My headlights won't turn on. The last few weeks they have been sketchy, ie I need to flick the switch on and off a few times before they fire up, or either the left/right light will come on, but not both of them at the same time.

I seem to notice it happening more often when it rains, but somehow I think it is just a coincedince.

I'm guessing its a wiring problem, but I don't know what it could be, as it affects both the left and right lights. It used to work by switching on/off a few times, so all the wires should be hooked up correctly.

it happened to me a few weeks ago, then my battery went, replace the battery and the problem still continue but not as often and finally saturday night my alternator went, I replace the alternator yesterday morning and I've notice my lights are coming on right away and they even have a slightly brighter tone, the ballast are just transformer and they need the most energy to get started, so low current will affect them when starting, I would say check your grounds and perform a alternator check to see if it's working properly. the HID compenents are working fine ( by what you describe ) is more a wiring / power issue.

Don't flick HID's on and off. It puts a huge load on the ballast and bulbs. It takes the most power to get the hid's to light off. When you first turn them on the arc has to heat the salts inside the tube until they turn into a gas. That's why they start out dim and get brighter after a few seconds.

As culpable said check your wiring and charging system.

How are they wired currently? You're using a relay, right?

every time it rains...especially hard, i don't know why either...i'm also very positive about my wiring and that i did it in the best way...even grounded nicely too...ill figure this out...in the summer fine...but when it gets wet or moist...it's only turning on one or the other or sometimes both but one's weak...i had to flicker on and off to get it to set in right...i think the ballast got wet and caused it to do that...im trying to figure out a way to keep it out of the open in the engine compartment area...

This post has been edited by chacha: Aug 7, 2007 - 12:54 AM

I will try and check my alt. Would it be better to use a volt/ohm meter, or to start the car and unhook the battery? How would I check it with a multimeter?


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The bulbs are not turning on when I flick the switch on and off, but I do know that they need a few seconds to properly "heat" up. As I said, I used to be able to get them to turn on by flicking the switch on and off a few times, but now the lights won't turn on anymore.


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No I am not using a relay. Just the wiring/parts that came in the box. They were working fine a while back, with no problems, and both the bulbs used to fire up first try, so I don't think my problem is because of a relay.

They are wired up to the drivers side headlight connector. The ground is a sanded part on the drivers fender area, on the edge of the engine bay. The rest is wired up as per instructions (not like there is very many other options to wire it up)


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I don't think you should have to worry about your ballasts getting wet. Mine are in the open in my engine bay, and I also have the gt4 hood, so there are open vents that allow rain inside my engine bay. I also regularly clean my engine, and just throw a plastic bag over the ballasts, and have never had a problem with them firing up when wet.



This post has been edited by 6gsillyca: Aug 8, 2007 - 12:08 AM

I'd definitely wire them using a relay. You run the risk of burning up your factory harness the way they're wired right now.

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Could you explain how I should wire them up with a relay, and what sort of relay I should be using?

Any suggestions on a source to get a relay kit / wiring harness?

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my local auto parts stores ( auto zone, advanced auto parts etc. ) have wiring relay kits for ~ US$10.00 they are advertised as fog light wiring kit, so I guess you can try to get those and use them to wire your HIDs.

I have a relay on my fogs, but I have the my low beams HIDs hock up to the stock harness, I guess that as long as you keep the stock fuses in place everything should be ok.

Quick question.

Before I used to be able to turn my hid's on with the car off. Now that doesn't work anymore either. If it was a faulty alt, then it shouldn't affect anything if the car is off. I suppose that the battery could be that drained (alt doesn't charge), but the car will still start up fine.

BTW i'm running a redtop, so i don't think the battery not having enough juice is a problem...

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You'll want to use your standard 30/40amp automotive SPDT (single pole double throw) relay, which can be found at your local auto parts store. As far as wiring, it helps if you understand how a relay works and what it does. Read up at http://www.the12volt.com/relays/relays.asp and you should be able to figure it out. If not, let me know and I'll make a quick wiring diagram.

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Had a quick look at it, but it looks like it would involve cutting up the factory harness/hid harness. I don't really want to do either. I'm not sure how to wire it up w/o cutting anything, as the 2 harnesses are fairly pnp as they are.


