rj777

Last weekend, my wife and I drove our '98 C2 cab tip down to the Florida Keys for a week's vacation. We decided to make the trip in two days, driving from Nashville, Tn. to Lake City, Fl. on the first day. As I was pulling into the motel for our first night's stay, a man coming out of the motel lobby told me my passenger side headlight was 'out'. He also told me that Florida law enforcement rigorously enforces this. I thanked him for the FYI and made a hasty decision to restrict my driving to daylight hours for the rest of the week.

This past Tuesday, I drove from our hotel in the Keys up to Ft. Lauderdale to make an unscheduled visit to an independent Porsche mechanic (Mike Gokey at German Performance) that someone on this forum was kind enough to refer me to a couple of years ago. By coincidence, he is also the very same mechanic who installed my aftermarket litronics in Oct of 2003, which is not even 1.5 years ago.

After spending a few minutes disassembling the bulb unit from the headlight module and visually inspecting the bulbs for any damage, we reassembled the headlight module, and swapped the entire passenger headlight module to the driver's side. Voila, the seemingly bad passenger HID low beam fired up like a champ in the driver's side headlight well. We also placed the "good" driver's side headlight module in the passenger side headlight well, and it flickered twice but wouldn't remain ignited.

So, the bad passenger-side headlamp now works beautifully in the driver's side, and the previously 'working' driver's side low beam now will not ignite in the passenger's side well.

Unfortunately, we still don't know precisely what is wrong in the passenger side HID system, so we now decided to dismount the controller units and 'swap' them to the respective opposite sides. The driver's HID light (which works in its original driver's side and dosn't work in the passenger side, now successfully ignited (in the passenger's side) with the controller unit from the driver's side fitted into the passenger's side.

So, both HID lights (left and right) are working OK, but the passenger side "controller unit" is apparently 'shot' after a year and a half, and probably only 10k - 15k miles of driving, most of that in the daytime.

Is this 'consistent' or 'inconsistent" with everyone's experiences with aftermarket 'factory' Litronic upgrades?

Just for the heck of it, we called Champion Porsche in Pompano Beach, and they indicated that this part (993 631 093 02) is currently not available anywhere in the world and is on "unspecified" back order. The factory HID controller is marked as a Bosch part (1 307 329 023), so we also called the national Bosche parts rep, and he doesn't have any either.

If any of you have experienced this particular problem, and happen to have any "below the radar" sources/suppliers for the official factory Litronics 'controlller unit', could you let me know.

I also plan to contact LA Dismantlers and www.departstop.com (which was my original supplier for the litronics kit) to see if they have any lying around.

Many thanks!

Rick J.

vjd3

Rick, if I'm understanding correctly, you purchased a Porsche factory litronic kit from an aftermarket source, not one of the non-factory aftermarket kits, and the ballast has failed.

It would be worth taking the ballast apart and seeing if it is repairable. Perhaps it's a bad solder joint, loose connection, blown diode, etc. Another alternative would be to purchase one of those inexpensive $200 aftermarket xenon kits and swapping the bulb and ballast on the one side. It might work with the factory bulb as well ... if you can find out if the factory kit is actually made by Philips and rebadged by Bosch, etc. There are some people here who are very knowledgable on this issue.

Vic
95 C4 cab (sold)

solsrch

I would think LA dismantlers, dC, parts heaven, etc. would have the ballasts. I mean lots of front end crashes will destroy the lights but leave at least one ballast usable. I just got a set of Porsche Litronics headlights from LA dismantlers with the ballasts and wiring harnasses. Ballasts should be easy.

David in LA

Is this the factory HID kit? Porsche parts come with a 2 year warranty so if it's a factory part you should swap it for a new one.

rj777

Thanks for the responses.

Vic, as far as I know, I purchased the exact 'equivalent' of the factory HID kit, not from a dealership, but from an aftemarket Porsche parts specialist. I am the 2nd owner of my '98 C2 cab. My car wasn't originally spec'd or built with factory litronics, but after buying the car in Jan 2002, and driving it for a while, I wanted them added. The 'controller" unit that I am referring to is a 1.5" by 2.5" by 3.5" aluminum box that is fitted behind the side carpeting on either side of the forwards portion of the front trunk. Unfortunately, I am not an electrician, LOL, so I doubt that I'd be able to take the unit apart and diagnose it. :-)

Joe, thanks for the tip on LA Dismantlers. I will follow up with them.

David, I thought about checking the amount of warranty that came with my HID kit. I didn't purchase the kit from an actual Porsche dealership, but from an internet Porsche parts shop. As such, I kind of doubt that the kit I bought has a 2 year warranty, more likely it came with a 1 year warranty, but who knows? I will definitely dig out the paperwork.

Since posting the above plea for help on Friday, I have since completed my trip back to Nashville. Due to the ice storm in Georgia over the weekend, my wife and I decided to drive up I-65 through Alabama to get home. Wouldn't you know it, but both my litronic headlights are now working again. I didn't do anything, either. I don't get it, LOL. Oh well, it could just be a temporary reprieve, or who knows wha's going on. Maybe they just decided to "not" work while I was in Florida last week. :-) In any case, I'm going to track down and get a couple of spare ballasts just to be prepared.

