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.

w4sim

Got this sorted now.

Whilst swapping the bulbs over i found none of the bulbs had blown, all 3 are working fine. Swapped the ballasts over from underneath the headlights and hey presto, the faulty headlight started working and the good one went out.

Spent a few days looking for one and the general feel was in the region of about £140 ($225) for a used one. Out of curiosity we tried MB dealers and they quoted nearly £500 ($800) for a new one.

Only nag with the used ones was that there were none close by, anybody who had one didnt want to know until after new years and the postal service is clogged up anyway so would take a few days to clear.

As a last resort i tried a VW breakers yard on xmas eve as some of these ballasts are the same on VW Golfs/Jettas aswell. As i predicted they didnt have one, but by a very big chance they had a "xenon specialist" in just for that one day. Now he had one but had left it at his home in London, which is about 3-4 hours away from where we are, and i was talking to him on xmas eve at 4pm. So close and yet so far. But it is xmas and a time of miracles and as it would happen his brother was coming from London on xmas day and could bring the ballast up. This he did indeed do and at a price i just couldnt refuse, so on xmas day i drove to this guys place with just my headlight with the blown ballast, he put the new one on and tested it right there and then. It all worked well and now the car is back up to its usual standard.

As a matter future assurance i asked if he had another ballast that was the same, his brother had bought up 2 just incase. We tried that one and it also worked fine. So i paid the very princely sum of £120 ($195) . . . . . . . . . for BOTH.

Now thats a great xmas present if ever there was one.

123Pokey321

That's excellent! Glad to hear that things worked out well.