Morning All,

 

About 6 months ago my drivers side Xenon went orange so I replace both Xenon's.

 

Most of the time the Xenon's are fine, but occasionally the drivers side will flicker or flicker then go off. I can turn off the lights off and back on again and all is well.

 

Which part do I need to replace, Is it the Ballast ?

Are these factory OEM or aftermarket HID?.

Are these factory OEM or aftermarket HID?.

Oem

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Flickering can be caused by the ballast igniter pack developing a fault, but it can also equally be caused by a poor earth to the igniter circuit.

 

If the igniter pack cannot pull down the appropriate voltage and amperage to feed the strikeup of the arc, then the bulb will flicker or in extreme cases not work at all.

 

As checking the earth's will cost you nothing but time, I would do this first, then if they are satisfactory, I would look to replace the igniter control unit, but a word of caution, they are not cheap.

 

Please observe the basic precautions of making sure the keys are removed before working on the system, as the voltages used here will definitely curl your toes if you are careless.

 

Just out of interest, roughly how old are the bulbs themselves?.

Flickering can be caused by the ballast igniter pack developing a fault, but it can also equally be caused by a poor earth to the igniter circuit.

 

If the igniter pack cannot pull down the appropriate voltage and amperage to feed the strikeup of the arc, then the bulb will flicker or in extreme cases not work at all.

 

As checking the earth's will cost you nothing but time, I would do this first, then if they are satisfactory, I would look to replace the igniter control unit, but a word of caution, they are not cheap.

 

Please observe the basic precautions of making sure the keys are removed before working on the system, as the voltages used here will definitely curl your toes if you are careless.

 

Just out of interest, roughly how old are the bulbs themselves?.

 

New Osram bulbs are 6 months old, previous ones were factory fit, 11 years old.

 

Cheers for the info, Will check earths if I can find them, might buy a used headlight unit, but they are like rocking horse poo..........

Edited 13 September, 201510 yr by mluton

Hi did you have any luck sorting the lights, I have similar problem except mine very rarely work, also drivers side, don't have a clue bout electrics so wouldn't know how to check the earth, tps sell the ignitor for 109 +vat but it's alot to spend not knowing if that is the real problem

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Hi did you have any luck sorting the lights, I have similar problem except mine very rarely work, also drivers side, don't have a clue bout electrics so wouldn't know how to check the earth, tps sell the ignitor for 109 +vat but it's alot to spend not knowing if that is the real problem

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Not got to the bottom of it, I need a bit of free time to take a look, Hopefully this upcomming weekend. Mine was like a strobe light today, worst its ever been. :(

Edited 14 September, 201510 yr by mluton

Just checked on Elsawin (VAG electronic service manual) as I had a sec, you require earth point 119, which should be located under the battery carrier (need to remove battery and tray to get to it).

 

It should be 2 studs with 2 domed nuts that have 2 or 3 earth cables going to each one, just give them a spruce up with some wire wool and the same to the stud and if it is the earth you should no longer have any flashing, assuming that the wire has not physically broken along the loom which is not very common.

 

If it still flickers, you could confirm the earth cable is not broken by running a continuity check from the earth terminal in the headlamp body to the cable earth point under the battery with a multimeter - you could even do it after cleaning the connections to save having the battery out twice.

 

If the earth confirms as sound then you have to look at getting an igniter pack. If you have access to VCDS, you could do a code scan to confirm the control unit failure, but I have found that unless they totally fail, normally they don't show a code.

Just checked on Elsawin (VAG electronic service manual) as I had a sec, you require earth point 119, which should be located under the battery carrier (need to remove battery and tray to get to it).

 

It should be 2 studs with 2 domed nuts that have 2 or 3 earth cables going to each one, just give them a spruce up with some wire wool and the same to the stud and if it is the earth you should no longer have any flashing, assuming that the wire has not physically broken along the loom which is not very common.

 

If it still flickers, you could confirm the earth cable is not broken by running a continuity check from the earth terminal in the headlamp body to the cable earth point under the battery with a multimeter - you could even do it after cleaning the connections to save having the battery out twice.

 

If the earth confirms as sound then you have to look at getting an igniter pack. If you have access to VCDS, you could do a code scan to confirm the control unit failure, but I have found that unless they totally fail, normally they don't show a code.

I cleaned all my earth's today and no improvement.

Think I might try a pair of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380651833584?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I believe that the igniter control unit is also the leveller controller on the OEM setup, but I will check later to confirm this unless someone gets there first.

I have checked on Elsawin and the igniter is separate from the control unit, but it does take current from the control unit.

 

As I do not have OEM Xenon, I can't say how the aftermarket ballast will plug into the control unit - if at all, but more than that I would check whether the OEM igniter actually runs on 12v, as a lot of the level sensors and level motors appear to use a 5v feed according to the wiring diagram. Aftermarket ballasts will want a 12v feed normally.

 

Hope it helps.

I also noticed my level sensor has snapped in wheel arch, but I don't think this would stop the lamp from working / flicker ????

Unlikely I would have thought.

Weird, I have had 2 days of no flickering, then today flickering. So I might tackle the earths again or even attempt re-crimping the terminals.

So the saga continued on getting my one xenon working again.

Thought I'd try something I read and change the fuses from 15amp to 20amp and hey presto it works again.

Unsure if this is a good move but with the dark nights I need my headlights working.

Will update of anything changes.

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Try swapping the ballasts over (left to right) to see if the flickering bulb changes sides, if it does then you know it’s the ballast at fault.

What happens if you put a new 15 amp fuse in?, does it still flicker?.

 

It could be you have a lightly oxidised fuse terminal, and swapping it out has remade a good connection.

Good idea I'll try that. Yes they are oxidised.

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Flickering yesterday and again today, Grrrrrr. Got a new battery to fit also as this can effect the lights in small cases so worth a stab.

Ballast swap time the weekend if a new battery doesn't help.

OK so i sourced used Xenon from ebay arriving soon, so hopefully it i'll sort it out.

Has this on a neighbours Lexus, turned out to be the bulbs.

Replaced them and its been fine since.

Yesterday I removed the headlight retapped all the wiring and put and old xenon bulb in and I have had 2 days of faultless xenons.

Bugga, paid £140 for the headlight of eBay arriving tomorrow.

Well at least I will have spare ballast.

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Edited 6 December, 201510 yr by mluton

5 Days without a flicker now.

can you tell me the earth points ?

are they same for the high beams?

Edited 9 December, 201510 yr by vrs95