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So, we had rain here last night and this morning my passenger side headlight doesn't work. Coincidentally, it seems there must be a leak in the headlight seal, because there is quite a bit of moisture in the headlight itself, probably leading to the ballast frying on me. I checked the associated fuses, relays, and swapped bulbs; the bulb is fine so it has to be the ballast, right?
Now, can these still be purchased or am I SOL? I'd much prefer to have a genuine OEM replacement if possible. Through search it seems there is a Matsushita replacement found on ebay, but I am not sure which one. Would this be it:http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Matsushita-Panasonic-Gen-V-5-HID-Ballast-Nissan-Infiniti-Subaru-each-/180824521436?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a19fb3adc&vxp=mtr ?
Now to my next question; is it absolutely necessary to remove the front bumper cover in order to remove the passenger headlight? Also, how would you recommend that I "fix" my headlight so that this doesn't happen again. Upon inspection from the top view I can't see any obvious cracks or signs of a spot that may leak, but from the large amount of moisture inside the light there has to be. Once the unit is out I'm sure I'll have a better chance of finding the break in the seal. Any usual spots to look for right away?
Thanks
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I would contact the retrofit source and get an aftermarket replacement. You are going to have to seal the lamp, may want to heated up and split it to reseal it properly. TRS also sells the sealing material, the wrong sealant will release gases and stain, get the right sealant.
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Welcome to a long line of people who have had this problem. Pretty nice of them to put the ballast at the lowest point (hooray gravity) in the assembly, isn't it? Let me give you my experience.
BOTH of my headlights had the moisture seal issue. Both collected water and had condensation within the lens. Both ballasts stopped working.
#1 - Driver side headlight - Condensation, ballast fouled. Got VERY lucky and found a replacement headlight assembly on eBay for $250. It was a 2005 (I had a 2006), so I had to reuse the old wiring in the new assembly (it's different in each year), but otherwise was not too difficult. You DO have to remove the bumper to replace the headlight assembly. But don't worry, it's not incredibly difficult, and really not time-consuming either. It took me about 45 minutes my first time. You just have to remove like 12-15 plastic clips from the top side and bottom side of the bumper. There are guides on this forum to help you, also.
#2 - Passenger side headlight - Not so lucky this time, no headlight available on eBay. I had heard stories of people putting their headlights in the oven in order to crack them apart and reseal them. I also happened to find instructions online to do so. My plan was to reseal the headlight and try to fix whatever was wrong with the ballast. I removed the ballast and verified the problem was with it, not the bulb. But unfortunately, I didn't have any replacement parts this time. The Matsushita ballasts you are finding on eBay ARE correct. In fact, I recommend you buy one. I didn't know that they were the OEM replacement at the time, so I did what any fool would do. Used a security torx screwdriver to OPEN my ballast (no user serviceable parts my ass!) and dry it out. I left it out in the sun for a few hours, and.. by some miracle, it WORKED. I used black silicon auto sealant, sandwiched, the two pieces back together, and let it dry. It's been working ever since.
So, to recap:
1) remove your bumper
2) buy that Matsushita ballast and replace your funky one
3) bake headlight in an oven, reseal the headlight
Good luck, the headlights are the WORST part about the 9-2X, IMO.
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Thanks for the replies. I placed an order from TRS this morning. Having read your experience, now I want to see if I can dry my existing ballast out to see if that fixes it. Thanks again.
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Just FYI, my other ballast with the issue was never able to be revived from the dead. So, I'd say be cautiously optimistic.
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Bump, major rain this morning on the way to work and shitty runoff control means running through some huge stand water. Not only did I loose the HID light on my passenger side, my intake (in the engine bay!) got choked somehow even though it has a water barrier pouch over it! Hopefully no permanent damage but it looks like I may be taking the bumper off this weekend. Le sigh.
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Just happened to me too, I was checking bulbs and accidentally left the HID cap off.
Then it rained and water dribbled into the headlight assembly, and the HID ballast is the lowest point of the headlight and it isnt sealed fully itself, so it filled with water.
I had to:
- take off the headlight (requiring taking off the bumper)
- rinse out the headlight because it got muddy/dirty water in it
- let it fully dry out
- replace the ballast (any 04-13 STi uses the same ballast, and foresters with HID) (found one on ebay for $50)
- reassemble and make sure i put the damn cap back on.
everything is good now
Last edited by elislider (2015-04-25 18:26:45)
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Well, I'm just letting the car dry out for a bit before seeing if it powers back up. I can take the bumper off but I'd rather not as the passenger side has a bit that doesn't clip in right and I used some body "glue" to stick it to the fender. At least I have no plans for tomorrow.
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elislider wrote:
Just happened to me too, I was checking bulbs and accidentally left the HID cap off.
Then it rained and water dribbled into the headlight assembly, and the HID ballast is the lowest point of the headlight and its sealed fully itself, so it filled with water.
I had to:
- take off the headlight (requiring taking off the bumper)
- rinse out the headlight because it got muddy/dirty water in it
- let it fully dry out
- replace the ballast (any 04-13 STi uses the same ballast, and foresters with HID) (found one on ebay for $50)
- reassemble and make sure i put the damn cap back on.
everything is good now
That's exactly what happened to me a little over a year ago, and that is exactly how I replaced mine with.
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I had the same issue over the winter, taking everything apart was a pain. I found a great deal on ebay for a ballast with the igniter and factory bulb for $75 shipped. The parts arrived and looked like new, they've been working perfectly since the installation. Its a time consuming job if you are removing the front bumper for the first time. Be careful when removing the headlight, the white plastic socket on the fender side of the headlight is easy to damage when pulling it off. I broke mine, I was able the use it broken but I wish it didn't make that mistake.
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I accidentally left my HID cap off last year and went through a car wash. I had about an inch of water sitting in there after that. I disassembled the light, cooked the ballast at ~215F in the oven for several ten minute periods, reassembled and she fired right back up. I haven't had any issues since. I'd try that before buying a new ballast.
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Who's gonna be a sucker and buy new? Either way it works out, I have a spare on the way from ebay for 45$.
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Unit dried out enough while out in the sun on Sunday to start working. And of course, a bird left a nice deposit on the newly repainted hood. By the time I washed it off that evening it had already done some light damage to the clear coat (haven't waxed it yet) 
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