Smoken'04

iTrader: (2)

So since 6th gen is down, i figured I'd come back to the roots of maxima.org for some help.

I have an 07 SL with factory hid's. Slight issue last night while driving. I had hit a bump and thought I noticed the driver side headlight flicker. wasn't sure so kept goin. Another bump and it def flickered. 3rd bump pulling into a parking lot and it went off. Got to my in laws and the light was still out. Proceeded to look around a bit and saw nothing. So when I left about 2.5 hours later...the headlight worked. drove all the way home w/ no problems. In the year and a half I have had this car it has NEVER done anything like this. Anyone have any ideas what may be wrong? Loose wire, ballast goin bad, bulb goin bad? I've had cars with HID's before but never a problem. I really don't want to drop the bumper unless I seriously have too

Demi6ix

You sir may have a bad ballast or its going bad, you still going to have to drop the bumper anyway, it only takes 10 mins. Good luck

Lovemycar

I would say it's a bad ballast if it were the Builb it wouldn't come back on

maxdark

I have the exact same symptoms on my 07 maxima's oem hid. I was also adivised here that it most likely will be the ballast. I'm going to buy an oem ballast on ebay and try to install it myself. My problem is on the drivers side. Does anyone know if the bumper has to be removed to install this, or can this be done by removing the air box components to get enough room?

DocJohn

I had ballast go bad in my '07 about a year after I bought my car. I had it replaced by the dealership under warranty. They said the ballast was defective as there was no way one should have failed that soon. They actually replaced the bulb first before they realized the problem was the ballast.

maxdark

Doc I know you said your waranty covered this fix, but do you know what would have been the cost had it not been covered?

Smoken'04

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the updates and thoughts guys. The more I'm thinking about it, the more I think your right. Sounds like it could be the ballast goin. I am out of my factory warranty but do have an extended w/ a deductible but...I have a connection that may be able to get what I need. I guess I'll just keep an eye on it for now

maxdark

smoken let me know what you end up doing and how it turns out. Im not very mechanically inclined so Im fearful of doing this work myself. Sooner or later I will dive into in though, If I do it before you Ill post what I did and the results.......anybody that can offer any advice to do this is greatly appreciated...

Smoken'04

iTrader: (2)

sounds good to me. I'm in no major rush...i hope.

Smoken'04

iTrader: (2)

let me ask you guys this. could it just be the bulb? I've been doin some searching and found alot of people saying it could be the ballast or bulb on different makes of cars. My boy with his infiniti had a bulb do the same thing. I was thinking about swapping the passenger side into the drive to see if it did the same thing then at least I would know it was the ballast or bulb. Also, if it ends up being the ballast, do you think it would be smart to just change both the driver and passenger just in case?

DocJohn

Sorry, since it was covered under warranty I don't know what it would have cost me.

Also, sounds like a good idea to make sure it isn't the bulb by swapping it out with the bulb from the good side.

bluemax07

my 07 is doing the same thing on the passenger side

maxdark

finally got my headlight working properly. Replaced the ballast and havent had an issue since. This was three days ago and no issues anymore. Before the fix, I would turn my headlight on and after about five minutes and some flickering, it would go off. No, no more flickering or turning off unexpectedly. Hope this helps other members if you ever have similar issues.

Smoken'04

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the update. Mine was good for about 3 weeks and then did it again the other night a few times and stopped. When it gets a little warmer I'm goin to check it out. Doesn't sound like mine is as consistent as yours was....yet