could someone explain xenons (HIDs) to me....

[No3ntry]

..or more importantly why I am having this particular problem.

I had an accident recently and part of the repair was the replacement of a complete headlight including the xenon bulb & ballast.

Now occasionally when turning on the headlights the new headlight does not start, I then turn off the headlights and back on then it comes on as normal. I have tried and failed to make this reocurr, I took it back to the repair garage, as all there work is guarenteed, they had the car a full 2 days and did not once get a failed start from the headlight, so returned it to me explaining they cannot fix it if it isnt broken, it has happened twice since.

The older unreplaced headlight up to this point is unaffected.

I have scrounged the old headlight back off the repair garage and tonight as a little test replaced the new xenon bulb with the old one, which failed to start every time first time after unplugging and replugging the power cable to the back of it, so I swapped back to the new bulb which doesnt have the same symptoms as the old bulb, hmmmmmmm.


I am not a xenon light expert, my intuition is now pointing at the ballast on the new light.
Oh and worth mentioning I never had this problem before the accient either.


Car is a facelift 2001 Audi S3.


James

 

[Luke]

I don't know why it's doing it, but I once had the same issue with an aftermarket ballast. Never worked out why, but when I moved the kit to another car it was resolved so I'm guessing it may have been wiring rather than the kit.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Assuming the wiring is fine you have one of three items to check the bulb, ballast or the ignitor. Swap each with the other working headlight on the car until the fault moves across to it.

 

[No3ntry]

attached to the old headlight is a metal box with wires coming out of it, would I be right in assuming that the ballast and ignitor are both contained inside it ?

 

[Dangerous Dave]

attached to the old headlight is a metal box with wires coming out of it, would I be right in assuming that the ballast and ignitor are both contained inside it ?

The ignitor is attached to the back of the bulb it is normally red on the ones I have seen, it may be some have them combined with the ballast which is the metal box but my old X plate Polo had a seperate ignitor with its Xenons which are more than likely the same components as on your S3s headlights.

 

[No3ntry]

ahh so the ignitor os the big connector, that connects to the back of the bulb then ?

As far as I can tell I wouldnt be able to remove that so my only option I think would be to remove the whole lot and try that.

is this the ignitor then ?

 

[LSPIII]

The Xenons on the S3 are a bit of a pig for problems. I've had two problems with mine so far. One I managed to fix myself, the other I'm still working out how I can bodge without replacing both headlights

But I never experienced the problem you're mentioning. Seems bizarre indeed.