One last thought. I think my car is still running with its original battery, which is now 6 years old. My car is due for its 45k maintenance soon, and I will probably replace the battery at that time. Is there any way an older battery might be contributing to intermittent or inconsistent operation of the HID ballasts?

Thanks,

Rick

mike cap

Vic,

The ballasts should last indefinitely, especially with the very intermittent auto use. If one is bad, just replace it. They have no serviceable parts inside, even if you could get one apart. The ballasts either work or they don't - they would not fail intermittently. Sounds like you have a loose connection or bad ground in the affected light circuit.

Battery's should be replaced every three to four years for optimal reliability. Your's is DOA, replace at the next service, but it wouldn't affect the HID's at all - they operate off bus voltage provided by the alternator when the engine is running.

solsrch

While not an expert, I agree with Vic that the battery is not a culprit and that, if bad, the ballast should probably just be replaced outright. Sounds like a loose connection/bad ground; however, it seems to me a large shift in temperature or humidity could effect things enough to give you an intermittent problem. Just one more variable that could make troubleshooting even more interesting.

KeinWasser

Looking for similar advise re factory litronics: My litronics low beam on one headlamp flickers momentarily, and then goes dark, when I turn the **** for my headlights. I removed the "malfunctioning" bulb and swapped it to the other side where it ignites and stays on. This is a 1997.
I visually checked the connector tabs and they look clean.
Should I be replacing the switch in the dash, the headlight control unit, or the ballast. Where exactly is the ballast located?
A quick web search on 993 litronics ballasts produced this site:
http://www.oemxenonshop.com/Porsche-...r-Rpelace.html
Does anyone have experience with replacing components in the Litronics with a flickering lamp?
Thanks in advance

rj777

Hey guys,

Sorry, I hadn't realized that I never revisited this thread and posted a follow-up, but it turned out my bulbs, ballasts, and battery were all fine. When I got back home to Nashville (Feb 2005, lol), I had my regular mechanic check things out, and he found some loose connections in the associated headlight wiring. He tightened everything up, soldered a few connections here and there, and voila, both headlights fired up beautifully without having to replace a single part. And the litronic headlights have been working perfectly fine ever since, nine years later, lol. I'm going with the 'contraction/expansion of the wiring' explanation.

Kind regards, -rick.

Mike J

I think that is close to a record for a reply posting!

KeinWasser

Any suggestions for curing a flickering Litronics headlight, one side only?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Knight

There is a very high probability it's the igniter acting up. It's located with the headlight housing, back box which is screwed down to the lid.

To verify switch between left/right. If eventually you see the left side flickering then bingo!

Downside is the igniter is not sold on its own, from Porsche you'll need to buy the set (igniter + ballast). Last time I checked it was in the $600 range for one side. Unless your lucky to find a used one on eBay etc.

Do a search plenty of RL esp TT owners have had this problem.

KeinWasser

First time 993 owner returning here for more advice, please. Basic problem: 993 with factory litronics, one headlamp (driver's side) flickers a moment when turned on, and then it goes out. Over the past few weeks, I did the following: 1) swapped the lamp bulb with other side; no change. 2) as recommended by Knight (thanks btw), swapped the ignitor with the other good lamp; no change (driver's side still flickered before going out). 3) swapped the ballast with the other side, and bingo . . . now the driver's side is functioning and the passenger side flickers and goes out.
Conclusion: The ballast is shot, correct? Question: Where can I buy a single ballast for the factory litronics headlamp, at a reasonable price? Nothing is currently listed on ebay.

An internet search produces the following website OEM Xenon Shop, their link is below. Has anyone purchased from this vendor and are their products reliable? They quoted me $235 for ballast & ignitor, OEM made in Germany. I'm a bit suspicious as they are not on ebay, so no buyer feedback to see, and they repeatedly ask me if I have a paypal account.

Any other recommendations would be appreciated!!
Kein Wasser ("No Water" drought in Calif anyway)
Tim

http://www.oemxenonshop.com/Porsche-...r-Rpelace.html

They are also on YouTube:

pp000830

I suspect any slim style aftermarket ballast will work for years and years even one purchased new on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/35W-HID-Conv...b7f28f&vxp=mtr

Knight

Correct your ballasts are the issue.

The above link I've inquired before are not selling OEM ballasts, it's made out of Asia. If you want a direct plug/play you'll have to get the entire set (ballast + igniter) from Porsche ~ $600 each side, I'm not sure if this will be available from Bosch directly. It does make sense it's sold as a set, as eventually the igniter will go as well, you have to keep in mind this setup is almost 20 years old.

If your ok with not keeping the original setup, then there are plenty of aftermarket options available. And with this route, you'll be able to upgrade both sides.

How to install:

https://rennlist.com/forums/11299910-post35.html