MaxFiyah

Hey guys first dont flame me saying i didnt search i did and i found some information but none of them had follow ups i really need help because im a college student and i have night classes so i dont want to drive with a headlight out all the help will be appreciated

last night i turned on my headlights and the passenger side flickered then turned off so i ran it down the road to give it power and it turned on today i didnt even flicker this time. my high beams work and the little light thats dim works but the low beam thats hid doesnt work. on the facebook 5th gen page people said they think its the ballast. tommorow i will swap the bulbs from the driver to passenger side to see i checked my fuses an hour ago and its snowing over here so i couldnt swap the bulbs.

i believe this is the ballast but it does not look oem to me at all :


thanks in advance

MaxFiyah

anyone i really need help... i been searching this topic since 3 oclock yesterday. im going to try to figure it out in the afternoon

Genes1s

iTrader: (5)

That is not OEM for sure, the OEM is mounted on the bottom of the headlight housing. Do you have OEM headlights or aftermarkets?

Regardless, get a multimeter and disconnect the plug that power (input) the ballast and measure accross it ( NOT THE BALLAST OUTPUT). If you get at least 12 V, then you know that the juice is flowing. Do this on both sides.

It could be ballast, bulb,or bad grounding.

MaxFiyah

i believe they are oem headlights . i wonder why he didnt leave the oem ballast probably got stolen from the car when hids were something people steal the car was from ny so i wouldnt be suprised. i have a multimeter but i am clueless on how to use it. id figure it out hopefully. thanks alot man for the post. i really just hoping its the bulb tho =/ do you know if the bulbs are held down by screws? cause it looks like it when i took the cap off. theres so much extra wiring in this car also so ima go on a electrical overhaul when it gets warmer out smh lol

The Duke of NY

iTrader: (5)

That is an aftermarket ballast. After reading this thread from your other thread, i'm starting to think that it might be your ballast. It does not look like it is securely tied down. Alot of banging around can damage the ballast. The bulbs are not held in by screws. It is held down with 2 squeeze connectors. Squeeze the connectors (Metal bars which is bent into a circle @ the end where your fingers are supposed to go), & move them outward towards the radiator. I do it one at a time. Once this is done just pull the bulb out, twist bulb counter clockwise and pull it out of connector. It is alot easier to do this when you pull the headlight out. Very hard to do with the headlight still in. Switching bulbs to different headlights is the easiest way to check. Be sure to check the position of the bulb before you take it out to make sure you dont install the bulb back the wrong way.

(Those holes in the ballast are for it to be mounted to the body. If u get another aftermarket ballast, be sure to mount the ballast directly to the body for a tight, secure fit)

mightyMax95

iTrader: (5)

pm me your address shipping address and i'll send you a working ballast for the cost of shipping.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

with that picture, it could be ballast or wiring, but is less likely a bulb.

While all are possible, I'd say based on what we know right now, the above are listed in the most likely order.

MaxFiyah

i plugged in the good bulb and it works! so now ima order some philips hids and mightymax thanks so much i appreciate it alot but i dont think i need it! you guys are really helpful i apreciate all the help and yea the ballast are hanging around i thought it would be the ballast also cause it just hanging there + i use to have a vis invader hood so the **** would get wet all the time. and also what i might be worried bout is that after the bulb was on for 5-10 seconds the bulb was very hot to the touch is this normal?

MaxFiyah

there is 2 screws that i actually had to remove wierd it was easy to remove the windshield wiper fluid resevior got in the way a lil and the battery i just removed the battery

MaxFiyah

i believe these will fit my 03 maxima can some of you guys confirm? also it doesnt seem to have the silver/metallic strip on it like the pictures. only thing is when i was searching someone was selling the 85126CX and these dont have the CX on the part number but i also think the one he was selling was the crystal vision. i know philips is a good choice but is this the best choice?
this one does but its a little more expensive what you guys think of these?
anything under a 100 im cool with i dont want to mess with my safety at night

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Id try Putting the bulb that wasn't working in the side that was working before you try bulbs.

Ballasts can work off and on, just cause it works right now doesn't mean its good

pokeyjoe

+1

The Duke of NY

iTrader: (5)

The philips Ultinon bulbs are around $100. Other bulbs are around $30 for the pair. I had both in my headlights. The philips bulbs are good, but in my opinion, not worth $100. The $30 bulbs are just as good. Philips will probably def have a longer life than the others.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Best cheap hids are morimotos from the retrofit source, methinks.

MaxFiyah

true makes alot of sense ima do that today thanks for the advice

MaxFiyah

i tested it again and put the bulb that didnt work in the working one and it didnt work! thank god the bulb look burnt anyway. so i also put the working bulb in the one that didnt turn on to see if it wasnt a fluke and it worked again!

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Good call on the checks, now you know for sure!
Make sure to grab a pair or they won't match in case you didn't already know that!

MaxFiyah

yea i know! i ordered 2 philips d2r bulbs 4300k and i got the ones with the metallic strips cause i dont want to blind on coming traffic its inconsiderate imo lol

MaxFiyah

just to let you guys know my headlights are now working again! i just put in the bulbs and its very bright now compared to the old bulbs

Npatel107

Maybe you guys can help me out. I have an 03 SE and my passenger side headlight either doesn't work at all or turns on, flickers, then shuts off. I switched the right and left bulbs but the passenger side still acts this way with the different bulb. The car has Phillips ballasts (passenger side has some sort of adhesive and is stuck on windshield washer bottle neck and driver side is loose). I guess e original owner had the lights stolen from him.
Someone said I need to replace the ballast. If that's the case, do ballasts need to be replaced in pairs like bulbs?
But someone else told me I don't need to replace the ballast, just the relay harness. Could that be the case?
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

ok this is the most recent thread similar to my question.

i have had a tiny flickering only on the passenger side HID OEM low beam, i noticed on the highway 2 weeks ago (wasn't sure if it was just rattling fogs from road), and then today behind a car while stopped and idling (wasn't sure if my mind was tricking me)

both headlights, bulbs, and ballasts were all replaced with new OEM in 2010. Could this still be a ballast issue? I feel like the headlights/ballasts bulbs are way to new to give me issues?

please note nothing is aftermarket with my low beams, nothing.

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

so no one else had had oem hid flickering problems recently?

rkspec

hard to just give you an answer, what trouble shooting have you done? Have you swapped bulbs and ballasts to see if it continues?

Your hardware is already 4 years so i'd try swapping from the other side the ballast and test then swap the bulb and test then come and update the thread.