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  #1  
Old 01-04-2006, 10:16 AM
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Xenon lights failure

Odd one this...
My lefthand xenon light does not come on at all times. sometimes I have to switch the lights on and off a few times before it pops on. The light also appears more pinkish than before (or otherside).

Anyone suffered similar problems, lights fitted to a 2002 X5 with 90k miles on the clock.

Will
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  #2  
Old 01-04-2006, 10:23 AM
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Sounds like your ballast is either going bad or has a loose connection.
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  #3  
Old 01-04-2006, 10:44 AM
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If the bulbs have never been changed then couldn`t it be those. I`m no expert but arent they supposed to last 3000 hours? Could be time to change.
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Old 01-04-2006, 03:30 PM
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An HID bulb should have a life expectancy of around 10 years under normal use. If, however, you are driving with your HID's on all the time rather than the halogen daytime running lights, their life will be drastically reduced not only because of the increased use but because the number of bulb starts will be multiplied several fold over normal usage (the more times an HID bulb is started, the shorter its life regardless of the number of hours use).

The chances are greater that it's a ballast problem rather than a bulb problem if the HIDs are being used only at night.
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  #5  
Old 01-04-2006, 03:47 PM
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Right, makes sense. I didn`t realise the bulbs had such a long life, this is probably why they are so more expensive than normal bulbs. Bulb manufacturers wouldn`t make much if bulbs lasted as long as the car did.
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  #6  
Old 01-05-2006, 10:14 AM
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Hmm, not so sure it would be the bulb. In many areas of Europe there is a legal requirement to have dipped beam swithched on at all times driving, regardless of time of day. If I average 140000 Km with an average speed of 50 (which is norm in automotive industry) then I only get 2800 hrs of use. According to spec the lifetime of lights should be 10k hrs +.

UCrewX5, what does the ballast do and what is it?
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Old 01-05-2006, 11:00 AM
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The ballast is just like any one that you would see in a flouresent bulb in your house. It jump starts the gas in the bulb with a surge of voltage. I'm not sure what exactly the numbers are on our cars, I've heard around 25,000 volts to start the bulb? That must be why they have that cool drawing under the hood next to each of the head lights where some idiot puts his had on the wire and is jumping or something.
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Old 01-05-2006, 02:50 PM
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Old 01-05-2006, 03:04 PM
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I do not think it is the bulb for he states that it does light up but it is pinkish then the other bulb. If it was burnt there would be nothing comming out the bulb.
Good luck getting it fixed.
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  #10  
Old 01-05-2006, 06:25 PM
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Here is what you need to do to diagnose the issue: swap the bulbs and see if the problem is replicated on the other side. If so you need a new bulb, if not you need a new igniter/ballast (I believe OEM xenon units are all one piece so you will have to replace both).
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