
bulb starts out normal, turns reddish, goes out.


That is classic bulb behavior at end of life.

 

[MCompact]

The igniters on the 2004 X3 are still working fine at nearly 190k miles. I did replace both bulbs about five years ago; so that would be my guess.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted By: MCompact
The igniters on the 2004 X3 are still working fine at nearly 190k miles. I did replace both bulbs about five years ago; so that would be my guess.
But did *you* replace them or did *dealer* replace them?

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Originally Posted By: MCompact
The igniters on the 2004 X3 are still working fine at nearly 190k miles. I did replace both bulbs about five years ago; so that would be my guess.
But did *you* replace them or did *dealer* replace them?


I replaced them.

 

[UG_Passat]

not all D2S setups uses a separate ignitor. Some of them have the ignitor built into the ballast.

 

[Vikas]

Dealer would have replaced bulb, igniter/ballast to prevent a comeback. Especially if it involves lot of work to get to the components. That is why I am strongly suggesting Major NOT to ask dealer to fix his light.