Last night my 2005 STi's right headlight went out. I didn't have time to check it out this morning, but hopefully I just need a new bulb. The reason I say that is because on my old wrx a headlight went out and ended up needing an entire new harness. Right at the bulb location I tested for power so it was easy to see I wasn't getting any until pretty far back in the harness. Can I do that same thing with the HID? I never had HIDs in a car so I don't know the do's and dont's of them, but can I just use a meter to see if I'm getting power so I don't waste $150 on a bulb? I don't want to jab a prong in there and ruin the light if it's not recommended to do that.

Yeah, I don't see the problem with that. Remember to check the wiring before the bulbs and before the ballast.

Cool, sounds good, hopefully something is exposed somewhere so I don't have to stab around.

dont just go testing the connection between the bulb and the ballast. this is a high voltage line.

your best bet is to check fuses, switch bulbs around, and possibly pull your ballast to check for water intrusion.

dont just go testing the connection between the bulb and the ballast. this is a high voltage line.

your best bet is to check fuses, switch bulbs around, and possibly pull your ballast to check for water intrusion.

Yeah, don't test the bulb-to-plug connection. You can test the wiring harness/power going into the ballast. Swap the bulb from side to side, and swap the ballast from side to side. Some times water will get into the ballast, shorting it out. You just need to dry it for it to work again.

Thanks for the help, I'm like $12 away from getting some subie bucks so maybe I'll hold over until then and in the meantime check for water or a burnt bulb and test the harness. Thanks again.

your best bet is to check fuses, switch bulbs around, and possibly pull your ballast to check for water intrusion.

Some times water will get into the ballast, shorting it out. You just need to dry it for it to work again.

You saved me $150. I could not find the problem and the bulb looked good, and I saw no water...or so I thought. All day I didn't use my lights so I couldn't notice the "burnt one" out. I went in the car a few minutes ago and my light was on. I was happy to see it on so figured whatever, I don't care about the problem it fixed itself. 15 minutes later it was out again. Upon inspection I can see some ice in the light. I'm guessing some water got in the light, made it not work, froze up, the light turned back on, melted the ice and shorted out again. I'll have to dry and reseal my light tomorrow.

good luck, let us know.

I might re-silicone the light to make sure it is all sealed. I cleared my lights a few weeks ago so I am assuming that was the culprit.

There is much more water than I had first thought in there :unamused:. In the process of getting the headlights from the oven and apart to dry everything out and try to do a better resealing job.

Cleaned out all the water and got everything nice and dry but I think after shutting off then randomly coming back on the bulb fried, looks like I need to waste the money anyways now :(.

To fix this permanently you may need to remove the ballast from the light and open it up to remove the water from inside it.

By taking apart the ballast do you mean those star screws on it? That's the only piece of the light I did not open up for lack of tools to do it. I took the ballast off with the 3 phillips head screws and dried inside there, but like I said I didn't take apart those star screws.

A small amount of hazing in the globe and burning of the electrodes is normal on older HID bulbs. When they get to that point they are slightly dimmer than when new and a lot bluer. A new set will be much brighter and whiter in color.

If you get new bulbs, don't waste your money at Subaru. They are like $150 or more each, and you need to replace them in pairs. HID bulbs color shift over time, turning bluer and dimming as they age. If you replace just one they will be very different in color and light output. Look around on EBay for a new set of Philips D2R 4300k bulbs. I've never looked for the D2Rs but I did get a pair of Philips 85122+ D2S bulbs for $78 shipped. The D2R Philips bulbs should be around the same price or a little cheaper. Just be careful with EBay. There are some companies that sell cheap aftermarket bulbs advertised as Philips brand, just like they do with the whole plug and play kits. It is a very bad marketing practice but it does fool a lot of people. Be leery if it costs less than $50 for a pair.

I had a friend give me the hook up at a store for $100 a bulb. That's not too bad, I found some online for 70-80, but with shipping it's almost 100 anyways. Now I just need to wait for a response from Mulder, and if he meant taking those star screws out and taking it apart I will try that, then go about buying some bulbs. Thanks for the info about the bulbs though.

I suggested getting two of them for $78 shipped, like I did, and you want to buy them from a friend for $100 each. That doesn't make sense to me.

What brand are they?
The Philips ones that I got are probably the best bulbs availible on the market. It's not like the ones that are $100 each are any better.

