Hey all! I'm hoping you can help me again with my Octy MK1 estate.

I have the globey xenon(?) headlights as standard on my motor - and having read *somewhere* in the past they are prone to flicker - mine appear to be doing just that now. Doh!

Following a service from my local garage - who are always thorough and get a good thumbs up - they tell me that there is a problem with a) the mountings on which a reflector fits - and when the car goes over a bump the beam flickers over the road and before going for service, I'd noticed that the nearside dipped beam will go off intermittently - but when I turn the lights off - leave them for a bit - the headlight will power up next time I switch on - further to that - when I am driving along, one (or both) headlighyts will flash brightly - kinda looks like someone has flashed a camera at me!! lol - and no, not courtesy of GATSO ha ha!!

So, it has been suggested I'm going to need to replace both units - Being as you fine bunch have a wealth of knowledge, I'm pretty sure that these problems have been encountered before and I wonder if there is a cheap/er outlet for parts/units.

What do you think?

p.s. mine's a 2004 VRS.

Edited 8 October, 200916 yr by dood

Oh - on searching - these are HID Xenons right?

Any ideas guys?

They come up on ebay from time to time, as it sounds like yours were factory fitted you should just be able to swap the bulbs over and just plug them straight in to replace the old ones.

item number 250506313185 on ebay is correct for yours i work at the dealers and they are £107.62+vat

so this isnt a bad price

Thanks for the replies so far - Apologies as I have not had a chance to take a look at the light units on the motor - I see the info' posted is for replacement bulbs, but what of the flickering caused by the 'reflector moving around' - is this a common problem?

I *think* I saw somewhere that the lights flashing brightly is a ballast? problem?

Any thoughts on this?

I guess I am trying to irradicate any chances of buying bulbs and finding the problem still exists.(Not that I want to question anyones experience - more for my own peace of mind.)

Unstable light source will be the ballast, wobbling will be the headlight mountings, or the motor has come loose inside the lamp.

I seriously doubt a new bulb will fix the flickering tbh. If it's not starting properly then it will be the igniter which is inside the headlight, if it's not stable when it's lit, then it'll be the ballast which is on the back of the headlight.

Of course, the flickering could also be due to a dodgy connection or ground somewhere! (under the battery tray has ground points that rust for example).