club.liberty.asn.au

I have a problem with my passenger side low beam (HID) headlight.

Over the past month, I've noticed my low beam flickering every now and then.
Sometimes it would flicker so badly that it would just turn off completely. If I turned them off for 5 secs and then turn them back on, they would work again. I opened it up and could smell a foul electrical burning smell, and could see that the rubber grommet/seal was burnt around the edge (inner circle) -see blurry pic. I assumed it was just a loose connection, bent the tabs inwards slightly and reassembled it all.

That's the rubber grommet/seal thing.... (apologies for the pic....damn phone camera wouldn't focus properly in the dark)


It was only until tonight that I noticed that the passenger side headlight didn't turn on at all!!
Opened it back up again to find the inner part of the globe connection socket basically disintegrating (see pics for better explanation)

In the centre of the socket there should be a plastic locating (hold the rubber grommet/seal) ring, as well as the connection tabs....but nothing!




On the other end, the connection tabs decided to diconnect themselves from the socket and stay attached to the globe, as well as that locating/shield ring




My attempt of fixing it involved cleaning off any burnt rubber/ash/carbon. And I also inserted the centre tabs back where they were supposed to be. However, this left low beam HID still wont work at all.

Anybody seen this happen at all? What's the cause of it?
Is it possible to get just that connector or is it not possible because it's a high voltage one piece HID system?

Is there a simple fix or am I up for a new headlight??

Maybe graft a plug from an after market HID kit to your loom?

Yep, that would be another option. Would it be safe to chop and solder those wires which go to the connector? Just not sure because they'd be running some pretty high volts, right?

Pretty easy to get a new D2S bulb.. But the socket being busted is a pain.

After a quick google search it looks like the loom for the bulb from the ballast is hardwired so theres no way you could really replace that, apart from soldering on a new plug but I'd be hesitant. If I were you i'd source a replacement ballast which includes the new socket

Good luck

Yeah I'm a bit hesitant about soldering just the connector too.

Bugger, brand new ballasts from Subaru are like $400+. Of course, I'm not going to be silly enough to pay that much lol

Time to source a replacement ballast or headlight.

Cheers

I'm sure it would be fine soldering on a new socket, but for what it's worth I'd just get a new ballast. Considering the bulb needs ~20kV to ignite runs off ~85V though afaik

I'm sure if the solder joints were sound and well insulated, you will be fine.

I imagine the high firing voltage is just to get the spark to jump (like a spark plug) and only lasts a very short period of time.

I just replaced my rhs ballast and d2s plug with a good s/h item from a wrecked headlight.
The lhs was replaced 3 months ago.
My lib is at 230K, and I have continued the previous owners habit of leaving the headlights on all the time as if, eg they're DRL's.

It's a bumper off, headlight out, swap in replacement part job.
I took the cover off the ballast, which looked totally fine inside, and as the 2 wires are simply crimped to the contacts on the circuit board, it would be easy enough to replace the d2s socket and loom from within the ballast box with an item from eg eBay of Amazon etc.
So a snip off the plug on the new loom/plug and solder and insulate with a couple of layers of heat shrink, all inside the box.

The contacts and surrounding area in the socket are a bit charred. The white silicone rubber insulator has gone a buff colour and is stuck to the bulb, not where it should be in the socket, and the light turns on but cuts out after a while.

That would suggest that for normal use they're good for 500+K, or that either my always on useage pattern, use of the charge diode or around 50K of aftermarket 5000K d2s bulbs is contributing to prematurely burning out the sockets.

As regards the charge diode, the car is reporting 14.5v on startup, 14v running warm, and the non sealed battery is at 12v with the car off. My local mechanic did mention that all the diode would do would be to reduce the lifespan of various electrical components, maybe he had a point, or maybe use and age got them.

My guess is the silicone rubber socket gasket has a limited life, it gets hard, shrinks and ceases to insulate, in turn allowing arcing and resultant charring. As far as I could tell, some of the aftermarket items don't even have the silicone rubber part.
I'll have to discuss it all with an expert, there's a few local to me, inc various auto elecs and Headlight & Heater co.

Interesting stuff but as long as it only needs doing every 200K+ I can live with it
Or I'll get some LED angels in there instead

Regardless it's immensely satisfying being able to DIY a job with 2 hours and $50 of parts that would otherwise be a total clusterf*ck of funds and runaround almost anywhere else

I have a smashed light here, internals all look good.. PM if you're interested

Pmu

Hi All, I'm having the same problem.
Left hand 35w Xenon is cutting out after about 5 mins. I replaced the lamps and checked and cleaned the contacts but the problem is still there.

I'm thinking that the ballast has gone. Looking for a solution. There are some ballasts on eBay plus some complete kits just wondering what the best option is

Swap the ballasts to make sure it's them. Best bet is to buy some second hand ones from YAJ (via Jesse Streeter)

Try self serve wreckers, forums, FB for busted headlights from HID equipped subies, or just go aftermarket ballast w/ d2s sockets...

DLT F3 Faststart is the only aftermarket ballast I've seen that's on par with Denso slims (I have both, and also the D4 Toyota ballast, tested with them).

If you don't mind waiting a few weeks, I can get a pair for you from Japan.

I have had a look at a few options , Hard to find a ballast that will fit plus have the connection to the D2S lamp. If you can source some for me from Japan how much will they be?