Ohh, sorry, I thought you meant $78 each, because I saw them for around that price, sorry my bad. And they are philips ones from my friend, but $100 each. Do you have a link for where you got them other than ebay, or just there?

**wrong window open when I posted a quick reply, it was supposed to be for my other thread, I was wondering why my post didn't show up over there.

What is with the CAD drawings? Or is it Pro-Engineer?




Here is a link to the seller that I got mine from.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/mc.trading_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ

I didn't just post the auction because there are two different versions of the Philips D2R bulbs. There is the 85126 (87.49 shipped) and the 85126+ (98.49 shipped). The regular one is a regular 4300k bulb. It will start out at about 4100k and then gradually color shift to 4300k as it ages. The plus version is about 4100k over it's entire life span. It will color shift slightly but a lot less than the standard bulb. I have also read that the plus version is a few hundred lumen brighter, but I have never seen any tests or data on the subject.

Yeah cad, I had 2 windows open and posted in the wrong thread.

Sweet, thanks. Now I guess I can test the other bulb in the burnt socket and if it shorts and pops I can just get 2 bulbs for the price of one.

Light turned on YET AGAIN this morning, despite the fact the bulb looked burnt to a crisp. Looks like I'll be taking it apart this afternoon to look for more water.

By taking apart the ballast do you mean those star screws on it? That's the only piece of the light I did not open up for lack of tools to do it. I took the ballast off with the 3 phillips head screws and dried inside there, but like I said I didn't take apart those star screws.

I don't think he is talking about taking the ballast apart. He just means removing the ballast from the light like you did. There are 3 larger screws that hold the ballast to the bottom of the light. When you remove those screws there is a large rubber O-ring around the hole. Make sure it is intact and clean. Then there is one small Philips screw that holds the wiring onto the ballast that goes to the ignitor. Remove the bulb and pull some slack on the cord from the ballast side and take the screw off. Then unplug the ignitor cord and remove the ballast from the bottom of the light, and the ignitor and cord through the bulb hole.

I'd probably take this off along with all the bulbs, then bake the lights in the oven at 225ish degrees for 10 min, take the lens off, let everything dry in front of a heater for a few hours (including the ballasts), clean everything and put it all back together. Just be careful when baking them. Make sure the only thing the light is touching inside the oven is the room temperature baking sheet you put it on, and place it lens upward in the oven.



When you reseal it, don't use silicone.

This is a common mistake when people open and reseal headlights, which can cause more leaking. The sealing material in the headlight is butyl rubber. Silicone doesn't bond with it very well and will be terrible if you ever have to take the lights apart again and seal them after that.

Go to pretty much any auto parts store and get butyl rubber sealant. It is mainly used for windshields. You can get it in a ribbon strip rolled up in a box, a caulking tube, or sometimes a small tube (like silicone usually comes in). I bought a ribbon strip, because I use so much of it doing retrofits and what not. I payed $15 at Advance Auto Parts. It is about 1/2 inch in diameter and 20ft long or so. It should last me a while.

When you go to reassemble the light put some butyl rubber in the gap on the rear of the headlight housing where the lens seals in. You don't need to put a lot in just a little bit more than is already there. When I reseal a single light I use about 3 inches of it length wise, at 1/2 inch diameter, just to give you an idea of how little you need. I stretch it out evenly, really thin, and work it into the grove on the housing. If there are some areas where the stock rubber is thin you can put more in where needed. Then put the lens back into position when the lights are cold and push it into the rear housing a little. You don't need to seat it all the way. Leave a 1/4 to 3/8 inch gap from being fully seated. Then put it back in the oven like how you took it apart, same temp (225 or so) for about 10min. Then when you pull it out and it's all hot you can seat the lens back on properly.

Wow thanks for the heads up about the silicone. I felt like I did a decent job of resealing them but as I was taking it apart 30 minutes ago I found some silicone on my work bench and was like "Oh, might as well use this up". That was a close one. Also, I don't know how I missed it, but now inside the ballast is a swimming pool :unamused:. Hopefully this last time does the trick. I'm off to the store for some of that rubber and some star bits.

Hands, good info here on resealing headlights and butyl vs silicone etc... bjwk, holler atcha ACAD 09!!! We're still in '06 here... Haha good work, let us know how the lights turn out
-M

My friend is nuts with the program, I gave him my design to make it better but there's really no need to have it in the program if I'm building it by hand.

But update: It works! Thanks so much for all the help. After drying the swamp inside my ballast the light fired right up like new, no color distortion or anything. Thanks again!