Intermittent Headlight Issue

[ukrcan]

A while back i was having issues with my AEs where they would stop working and after i would restart the car they would come back on. Now the same issue started happening with low beams same side(drivers)...I has been rather cold here for the past few weeks...but i can't seem to identify any pattern as to when exactly it happens... i haven't had any problems with AEs recently, just low beam...
Any suggestions?

[TerminatorX5]

ballast is on its way out?

[ukrcan]

nice... please tell me you are not talking about a ballast aka control unit which according to realoem costs over $400 each?

[X5SND]

First lets get some information outta ya....

1) what bulbs do you have in the AE's? How old are they?
2) same as above for the low beams.

As arc lamps (low beam bulb) age, the power needed to strike and sustain an arc increases. Add in some cold weather like we've had in the prairies and watch the power requirements increase even further. Old bulbs or tired ballasts don't get along with the lcm very well in those situations as it tends to over react and just turn power to that line off.

[TerminatorX5]

you don't need to get OE - and OEM are cheap enough, Bosch or Hella... and the bulbs are cheap too - just make sure you don't go for the cheapest chinese knock-offs...

however, first you need to make sure it is ballast and not the bulb... if bulb - replace in pairs

[ukrcan]

Originally Posted by X5SND

First lets get some information outta ya....

1) what bulbs do you have in the AE's? How old are they?
2) same as above for the low beams.

As arc lamps (low beam bulb) age, the power needed to strike and sustain an arc increases. Add in some cold weather like we've had in the prairies and watch the power requirements increase even further. Old bulbs or tired ballasts don't get along with the lcm very well in those situations as it tends to over react and just turn power to that line off.

1 - Stock AE's (i still haven't swapped out for aftermarket ones). I don't think they have ever been changed
2 - Same as AE's

What you are saying about cold weather makes sense... do you suggest replacing all the bulbs (AEs and HIDs) ?

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

you don't need to get OE - and OEM are cheap enough, Bosch or Hella... and the bulbs are cheap too - just make sure you don't go for the cheapest chinese knock-offs...

however, first you need to make sure it is ballast and not the bulb... if bulb - replace in pairs

How do you think i should test it? swap sides and see if the problem switches over to the other side? Is it difficult to get to those ballasts?

[TerminatorX5]

first, make sure you can consistently replicate problem - intermittent problems are the worst to trace... otherwise you will have no idea if the problem moved with the swap or not...

study the pattern when it cuts off... usually these problems worsen over time, you should be able to catch it...

[ukrcan]

so far i was not able to find a pattern... i suspect it has something to do with the cold weather...i guess i will monitor it for a bit longer...

[X5SND]

You could try swapping sides on the lowbeam bulbs...that'll narrow whether it's bulbs of ballast. I'm stumped on the AE'd though as they're regular incondescent bulbs.

OEM Phillips bulbs can be had for under $100. If you're still rockin the original bulbs I'd replace those regardless as by now they're going to output about half (or less) the amount of light new ones will....not to mention by now they've undoubtedly color shifted beyond the 5000k range (slight blue hue).

[ukrcan]

i hear i need to drop the bumper to put new bulbs in?