richardew

I was on the road Sunday night. I made a pit stop and when I got back in the car and turned on the lignts I had no left lowbeam. Now this has happened intermittently over the past 1-2 years and I usually just turn them on and off and the ballast fires up. Not this time, so I continued my trip with one (right) headlight. I planned to buy a new set of HID's and replace them when I got back home. Monday I went to work and after work got in the car to go to dinner. Again one headlight, however it's the left. The right one wouldn't fire up. Now I'm puzzled. Tuesday after work, I get in the car to go to dinner and now both headlights are working, and I've had them both working since then.

993Porsche

I had the exact same problem. That shenanigan went on for about a year or more. It turned out to be one of my fuses. Although it looked fine, it was really intermittent. Nonetheless, I replaced both of them and so far so good.


Ken

larpy

Did you buy them fro "Sharp HID"?

1pcarnut

Was going to install my DDM units today, timely post, interested in responses.

2Many Cars

Check fuses and all the electrical connections behind the headlight unit. These really need to be sound or else the bulb won't always fire.

CorrdoBrit

No need to wait, just install and enjoy. If you're worried just keep the OEM H1's in the car. Can be changed out in a matter of mins thanks to the nifty German headlight design. One of the best mods so far. Did you get the 35W or 55W?

AOW162435

Richard,
Make sure the large connector at the rear of the headlamp housing seats properly in the corresponding connector within the fender. I had a similar issue (factory Litronics) years ago, and found this to be the issue. My solution was to take the inner-fender connector, remove it from its location in the bracket, and then reinstall it with the lower portion of the connector situated such that it rested in front of the bracket. By doing so, the body-side connector is moved slightly forward, forcing the connector at the rear of the headlamp housing to mate properly.

I went through new bulbs, switched components, etc., until I stumbled across this solution.

Hope that helps.


Andreas

black ice

My buddy has a truck with dual filament aftermarket HIDs. He's really competent mechanically so it was really surprising when they did not work. He ended up running a heavier gauge wire with soldered splices to the connectors and it worked fine after that. So I guess loose connections and resistivity are typical culprits.

dave

EckFe1

It seems that if you have a weak electrical system, meaning older battery or heavy amperage users like amps/radio etc. that the ballasts won't fire.
I could replicate this when the sat for 2 months with the battery connected. I turn on the lights and only 1 light would fire.
Instead of messing with the plug and socket for the light fixture, do yourself a favor and buy a power relay harness kit for H1's.
I always turn on the headlights after I started the engine so full voltage is applied. If you stall the engine and refire, turn off the headlight switch first, restart and turn the lights back on. This way you have better chances of having both lights fire.
Ed

kjr914

+1 The A-man speak-ith the truth.

At one point, I fixed mine the Fonzy way... A smack with the heel of my hand to the top center of the headlight lens made it re-seat and light magically appeared. I need to get in there one day with contact cleaner (not the stuff for your eyes but electrical contact cleaner or TV tuner cleaner if you're ol' school). Dirt, muck, dust get in there, as well, the connector gets loosened up. (note to self to fix that someday...)

richardew

Thanks for the input. THe darn lights are working properly now. I never thought that I would complain about that, but it sure will make tracking the problem down difficult. I guess a good cleaning of the contacts is in order.

2Many Cars

Yup. I think if you throughly clean up all the contacts that are exposed behind the headlights you'll find the problem goes away.

Drew200

I had a similar problem with a HID kit fitted my BMW 635CSi. Turned out to be the charging system, an alt with a partially failed diode pack meant not enough volts were being turned out. One ballast/ igniter was more sensitive than the other but both would drop out from time to time. Fixed with a new alt.

hope you get it sorted tout suite