off topic: projector headlight help

[AndrewHadji]

Wifes cx 5 has a peculiar issue that started last week. She was complaining about her lights being dim, sure enough driver side projector is best described as a dim amber rather than the sharp bright white of the passenger. Not too familiar with these new fangled lights. Searched a bit and sounds like most common issue is poor ground. Ballast is grounded correctly and ohm meter shows same values as the passenger, good ground. Disconnected and reconnected to ensure its good. Anyone have experience with this type of issue? Is the ballast/projector on the way out? Ill get a pic tonight if needed... but it does look like a dim halogen with an amberish hue. Any suggestions would be helpful

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Xeon headlights, LED or what?

Sounds like the bulb/ballast are going out.

 

[AndrewHadji]

The hids according to the package

 

[GLTHFJ60]

So Xenon headlights? I thought HID could mean LED or Xenon projectors.

If Xenon, for sure your bulbs/ballasts are out. Replace whichever is cheaper first, then the other if not fixed.

 

[lt1fire]

Are these factory HID bulbs and ballasts?

It could be either the bulb or the ballast. Also could be the ballast pig tail going bad.

To not spend any money and narrow it down swap the bulbs from one side to the other. If nothing changes most likely the ballast is starting to fail, if it changes side then the bulb is starting to loose it.

HID's use Xenon gas almost all the time as opposed to Halogen while a LED is a diode.

 

[AndrewHadji]

Thanks, wife worked last last night so this weekend is probably the best time to mess with it

 

[Hokie LX]

How old is the car?

I've had ballast failures on my BMWs but they were usually fairly old at that point (10+ years). The more likely root cause is a bad bulb. Easiest way to test this is to swap the bulbs from Left to Right and see if the problem follows. If so, then just order up a new bulb. It's usually recommended to replace in pairs but ultimately that's your call.