Help with headlight replacement/ ballast
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 1
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C220 Estate W204 Facelift
Help with headlight replacement/ ballast
Hi guys,
I managed to get a bit unlucky and had a stone smash my passenger side headlight on the motorway on one of the wettest days of the year. The hole was tiny and at the top of the light, near the bonnet seal. The opening is around 2 square centimetres.
This led to the dipped beam to go and I got 4 errors in total :
Intelligent Lighting System Error
Auto-leveling Error
Left Dipped Beam Error
Left Indicator Error
Which I thought was fair enough. I then took the car in and got quoted £900 main dealer for new light assembly and fitting.
Got a call half way through the day saying the control unit (ballast) had also as water got in it. Now the light itself had condensation in it, but no splashing amounts of water... It added nearly £300 to the job totalling closing to £1200.
I asked for both the light back and the ballast, so have them to hand. Taking the old ballast off the old light it appears to have a 3 layer red rubber seal that appears to make it a waterproof fit to the light unit itself.
My question is, should this seal have prevented the ballast being damaged? Did they just see me coming and say the ballast is broken?
I managed to get a bit unlucky and had a stone smash my passenger side headlight on the motorway on one of the wettest days of the year. The hole was tiny and at the top of the light, near the bonnet seal. The opening is around 2 square centimetres.
This led to the dipped beam to go and I got 4 errors in total :
Intelligent Lighting System Error
Auto-leveling Error
Left Dipped Beam Error
Left Indicator Error
Which I thought was fair enough. I then took the car in and got quoted £900 main dealer for new light assembly and fitting.
Got a call half way through the day saying the control unit (ballast) had also as water got in it. Now the light itself had condensation in it, but no splashing amounts of water... It added nearly £300 to the job totalling closing to £1200.
I asked for both the light back and the ballast, so have them to hand. Taking the old ballast off the old light it appears to have a 3 layer red rubber seal that appears to make it a waterproof fit to the light unit itself.
My question is, should this seal have prevented the ballast being damaged? Did they just see me coming and say the ballast is broken?
Super Member
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 885
Likes: 57
From: PA
2019 E63s AMG
If they're replacing the whole headlight then the only thing that has not been touched would be the bulb and the wiring which are in the engine, not the outside. Ballast on the W204 Facelift which uses D1S should be part of the bulb? So I am guessing they are charging you for 2 new D1S bulbs.
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 435
Likes: 81
From: New Zealand
W204 C200, BMW E30 M3, 1980Gt Mini, Toyota Corona, KTM 200 EXC.
Hi,
Been there done the same with my w176 broken headlight and rain water gets in to the headlight housing and then down in to the ballast via the internal wiring and plug hole for the internal wiring from the ballast to the various bulbs in the headlight.
The fault messages was your big clue there, water causing corrosion in the ballast printed circuit board and sending up various fault codes.
Yes I had to also buy a new ballast and they are sold with no program on them and the dealer has to location programs them on to your car so when you put your l/h indicator etc on the l/h headlight ballast knows to flash an amber light. It was expensive to have the programming done for the new headlight and ballast.
So my advise is they were telling you the correct information.
Been there done the same with my w176 broken headlight and rain water gets in to the headlight housing and then down in to the ballast via the internal wiring and plug hole for the internal wiring from the ballast to the various bulbs in the headlight.
The fault messages was your big clue there, water causing corrosion in the ballast printed circuit board and sending up various fault codes.
Yes I had to also buy a new ballast and they are sold with no program on them and the dealer has to location programs them on to your car so when you put your l/h indicator etc on the l/h headlight ballast knows to flash an amber light. It was expensive to have the programming done for the new headlight and ballast.
So my advise is they were telling you the correct information.
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