My Driver side headlight went out a few months ago so I replaced both lights with some HIDExtra lights. They were the ones that were previously in there as well.

When I replaced them i noticed that the driver light still failed to fire. I took the bulb out and tested it on the passenger side and it worked fine.

If i flick the lights off and on (usually from "auto" to parking lights and back to auto) the driver side will eventually fire and both lights stay on just fine.

I've been doing this manually for months now but i'm ready to actually fix this.

Any idea what would cause the bulb not to fire on startup but then after flicking the switch a few times?
A short somewhere? I've checked fuses that i know to check and they are all fine i think .. or atleast were back when i first noticed this behavior.

Would some component of the headlight itself be going bad?

help?

 

its probably your ballast going bad

 

the ballast controls the firing of the bulb? Should i try to source a used one or would it be better to just replace the whole assembly?

Its actually an aftermarket light as it is (denso or something like that) ...

 

just get a used OEM ballast on ebay. If you want to confirm, switch ballasts from side to side. Most likely not wiring issue unless you got into a crash on that side. But yes the ballast fires up the bulb.

 

hey thanks for your help man!

 

I have the same issue. In colder weather (below 50) my passenger side will come on for about 1 second then go off. I switched ballasts and this did not correct the issue. I'm not really sure what else it could be.

 

You tried a bulb?

 

Nope, would prefer not to spend $30+ just to test a bulb when the one I have works just fine, but it just a bit finicky.

 

Switch the bulb from left to right and see what happen.

 

Having the same problem with an '02 I just bought I thought it was the ballast I went out today and switched the bulbs and the driver side bulb works in the pass side housing so its the bulb and I just ordered a pair on ebay for $40 6000k 35w I hope its not too blue... I hate that... but I hope this helps someone...

 

Having had the same issue, I would suspect it is a combination between a weak ballast, old bulbs and how the auto lights operate:

Under normal operation of the car in the AUTO mode AND It's Dark outside (or in a garage) When you insert the key and crank immediately, there is a very brief moment when the lights are fired on by the ballast, then during the crank cycle they are turned off to conserve battery strength on crank, once you stop cranking the lights come back on.

What I think is happening is that brief illumination before you crank discharges the ballast to the point that once the car is started the ballast hasn't recharged enough to reignite the HID bulbs. Older bulbs likely require a bigger hit of juice and thus replacement bulbs sometimes cure the problem. A new ballast, would probably help too as it may recharge faster, but perhaps not enough if the bulbs are too far gone.

Solutions:
o Don't use the Auto feature.
o If you insist on using auto, don't crank your car immediately, let the lights warm up a bit and the ballast recharge before cranking.
o Replace bulbs and hope for the best
replace all components and not think about it.
o Stop using Auto and just flip them on as needed. This is likely the best solution, because obviously the auto feature is causing your bulbs to be flicked on and off excessively (at least twice as much) as necessary casuing the premature failures