OEM HID Light fail to ignite, sometimes?

[Salty_Dog]

Hey all,
The 2006 E53 X5 just started a strange behaviour.

It has the OEM HID head lights, which have been bullet proof, just started a strange behaviour.

The "Check Headlight" warning came on the as i was driving
I got out of the vehicle and the drivers side HID was not working (The passenger side was)

I turn off the lights and turned off the Vehicle
Restarted the Vehicle and turned the lights back on, both HID's ignited, yet the driver side light was a different colour.

Anyway, i continued home with out a problem and both lights were the same colour when i got home.

This has also happened once before in the last 4 days.

The only thing i've changed, is the Halo lamps to LED, but that is in a completely different section.

Any ideas?

Is it a sign the HID Control Gear is on the way out?

Thanks

[crystalworks]

This is usually a sign that the Xenon bulb is dying (changing color). This is usually the case. The next usual suspect would be the ballast. Fortunately you still get a bulb out indication so you know your LCM is working properly.

If you've never changed your bulb that is the most likely culprit.

[Salty_Dog]

Thanks crystalworks

No bulb has been changed to my knowledge, and certainly not in the last 6 years
So that might be the case

Looks like these are what i'm looking for

OSRAM Xenarc Night Breaker Unlimited D2S Xenon HID Bulb | PowerBulbs

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Salty_Dog

Thanks crystalworks

No bulb has been changed to my knowledge, and certainly not in the last 6 years
So that might be the case

Looks like these are what i'm looking for

OSRAM Xenarc Night Breaker Unlimited D2S Xenon HID Bulb | PowerBulbs

I've just had the same situation as you have Salty_Dog - and yeah, it was just a Xenon bulb. I replaced them both with "Philips" 35W (same as stock).

If your head lights are the same as we get here in NZ, I'm not sure the Night Breakers are really worth the extra expense (about AUD$80 extra); as the Xenons aren't Bi-Xenon and are used as low-beams only, I'm not sure you'll get much advantage from the brighter lamp.

But this is conjecture on my part - I haven't tried them. I only know that replacing the 11 year old lamps with new ones made a BIG difference, to the low beams vision. High beam hasn't changed at all, as I expected.

Might be a very different case with Bi-Xenon headlights, where the Xenon lamp's shield is retracted at high beam and the full lamp output is used? Then the Night Breakers are likely a benefit.

YMMV...

[Salty_Dog]

That is what we have here

[g300d]

I think the difference in light you initially observed after the error is because one of the lights was warmed up and the other was colder. This is also going by your observation that they were the same color when you got home.

Also, I dont think a bulb will intermitently light up. It either works or doesnt.

I am more inclined to think igniter or ballast in this case. Which is independent of low output caused by aged color-shifted bulbs.

[Salty_Dog]

Originally Posted by g300d

I think the difference in light you initially observed after the error is because one of the lights was warmed up and the other was colder. This is also going by your observation that they were the same color when you got home.

Also, I dont think a bulb will intermitently light up. It either works or doesnt.

I am more inclined to think igniter or ballast in this case. Which is independent of low output caused by aged color-shifted bulbs.

My thoughts were this also
As i have the same issue with my Road Bike

Not sure what a good test is to prove this?
Maybe swap the Right and Left lamps over, if the same thing happens on the same side, its most likely the ballast i guess.

[g300d]

Yes I think swapping components side to side is a good way to check.

Ballasts are under the headlights. You will need to remove the headlights to get to the ballasts, and removing the lights involves removing the bumper. Maybe you can start with the separate igniters behind each bulb and accessible from the rear of the light? That would be a lot easier.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by Salty_Dog

My thoughts were this also
As i have the same issue with my Road Bike

Not sure what a good test is to prove this?
Maybe swap the Right and Left lamps over, if the same thing happens on the same side, its most likely the ballast i guess.

Yep moving components right to left and vice versa is the best method for testing these.

I forgot about the igniter. Also a possibility. I would check bulb, igniter, and then the ballast in that order. The intermittent nature could also end up being something funky like a worn/dirty connector but that's low on the list of possibilities usually.

[g300d]

Oh, and check the wiring in the headlight too. The wire insulation cracks and crumbles over time and has been known to cause weird issues too.