RCow

So I ordered new headlights from RotaryFX and new running lights from V-LEDS, I got them in the mail today and decided I'd put them on. I bought my car used and have had problems with installing certain items but nothing I couldn't overcome.

So this is my HID ballast:


This is a picture of the ballasts wires traveling to my headlight.


I know now that chances are I don't have OEM HID's. Which at the time I did not know.

So i pull back my wheel well lining to get to my headlights.
To find this:


I instantly knew something was wrong because I have looked at HID replacement DIY to get an idea of what I'd need to do.

And you see that metal clip in the left? That is the only thing holding my HID bulb in. Let me emphasize this:


That is the only thing holding my entire headlight in place.

So I took the clip off and wrapped the bulb in a paper towel because it appeared as though I'd would need to reuse it:


This is a picture of the bulb I can not remove because its all connected as one unit:


So I have absolutely no idea what to do or how to correct this. Any opinions or help is appreciated.

From the outside my headlights look okay, although at night they're extremely dim that's the reason for replacement.

Here's a picture of my headlights with the new V-LEDS running lights.

SPHINX144

when I replaced the bulbs in my oem hids headlights, I did not encounter the bulbs in that configuration.
I remember they were connected to a socket-like connection that you have to twist a few degrees and the pull to extract the bulbs. also, I dont recall ever encountering the ballast when changing the headlight bulbs or parking lights.

Indeed, the metal clip is used to secure the bulb in place inside the casing--make sure you don't lose it or break it. It can be a PITA to put it properly back in place.

lopezian2004

I'm trying to base this off of memory, because it's been about a year or so since I did my HID conversion. If you look at that picture (from therpmstore) the bottom light blue wire has a connector at the end. If I'm not mistaken, there should be 2 of those connectors that are plugged in around where your bulbs are, unless the previous owner ended up cutting those tips off and soldering it together. It also looks like you're missing the piece that goes over the headlight housing (if looking through the wheel wells) that protect the housing from getting water in.

I would also suggest just taking your front bumper off altogether and detaching your headlight housing that way so you can get a full view of how everything is wired up back there. When I first did my HID conversion I went through the wheel well and didn't get the clips to function properly; my bulbs ended up not settling in the housing the proper way and my light output was disastrous. Taking off the front bumper and detaching the headlights altogether allowed me to fix the problem since I had a full view without my hands being cramped and not being able to see what I was doing.

Hope this helps!