TedStriker

Hi y'all,

I've got a leaky headlight that seems to have fried the ballast on my 2008 GTS with PDLS. In reading up on how to fix the ballast, it seems that the recommendation is to always do this in pairs, and that the dealer/indy will have to use a Durametric to get the ballasts to work. My question is this: is the recommendation to replace in pairs based on the part number version (00, 01, 02, 03) needing to match or something else? My working headlight and the broken one are both on the .02 version of the ballast, so if I just replaced the broken .02 with a new .02, would I need to replace the working one as well? Or should I just get two .03's and call it a day?

slavie

You have to match the revision. If you have 02, find another 02 (hint, I saw one on eBay a few days ago) and it'll program just fine. I did just that on my 08 GTS. Durametric won't do, you need PIWIS, or maybe one of the Chinese tools (have not heard any feedback on folks using that for headlight ballast). My understanding is that only 03 is available from the dealer, hence if you were going to buy a new one, you'd need a pair. Of course, you don't know how much life the used one has in it, or your other ballast for that matter, so chose your path based on your desires and the size of your wallet. If you go to the dealer, 2x new ballasts + new headlight + installation and programming is ~$2,500.

After a few unsuccessful attempts at resealing the HL from the outside, I bit the bullet and opened her up to clean out and replace the silicone. Used RTV black to put things back together, it's been more than a year of no issues.

clsycw

do you mind share detail how you opened it?

slavie

There are a handful of staples all around the lens. I pulled them out carefully and reused them later upon re-assembly. Next, I pre-sliced the existing silicone (yes, silicone RTV, not butyl rubber like most other auto headlights) along the lens as much as I could, taking care not to slice too deep and into the headlight housing itself. I did slice a bit deep in a few places, but don't tell anyone. The lens is covered in silicone on both inside and out, so slicing along the lens on the outside only releases 40% of it all, give or take. I proceeded to throw the light into the oven for 10m at 200F or so to get things worm. The heat will not release the lens like with butyl sealers, but I was hoping it would soften things up at least some. Don't know whether it made any real difference, this was my first and so far the only Porsche headlight surgery.

After warming up, I started sloooooowwwwwwwly applying firm pressure to pry up the lens from the housing with a small pry bar. Started on the outside top, where there's a nice long, exposed section. This was, of course, the most nerve-wrecking moment. Little by little it started releasing and just like that I had the lens separated. Cleaned off all the old silicone, and time for reassembly. I put in just over a tube of black RTV in the grove (I was generous, maybe a single tube would have been enough but I had bought two just in case and used it instead of skimping). Put the lens back in and used small pins to align the old staple holes through the outside housing, lens, and inner housing. After some fiddling around, I was able to press all the original staples in by hand. If don't have the correct staple gun for the application so this is how I did it.

Overall, the lens separation was not as bad as I had dreaded. No damage, but I was very cautious. It's been over a year and a half now, no issues with the headlight. Hope this helps.