Xenon headlights condensation

Uncle_Gravy said:
There's a few halogen one's for £250, not what I'm after :(

Nope - they are quite rare. Brand new halogen are only £350, so not a good price either on Ebay

You can see what many folks end up fitting a new pair of aftermarket halogens for about £300. Not my cup of tea and poor light output but cheaper than new xenon.
 
What tips we got for removing water while the headlight is still on the car, on second glance the water is not that bad as I described earlier, there's a pool of water but not a lot.

I don't feel comfortable blasting a hair dryer in there, even with bulbs and igniter removed, all the little wires that are still in the way would worry me.

Running the car with full beam on? Would that work?

I just want to minimise the water that's in there now to avoid further damage as the headlight looks alright after a small blast with the hair dryer to remove the condensation
 
Uncle_Gravy said:
What tips we got for removing water while the headlight is still on the car, on second glance the water is not that bad as I described earlier, there's a pool of water but not a lot.

I don't feel comfortable blasting a hair dryer in there, even with bulbs and igniter removed, all the little wires that are still in the way would worry me.

Running the car with full beam on? Would that work?

I just want to minimise the water that's in there now to avoid further damage as the headlight looks alright after a small blast with the hair dryer to remove the condensation

You'll never dry a pool with a hairdryer or headlight on. All you'll do is remove condensation by those methods.

Take the headlight off, empty it out, remove the ballast and dry them on a warm (not red hot radiator).
The damage is happening in the connector/ballast and won't be fixed until removed and sorted.
 
Great
Did you buy the one I linked too or another?
Have you dried the light out fully while off the car?

Do make sure the real inspection hatch is correctly closed and ideally with a new seal or cover
 
I bought the one you linked, It was brand new from what we could tell.

I took the car up to the garage my brother works in, I did them a favour in the past so they didn't charge me labour, otherwise my brother would of done it on my drive.

Light fully dried out, WD40'd the connectors, the old ballast was just dripping water, new shiny one in, tested it and boom everything lit up.

Everything was put back together, I haven't put the new covers on, they're sitting behind me, I forgot to take them with me -_- But that's a basic job even I can do so i'll be putting the new covers on both sides. All in all Ballast and bulbs, free garage time its cost me £80ish, Better than £700 for new lights.
 
Can someone explain what the ballast is? I've got a misty headlight and need to get it sorted.
 
It's part of the electronic control of the xenon light. It's a silver box fastened to the underside of the light unit and connected directly to the internal wiring.
It won't be anything to do with condensation, but if really bad condensation water can drain into it and damage it.
 
Like street lamps and fluorescent bulbs, HID headlamps require a high voltage ignition source to start. It typically takes up to 25,000 volts to start a xenon bulb, but only about 80 to 90 volts to keep it operating once the initial arc has formed. The normal 12 volts DC from the vehicle's electrical system is stepped up and controlled by an igniter module and inverter (ballast), which also converts the voltage to AC (alternating current) which is necessary to operate the HID headlamps.

regards
 
Uncle_Gravy said:
Don't want to sound a pain but don't fancy shelling out for incorrect parts.

After coming off the blower with BMW for parts:

Ballast £378
Ignitor £92
Headlight cover £13

The headlight cover being the most reasonable for me xD

Anyone who's had problems with either ignitor or ballast give me the correct link to parts that are appropriate from ebay.

I haven't had a chance this week to touch my car so today i'll be checking if new bulbs work, if not i'll try the driver side ignitor on the passenger side to see if that's the problem.

Cheers.


whats the head light cover? did not think that was changeable?

my driver sight light steams up..when it rains..but it dries it self up in as few days..

did not hink about getting off and checking for leaks..was thinking maybe it has little hole from a stone thats hit the front...? but none are visible?

also i did sand and polish out the lights not too long ago?
 
The headlight cover will be the rear access cover. I assume your willing the answer to be a clear poly lens cover....
 
Same problem condensation. Caused by one of the wires caught between cover replacement and base. Make sure cover lays on mating surface. Had the problem on both headlight covers after replacing Xenon's.
 
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