Headlight burnout

[carvalho360]

Confused and trying to avoid getting scammed by my local nissan. 3rd time now either my left or right headlight burn out. When turning them on, or it switching to auto, it'll spark on but immediately go out. Nissan told me it wasn't the right ballast or that the voltage wasn't right and then told me 800 was the quote to fix. Needless to say I declined. But even when i had OEM lights the same issue happened and I had a local shop replace it. less than 5,000 miles later those burned out. Local garage won't fix/too much of a hassle to get back there and argue.

After changing they'll both work fine for a couple thousand miles... but eventually one burns out it seems.

Anyone know how I can track this down or what a legitimate price estimate would be to assess the problem and correct it. Any help is appreciated!

[Daniel123588]

When you say OEM lights, are you talking about the headlight assembly, ballast or bulb?

You should narrow down the problem first.

1. Bulbs. These newer ballast are having problems working with aftermarket bulbs. Always buy quality bulbs such as Osram or Phillips. OR you can swap out the side that works to the other side. Look at the brand on the bulb you have. I would do this first and look at the brand of the bulbs.

Next, assuming you have OEM bulbs.

2. Ballasts brand new are super expensive. Go to HIDplanet, you will find soooo many OEM ballasts. I sold various OEM ballast (matsushita, Denso, etc) on there. Super cheap because its hard to make headlight retrofits with OEM ballast due to shape, connections, etc. Swap the ballast on the side that works to the faulty side, see if this narrows down anything. Bulb doesn't ignite, buy a used ballast.
Go to ebay if you don't want to go through HIDplanet. Do make sure product numbers match your OEM ballast model.

3. If you have aftermarket headlights (usually garbage performance, than again OEM projectors on 370z are weak to being with without modding). Actually I don't think you have aftermarket headlights more than likely as most aftermarket companies don't make HID friendly projectors but if you do than post up in here.

[carvalho360]

Switched the ballasts and no change. Must be the bulb, feel like that takes longer to pop out so I'll wait until tomorrow. Thanks!

[Daniel123588]

You swapped the ballast but didn't check the bulbs? Strange, changing the bulb is a whole lot easier since it doesn't require taking off the headlights. ....

Anyhow, check the brand on the bulbs.

[carvalho360]

My ballasts are in odd places due to the reconstructed salvage thing i just realized. Easy to access without removing tires. But i did it all yesterday. Tried 2 ballasts, changed out both bulbs for osram ones. And still nothing. The yellow running light turns on as always. But no headlight. Im baffled

[Daniel123588]

It's hard to believe Oem ballast would be in odd places (even if shop moved it around) because they way manufactures build hid headlights, usually builds an area on the headlight that mounts the ballast with a rubber gasket with the cords to the igniter inside the headlights.
Take a pic of your headlight set up in the back but before you do this, look at the lens of the headlight, are they OEM? Looks for writing on the lens on the bottom, it will say like "Nissan" "dot" or something. Do that first please so I know your dealing with a Oem headlight.

[carvalho360]

Sorry got delayed. It turns out my ballasts are not OEM and thats were the confusion was. Would you happen to know a good place to order a reliable new kit? JWM seems to no longer exist and that was all the search was turning up.

[Daniel123588]

HID planet has a plethora of OEM ballast for oh so cheap. BUT, you need to figure out the following:
1. What brand headlights you have, i have yet to see aftermarket 370z headlights. If you have OEM, you are using D2S bulbs. Again, you need to double check this as this is important.

2. If its OEM, ballast are 95% mouted on the bottom of the headlight (i dont have a 370z yet so not sure, sorry). This is one method of finding out if its OEM.

If your looking for just replacement aftermarket ballast (as i assume you done have OEM headlights), you should use theretrofitsource.com. Very good company and a pair of ballast is like $110 i think off the top of my head.

[carvalho360]

oem brand headlights. With 2 new osram bulbs in em. The ballasts are not stock, they were replaced at 7k miles by previous owner. I dont know which brand they are, but they flicker on pot holes and no longer work anymore unfortunately.
For now I bought an aftermarket hid kit because I leave friday to Florida and need headlights but would you recommend keeping aftermarket ballast with the osram bulbs or buying oem ballasts

[Daniel123588]

I recommend OEM ballasts but again they are expensive brand new but you can easily find used ones on HID planet or even ebay. THis allows the most absolute cleanest set up but since your car has aftermarket ballast, im not too sure if the previous owner hacked up the harness/connections.
Since the wiring is already set with aftermarket ballasts and since you already bought aftermarket ballasts as well, I would just use those and see how it goes as this point. The aftermarket ballast should have absolutely no problems using a osram bulb.
Hope that helps. Good luck.

[carvalho360]

So i bought and installed aftermarket ballasts. When breaking everything down I found multiple probably causes. The ballasts I previously had were 55w, replaced by a local garage. They likely were cheap and I doubt the garage did anything to adjust for the 35/55w difference. In their install process they also snapped the plastic that the metal brackets around the actual bulb clip into.
That snapping caused the ballast ignitor to not click in properly, which at some point caused it to blow out (or something else did). When I looked at the ignitors, a giant black burnt spot (size of a dime in comparison) was surrounding the metal components inside. They also had the positive/negative connector (metal tabs) reversed which is likely what caused the not starting at all after my 2nd garage visit.

All in all my ballasts were royally messed up, but after fiddling for hours and changing everything...all is good. Finally...Thanks for the help!

[BeemaaZ]

Could someone please recommend an (safe) after market bulb replacement for an OEM ballast?

I found several Phillips D2S HID on Amazon with price range of $44 each to $175 (pack of 2)

Thanks!

Philips D2S Xenon HID Headlight Bulb, 1 Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01317Y612..._-ZY4wb8F7C29Q
Philips D2S CrystalVision Xenon HID Headlight Bulb, Pack of 2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W20LKK..._7XY4wb62KDFNT

[Daniel123588]

Check out morimoto brand from Theretrofitsource.com. Vey good company.
If yor looking for better output with oem quality, buy the osram CBI d2s. They used to be $200 back in the days but now it's cheaper.
It may be worth to buy quality if you intend to keep the car. Otherwise morimoto is good for budget.

[BeemaaZ]

Thanks, Daniel.

I think found the one on Amazon.
OSRAM D2S CBI Cool Blue Intense Xenon HID Headlight Bulbs 5000K (Two Bulbs) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KTHP9BE..._.J44wb1YH11AA

or

Osram 66240NB Xenarc D2S Nightbreaker Bulb, Pair https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FQ8AVHS..._Oy54wbHYGVC8X

[Daniel123588]

Ive never used the Nightbreaker line up so i dont have much feedback but i did use the CBI in a LS430 (one of the widest projectors out there) along with my 350z and i really like the output.
Some people may not notice much of a difference but they have been proven many times on the HIDplanet forums.
Either way, your going with a high quality bulb with your two links so you should be good.