Hid Headlight Is Dying?

[Spiike32]

Ok for some reason my left hid headlight has turned a dim purple. Right one is still white. Is this a sign of dying headlights? First time I've seen this or heard of this happening and google provided no results of course.

[djspawn00]

Is it an OEM HID? HID Bulbs do burn out to... not often but it happens, but a dim purple light, the only time i've seen that was with a defective ballast on some cheap made in china HID kit.

[92Lex]

I agree....check the ballast.

[Spiike32]

Thanks for the quick replies! Yes it is the OEM hid option. The lexus dealers in my area are asking for 350 PER bulb, but I didn't ask about hte ballast which I'm sure is obsurdly expensive as well. I dont know how to check the ballast or where it is to find out if that's the problem... Can anyone give me some tips? I'm thinking of just disconnecting the right one and connect it to the left bulb to see if it still gives a nasty purple light.

[djspawn00]

that was my initial though, swap the bulbs and isolate the problem, if its on your 2006 es i'm not 100% sure but shouldn't the ballast be under warranty? If not you can find good denso ballast and phillips HID bulbs on ebay but they won't be cheap.

[Spiike32]

I really wish it was a problem on the 2006, but it's on my 2000. =(. I'll try the swap tonight and report the results.

How much of a difference in quality is there in denso ballast and Phillips HID from something from like prolighting.com or

http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAc...&Category=5

[djspawn00]

I believe the OEM ballast is from denso and phillips is the manufacturer of many OEM HID bulbs, if you got 7 years of use out of the OEM parts then I'd say stick with the oem stuff. If you can get the part number then maybe you can order the part from http://www.irontoad.com/ but you'll have to ask for a quote first. The xtralights site seems to offer a variety of aftermarket kits but it looks like their main goal is to offer color options of your HID's, if you want to change both lights and ballast as well as the color this may be the way to go but I'm not familiar with their company or brand, but if you just need the bulbs you can find it elsewhere for less. Remember the brightness of the bulb and the color temperature(K) are inversly related.

[blk_on_blk]

Would either of these work for ya if it is the ballast?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...em=110078684900

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...em=270096065680

[94LexusES]

A magnetic ballast which is used to as an inductor for HID lighting is shifted out of phase with the voltage, which causes poor power factor, but a capacitor usually solves this problem. So maybe faulty capacitor? Also the circuit could just be cycling. It could be so old that the voltage has exceeded the amount provided by the ballast. I would try removing the power, and then reconnecting.

[Spiike32]

thanks for all the replies! the forum is so helpful.

I tried disconnecting and connecting the wires and it didn't do anything. So I did a lil switch-a-roo with the left bulb and right bulb. After removing both headlight assemblies and that stupid black cover that goes across the front of the engine bay. When I took the right bulb to the left headlight it worked fine. The left bulb into the right headlight still was purple. So thank God it's the bulb. I'll post up some pics shortly.

You can tell it's the bulb right away after it is removed because the left bulb has some kind of foggy residue inside the bulb. The right one is clear and looks brand new.

I was actually at the dealer in Naperville today and was quoted the following: $354 for 1 HID D2R bulb, and $960 for 1 ballast. That's CRAZY!! The manager also said he's never seen this problem before where the light turned a dim purple. So I guess I'm at a stage right before the bulb burned out but is hanging in there. Lifetime per bulb was quoted at 5 years, so since my car is 7 years old now, I guess this was expected.

Ok I have to put my car back together and order a set of bulbs.

blk blk thanks for the post on ballast link. I was actually looking at the same one during work and was going to buy that one if it was indeed the ballast problem.

Djspawn. xtralights makes it look like higher the temperature the brighter the light. So this isn't true? I'm tempted to get the 6000k blueish upgrade but I'm afraid it will look ricey.

[djspawn00]

thanks for all the replies! the forum is so helpful.

I tried disconnecting and connecting the wires and it didn't do anything. So I did a lil switch-a-roo with the left bulb and right bulb. After removing both headlight assemblies and that stupid black cover that goes across the front of the engine bay. When I took the right bulb to the left headlight it worked fine. The left bulb into the right headlight still was purple. So thank God it's the bulb. I'll post up some pics shortly.

You can tell it's the bulb right away after it is removed because the left bulb has some kind of foggy residue inside the bulb. The right one is clear and looks brand new.

I was actually at the dealer in Naperville today and was quoted the following: $354 for 1 HID D2R bulb, and $960 for 1 ballast. That's CRAZY!! The manager also said he's never seen this problem before where the light turned a dim purple. So I guess I'm at a stage right before the bulb burned out but is hanging in there. Lifetime per bulb was quoted at 5 years, so since my car is 7 years old now, I guess this was expected.

Ok I have to put my car back together and order a set of bulbs.

blk blk thanks for the post on ballast link. I was actually looking at the same one during work and was going to buy that one if it was indeed the ballast problem.

Djspawn. xtralights makes it look like higher the temperature the brighter the light. So this isn't true? I'm tempted to get the 6000k blueish upgrade but I'm afraid it will look ricey.

