Hi guys, starting to come up to the first year with my Octavia VRS estate 2015. It’s been great so far with no issues other than the DRL ballast needed replacing 

 

Now, I’ve got a more annoying problem, my drivers side Xenon starting flickering for no reason a few weeks ago. I managed to solve it just by switching off the lights off and back on again. But the problem is still there. After 20 or so mins of driving I’m repeating this or it is usually random … now I fear my left side is doing the same (I cannot confirm) perhaps it just looks like that 

 

so what’s to replace here? The light or the ballast. Or do I need to look elsewhere!? I hate electrics nothing to simple anymore with new cars .
Is the ballast for the headlamps the same unit that controls the DRL ?

Start by changing the bulb(s). It is the most common reason. Xenons often start to flicker when they are about to go 'kaput'. Check youtube for guidance, it is pretty much the same than with older cars. 

 

Both xenon bulbs (left and right) have own ballasts and they are different than the DRL LED ballast.

Edited 16 December, 20241 yr by RattleWagon

Thanks … I have found the location of the 2nd ballast for the headlights (how I didn’t see this when I took the near side light out I don’t know) but man those bulbs are not cheap I might go for the ballast first it seems to be a cheaper option 

 

yeah I’ll check YouTube if I need to replace the bulbs. It helped me last time when I took the bumper off 

I was in the same boat a few months ago: it was the Xenon bulb in my case.  I went down the same route as you as well; bought a new ballast, then looked at the procedure for replacing it.  Turns out you need to get the headlight out to replace the ballast (nearside one at least) - no big deal right?  To get the headlight out however, you needed to take the bumper off...

 

That was going to be a massive pain, so I changed the bulb instead and it fixed the problem.  I'd be wary of the cheaper Lucas bulbs btw, as the plastic flange is not as strong as the full metal construction.  I snapped one of the electrodes when I was twisting the bulb back into position.

36 minutes ago, cjperks said:

I was in the same boat a few months ago: it was the Xenon bulb in my case.  I went down the same route as you as well; bought a new ballast, then looked at the procedure for replacing it.  Turns out you need to get the headlight out to replace the ballast (nearside one at least) - no big deal right?  To get the headlight out however, you needed to take the bumper off...

 

That was going to be a massive pain, so I changed the bulb instead and it fixed the problem.  I'd be wary of the cheaper Lucas bulbs btw, as the plastic flange is not as strong as the full metal construction.  I snapped one of the electrodes when I was twisting the bulb back into position.

Hi mate I actually changed the ballast, I’m pretty alright with abit of DIY on my car (I did own a Ford before) so I have a garage full of tools lmao! But the ballast did the trick for me there’s two on the headlamp one for the DRL and one for the main lamp… I didn’t wanna pay £100 for a bulb so it was cheaper to try the ballast first it worked for me and has been working great for a few months now 

 

and you only need to unhook the bumper on one side it will give you enough room to remove the lamp. Rather than unscrewing both sides from the arches witch is a pain it’s easy to just do one 

Edited 21 February, 20251 yr by Bluff