Thatch
Member
- Messages
- 233
After buying the car 2 months ago with the Offside headlight not working, I though - "not a problem, should be able to sort that myself".
How wrong I was!
- Initial investigation by garage traced it to the Ballast unit, which I sourced new unit on ebay (£140) plus all the investigation work and fitting (£300).
- garage advised me that the adaptive feature was not working (hence warning light on dash), and that the light unit was damaged (previously) so letting in condensation. I accepted that, as I was too shocked to splash out £1500 for a complete new unit (Northern boy!)
- However, after the recent spell of wet weather last week, the condensation began to re-appear, and then last night I discover the light is not working again!!!
My questions are:
- has anyone else experienced similar issues?
- could it simply be a loose electrical connection? (the rear parking sensors don't currently work, and the headlight warning message is not always displayed) I also noticed that sometimes when parked and off, the light bulb housing was facing to the right by about 20/30 degs, and sometimes straight!
- could the dampness in the light unit be temporarily shorting, and/or blowing the ballast?
The thing is, I have it booked into my paint shop (different garage to the above) at the end of the month to get the bonnet and front bumper resprayed, so ideal time to get at the light unit looked at. So should I bite the bullet and order a new unit, or get the original garage to see if they can 'fettle' it (which will be difficult without the car).
Thanks for any advice in advanced!
How wrong I was!
- Initial investigation by garage traced it to the Ballast unit, which I sourced new unit on ebay (£140) plus all the investigation work and fitting (£300).
- garage advised me that the adaptive feature was not working (hence warning light on dash), and that the light unit was damaged (previously) so letting in condensation. I accepted that, as I was too shocked to splash out £1500 for a complete new unit (Northern boy!)
- However, after the recent spell of wet weather last week, the condensation began to re-appear, and then last night I discover the light is not working again!!!
My questions are:
- has anyone else experienced similar issues?
- could it simply be a loose electrical connection? (the rear parking sensors don't currently work, and the headlight warning message is not always displayed) I also noticed that sometimes when parked and off, the light bulb housing was facing to the right by about 20/30 degs, and sometimes straight!
- could the dampness in the light unit be temporarily shorting, and/or blowing the ballast?
The thing is, I have it booked into my paint shop (different garage to the above) at the end of the month to get the bonnet and front bumper resprayed, so ideal time to get at the light unit looked at. So should I bite the bullet and order a new unit, or get the original garage to see if they can 'fettle' it (which will be difficult without the car).
Thanks for any advice in advanced!