85/86 dont get used, constant power goes to 30, and either 87 or 87a get ground, and the other goes to the hid?

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I don't think it'd require cutting the factory harness. I believe you can get a female plug for the factory 9006 plug at your local auto parts store.

But I'm curious...you say right now you have a HID harness? Aren't you just plugging your ballasts right into the factory headlight harness plugs? And then you've got two wires from each ballast to the HID bulb, right? Or am I missing something?

But anyway, you need to use terminals 85 and 86 on the relay...when you give one side ground and one side +12 volts, the coil energizes and 30 breaks contact with 87a and makes contact with 87. So you'd hook up your factory ground wire from your factory headlight plug to 85, and your switched low beam +12 volts wire from the factory headlight plug to 86. Then 30 goes to the battery with an inline fuse, and 87 goes to your HID ballast's +12 volts wire. The HID ballast's ground goes to a good, bare metal ground. Terminal 87a is not used.

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I'll check for a 9006 female plug tomorrow/monday.

I don't remember 100%, but the factory harness goes to a 2prong/wire connector that goes to a little black box (maybe a relay now that I think of it) and from the black box comes the ballast connectors. Then from the ballasts to the bulbs. I'm pretty sure the ballasts aren't connected directly to the harness though.

Tomorrow when I'm more compitent I'll have a look at the relay/page you linked and try and make sense of what you posted. My thinking isn't working right now. Long day at work :S

Should we be using a diode to prevent voltage spikes too? If so what kind of diode?

Do you need two replays as well? (i.e. one relay for each factory light harness/balast) Or can we get away with just one relay hooked up to one light, and have the output +12v split to the two balasts?

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I think you have one of the relay kits that they used to include with the HID kit, if you do, try to replace the relay ( black box )


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one relay will do it, 2 relays will just be too over kill and too much wiring.

Well I went to the parts store today, and picked up a few spdt relays, as well as a 9006 connector. Went and had a look at the hardware under the hood and I guess mine is already wired up to a relay. The wiring does run as I had previously posted. Headlight harness to relay to ballasts to bulbs.

I replaced the relay that came with the HID harness, but still didn't work. I can hear it "click" when I turn my low's on, but no light. The old relay that I took out of the HID harness appears to be a spdt relay, but the 87a (middle) contact has been cut off. Coomer said I wouldn't need that contact anyways so I don't think it would make a difference wether the replacement relay had it or not.

I can also hear my "head" relay click as well when I turn the low's on. The "head' relay I am referring to is in the main fusebox. Is there any chance I could have blown my actual headlight relay?


What else can I check/look for? I believe this is a wiring issue, and not an alt issue, as the bulbs don't even turn on with the car off. As I have posted I am running a redtop (the larger one btw) and that should have enough juice to power up the ballasts.

This post has been edited by 6gsillyca: Aug 13, 2007 - 10:51 PM

just came back inside after playing around with wiring for a few hours, and the stock headlight bulbs (9006) worked when I plugged them into the stock harness, so the harness and "head" relay are working. I tried plugging the HID harness into the pass headlight lead/connector (currently using drivers connector) and that didn't help.

The only thing I can think of that might be faulty would either be the bulbs themselves (both of em) or both of the ballasts. Unless the ballasts won't activate if one is faulty, but I don't think they are connected like that, are they?

no they are not connected, they act independent.

So me thinks its either both of the bulbs or both of the ballasts. Is there anything else I can check and how would I be able to narrow down the faulty part?

Found the problem. It was in the wiring. Stupid thing, had to take the entire harness before I found it... Turned out to be the fused +12v constant that goes from the batt to the relay. The spade connector that connects to the batt is shrinkwrapped. The soldering WITHIN the shrinkwrapping snapped, so I never noticed it until I was pulling the harness to send to stevenson. The relay was shot too, probably fried when the soldering snapped...

Oh well, I guess now I don't loose a month downtime waiting for him to test/replace the faulty parts. I just have to re-tuck the harness back into the engine bay. Yipee...



BTW I had been using the plastic "washers" that came with the bulbs to hold them inside the headlight housing, and lost one when I was pulling the bulb out. Does anyone know of something else to use to hold the bulb in, or where I would be able to get another "washer"

This post has been edited by 6gsillyca: Aug 16, 2007 - 2:44 AM