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So I ran in to this issue as well. The dealer wanted $1200 + labor to replace the whole freaking lamp enclosure. They informed me that the ballast was out. I ordered myself one and will be working on replacing it this weekend.
9k, did you have to remove the whole lamp assembly after removing the bumper in order to replace the ballast? Do you still have any pics of the process? I'm trying to get as much info about it as I can. I'll have help on it, but I myself don't have much mechanical experience.
So I ran in to this issue as well. The dealer wanted $1200 + labor to replace the whole freaking lamp enclosure. They informed me that the ballast was out. I ordered myself one and will be working on replacing it this weekend.
9k, did you have to remove the whole lamp assembly after removing the bumper in order to replace the ballast? Do you still have any pics of the process? I'm trying to get as much info about it as I can. I'll have help on it, but I myself don't have much mechanical experience.
Any help you can offer would be great!
TIA
Pics not working. Damn, to sure where I hosted them. I am finally replacing my headlights with brand new ones so I will have my old ones out and I will be able to show you how I did it. Yes you have to remove the headlight and you have to cut a slit into the housing to get the wire from the new ballast in since the ballasts re put in before the headlight is assembled.
Does the ballast fit in that box on the top of the pic? Which wire is being run through the slit? Or is it the ballast itself that is fitting through the slit? Having a hard time telling from that pic where the slit is and where the ballast is.. would be easier if I had the lamp sitting in front of me but I haven't pulled it out yet.
Yeah the ballast itself fits in the box on the bottom of the assembly, you just have to push the actual wire for the ballast through the slit you cut so you can connect the bulb. Permatex black RTV is just fine and can be purchased at any auto parts store.
The ballast I received came with two wires. One, the one wrapped in silver, is permanently attached and I can see it in your pic. The other can pop off and plugs in to the white connector shown in your pics at the top of this thread. Maybe it'll become obvious once I have the headlight assembly sitting in front of me, but which one of those am I dremeling for? You're dremeling in to that box where the ballast goes?
Sorry about all the questions.. just trying to visualize this and get as much info as I can so I'm ready to knock this out fairly quickly on Sunday morning.
Thanks for the clarification. Hafta go pick up that RTV soon. =]
Just thought I'd report back that things went pretty smoothly. I replaced the ballast (and one running light) over the weekend with some help from a couple friends. I dremeled a bit differently than you have pictured, but things turned out pretty well, I think.
The easiest way is to dremel it, if you cannot afford a new headlight assembly. Thanks to Ben (aka Karack) from Rotary Evolution, he did it like its so easy to do. Anyway, thanks again to Ben and both of my HID headlights works now!
np, it's not that difficult of a repair and you don't need to fully remove the bumper to get to only one side headlight, just remove all the bolts on the top of the bumper in the engine bay and all the undertray screws to the front edge of the bumper as well as the fender shroud pop nuts on the affected side. a little prying on the bumper while you remove the light and it's out.
takes longer to move the bumper out of the way than to do the actual repair. especially if your car is only an inch off the ground...
Reviving the thread here... figure this is better than starting a new one.
I am having the same issue with a dead ballast my question is this...
Is the KDLT002 ballast the same as the DDLT002? I did a search for the KDLT002 and instead found a DDLT002 on amazon. It looks the same with the same wattage I just want to make sure its compatible.
How did you fit the huge fat chrome thing that connects to the bulb through the little space, it seems like it will have to be more than a slit... I tried to take a ballast out of the headlight and i could not get it out...just wondering, 9krpmrx8 do you have a link to a diy or something?
Once you make the cut, you screw on the ballast and then just slide the wire thru the slot, the connector goes to the bulb, it should be pretty obvious.......
Got it done! Took less than an hour or so actually. I Wouldn't have been able to do it without this thread. And to think I almost spent $700 on a Replacement Headlight. Thanks 9k! God send thread.
Had the same issue, but instead of cutting/dremmel the light enclosure... I removed the ballast cover and wiggle up the 2 wires pointing upwards 90deg ...red and white color (the ones which were silver shield) and then cut it off just abt 1/2 inch after the crimping point .
Twist to join back both wires and solder them together after assembling the wires and ballast into the enclosure. Point to note: make sure it's dry and clean before u pry open the ballast cover and be cautious as to not drop any thing inside the board while working on it.
So my ballasts are just fine.... my hid bulbs are good too....
but my headlight housings, omg they were in bad shape... having sanded them and refinished them a couple years ago they were worse than ever.
I picked up some halogen housings on eBay a year or two ago... they were crazy cheap, and brand new OEM in OEM packaging.
I want to add to this thread as it helped me, although I didn't follow 9k's directions about cutting through the housing.... good gawd man, just get yourself an iron!
Anyway... the auto leveling motor was a bitch to swap over too... I had to dremel the old manual gear out of the halogen housing and fabricate (translation: hack) it up a bit to get the motor / gear moved over.
You also have to bore out the hole for the secondary connectors for the ballasts.
Everything moves over beyond that with the exception of the HID buib itself and its connector. I thought about trying an H7 spacer but that didn't make much sense as I still have to get the OEM connector attached.
I ended up not having a rubber grommet / cover and the HID bulb plastic cover doesn't fit (like no way on the planet) onto the halogen housing.
I bent the little clip thingy a bit to get it to fit over the bulb and under the connector but still wasn't completely happy with my concoction.
I ended up applying electrical tape over the connector and HID housing | / - \ until it pretty much sealed it up. It's not pretty and am not satisfied, but it was getting dark and only being halfway thru the exercise I decided to bolt it on and see how things were going... of course the light works fine but I've got to come up with a better idea for my HID cover / tape hack.
I've got a busy week ahead of me... won't be able to pick up the other side, and do the first side justice until the week after next.
I just ended up buying brand new Koito Halogen units and put Xpel film on them from day one and I installed a Murimoto H7 HID kit with 5k bulbs. I haven't missed the auto leveling function honestly and the Murimoto output is way better than the stock lights. I used the OEM wiring to control the Murimoto kit. They have held up pretty well.
I'm glad I used heavy duty heat shrink when I cut the wires.... I knew there had to be some reason why you were so hesitant to cut them. Did a little more research and apparently peeps have all kinds of problems with arcing because of the high voltage. Looks like I got lucky. I couldn't bring myself to cutting through the housing like you did.
I thought about just leaving the auto leveling mechanism out but was afraid if I did i'd light up the leveling light on the cluster. How'd you get around that?
I have never had a light for the levelers. I just left everything as is. We did the same on a buddies car and he hasn't had any issues either. At the time new OEM Xenons were $800.00 a piece and I wanted new ones since polishing just wasn't working any more.
09-26-2012, 07:11 PM
