w4sim

Hello all

The other day when i switched the headlights on i noticed one of the bulbs did not light up. Although i was inside the car i did not notice any flickering or dimming of the bulb before it went out.

Now i had the bulb replaced but to no joy, tried the same bulb on the other side and it worked. Initially i though it would be a fuse but talking to the mechanic he was not 100% certain that the bulb was in properly the first time around, and may have possibly damaged the bulb from the other side whilst taking it out. So although he tried 2 other bulobs in there, he was not sure the first one was in there properly and the second one may have been damaged.

So now im going to experiment with bulbs tomorrow.

But i have a bad feeling its actually something else. Reading on here it would seem that its possibly the ballast or the ignitor?

But whats the difference and is there any way of testing either one? Are they swapable on the other side or will they only go onto one specific headlight?

Thanks.

BlownV8

Do you realize you posted this on the CL forum?

Yes, you can swap the bulbs but the ballast/ignitor is a pain to swap. If you put in a new bulb and it still did not work, odds are it is the ballast/ignitor.

w4sim

Yes, i know iv put this in the CL forum, but the question is not S55 specific, its just about xenons which should be the same on the CL.

My guess is that most likely it is the ballast, but just trying to rule it out before getting any expensive parts. So if the ballast is the one underneath the headlight, whats the black/red thing which hold the actual bulb in? Could that be faulty?

biker349

try cleaning the contacts on the bulb and the bulb socket and see if that works.

w4sim

Thanks for the suggestions but spent a few hours taking the headlights off the car and swapping various bits and bobs over. Turns out it was the ballast thats underneath the headlight. Good to know they are swapable parts i suppose otherwise it would have been a lengthy and costly journey.

Thanks.