I believe the stock HID temp is 4300k, a 6000k bulb may have a slight blue tint to it which would definitely look aftermarket, but I wouldn't call it ricey. However some companies colors to vary more than others, also make sure that the current drawn from the new bulbs is the same that your ballast support. Goodluck, I hope to be adding some new HID's soon, but I'll have to wait til some poor soul totals their lex.

[Spiike32]

Are these genuine philips ultinon bulbs?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/85126wx-PHI...sspagenameZWD1V

or

other set of ultinons

I'm scared of the knock off that claims 6000k 2400 lumen but is more like 6000k 2000 lumen from what some people have received on ebay.

[djspawn00]

Are these genuine philips ultinon bulbs?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/85126wx-PHI...sspagenameZWD1V

or

other set of ultinons

I'm scared of the knock off that claims 6000k 2400 lumen but is more like 6000k 2000 lumen from what some people have received on ebay.

I can't say I'd be comfortable with either, but if I had to pick one the second one looks less bootleg, at least on the packaging. The first one looks like some cheap made in china counterfiet. I believe it should be made in germany so visual packaging with asian language markings seems a little suspicious.

http://www.intellexual.net/hid.html

http://www.autolamps-online.com/hidonline/...on/ultinon1.htm

Lextasy has a decent rep, they sell these... http://www.lextasy.com/lexus_hid_bulbs_1435_prd1.htm

This site seems to have real ones, i hope.. http://www.xenondepot.com/product.php?product_id=40

[Spiike32]

thanks djspawn. u're so helpful.

I was doing some research and came across post 19 in a benz forum which has side by side 6000k ultinon vs stock 4300 philips. I dont know if I want ultinon lights anymore. I was shocked. Your first two links as well as lextasy makes it sound that the higher kelvin will produce a brighter light, but the guy's actual pic is making me hesitant.

http://forum.mbworld.org/forums/showpost.p...mp;postcount=19

[djspawn00]

thanks djspawn. u're so helpful.

I was doing some research and came across post 19 in a benz forum which has side by side 6000k ultinon vs stock 4300 philips. I dont know if I want ultinon lights anymore. I was shocked. Your first two links as well as lextasy makes it sound that the higher kelvin will produce a brighter light, but the guy's actual pic is making me hesitant.

http://forum.mbworld.org/forums/showpost.p...mp;postcount=19

higher temps are not brighter, the ultinon would look nice but i kept mine stock because when it rains that temp (6000k) light makes things a lil less visable to me... but that might just be me, I'm actually looking to throw some 3000k (very yellow) hid's into my fog light housing, but I'm just gonna try a cheap($140) aftermarket set for that. The ultinon's look pretty bad in that picture from the other site, but so does the cutoff on his headlights, something just looks wrong with his whole setup. Goodluck with your replacement though, I know you can't go driving around with a pirate car for too long.

not that i'm recommending this but if you switched the bulbs out of your 2006 would the dealer know?

[justin97]

thanks djspawn. u're so helpful.

I was doing some research and came across post 19 in a benz forum which has side by side 6000k ultinon vs stock 4300 philips. I dont know if I want ultinon lights anymore. I was shocked. Your first two links as well as lextasy makes it sound that the higher kelvin will produce a brighter light, but the guy's actual pic is making me hesitant.

http://forum.mbworld.org/forums/showpost.p...mp;postcount=19

higher temps are not brighter, the ultinon would look nice but i kept mine stock because when it rains that temp (6000k) light makes things a lil less visable to me... but that might just be me, I'm actually looking to throw some 3000k (very yellow) hid's into my fog light housing, but I'm just gonna try a cheap($140) aftermarket set for that. The ultinon's look pretty bad in that picture from the other site, but so does the cutoff on his headlights, something just looks wrong with his whole setup. Goodluck with your replacement though, I know you can't go driving around with a pirate car for too long.

not that i'm recommending this but if you switched the bulbs out of your 2006 would the dealer know?

man either get a d2r (stock) or d2s(mayneed a little filing.)

ebay is prolly the cheapest get philips or orsam. if it dont look like the stock bulb dont get it. u can get a pair of philips d2s for 70-90.

[steviej]

I swapped out my stock D2R bulbs for PIAA super cobalt bulbs. The were less than $400 for the pair from www.tirerack.com.

Now, there was nothing wrong with the stock bulbs I just wanted to try the PIAA bulbs for a more BMW/Audi color. I still have the two stock D2R HID bulbs that I took out. PM me and we can work something out.

steviej

[SKperformance]

So how do you like your PIAA hid bulbs?

[steviej]

So how do you like your PIAA hid bulbs?

In general: they are very purple upon ignition, but then they immediately whiten out.

From the driver's seat: the brightness/illumination is exactly the same as the stock HID bulb.

From standing outside the car looking at the headlights: the hue given off is definately a little more blue purple. It does give my ES that individuality when compared to others side by each.

I would say it was an expensive investment for a slight change in appearence and no change in performance.

steviej