Gs450H Drivers Headlight Intermittant

[SimonG]

Hi Guys

I have what I believe to be a fairly common issue with my HID's in that occasionally the drivers side headlight goes out but comes back on if I turn the lights off/on again (Not ideal when driving at night). I researched the issue and read that this was a common symptom of a bulb about to fail and as my car appears to have the original bulbs so assumed this was the case. I replaced the bulbs with new ones last week and everything seemed fine but this morning I had exactly the same issue again after driving for just 30 mins.

Now that I've ruled out the bulbs does anyone have any ideas on whether this is likely to be a ballast or controller issue?

It's very intermittent and with my experiences of the local dealer I'm not confident that they'd be able to diagnose the issue.

Many thanks

Simon G

[Webtrans]

Hello Simon,

Looking at this logically, it would seem that somewhere in the system, there is a high resistance problem. High resistance in either the switching/controlling components, any where there is a connector or associated wiring due to poor fitting, dirty/corroded contacts,corroded wiring or component contamination due to dirt or water ingress.

First, check to make sure that the terminals in the headlamp unit are clean and free from electrolysis or other contamination. Then check for similar problems at wiring harness connectors and also the fuses, again making sure that all connections are absolutely clean. Finally, check the earth connections are clean and making a good connection to ground.

These are the common areas to cause high resistance which in turn creates heat, and ultimately expansion at the point of connection which is quite likely why you are getting an intermittent fault because as the resistive connector cools down again, the defective part is able to re-connect, and so the cycle goes.

The safest and quickest way is to entrust the work to a professional auto electrician equipped with the right equipment to measure voltage drop at the various suspects and confirm:

(a) he has identified the problem correctly

(b) after completing the work, he can confirm that excessive voltage drop and resistance has been eliminated.

Hope this Helps

Kind Regards,

Eric (auto-electrician)

[royoftherovers]

Welcome to the club Eric and thank you for the considerable contribution towards the resolution of Simon`s problems.

Regards

John

[doro708]

Hi Simon,

What bulbs are you using now? I am asking because i had exactly same issue and first time i have changed my bulbs with some cheap ones for £18 but they lasted only a month so i decided to buy the philips one and everything is ok now, a bit more expensive ar £60 - £70 but they definitely work.

[SimonG]

Hi guys

Many thanks for the replies.

I'm wondering if it could be an issue with a dirty connection - the lead light in question has slightly yellowed glass and the lens itself looks cloudy compared to the offside which has a perfectly clear lense so I wonder if there has been some sort of water ingress in the past.

Re the bulbs, I bought relatively cheap ones off eBay for around £30 for the pair - they seem to work ok but will be interesting to see how long they last - I've noticed the ballest buzzing wit the new bulbs and didn't notice this with the originals.

Cheers

Simon G

[doro708]

My car is exactly the same with one headlight a bit yellow and milky at the top and the other one perfect . i would suggest you to buy this: http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/osram-d4s-66440-xenarc-35w-hid-xenon-replacement-bulb-e-mark-made-in-germany/?utm_campaign=map&utm_medium=email&utm_source=yotpo&yotpo_token=b244fa1bdb322998c40b648c8cf8e69a961e27f5

and i am pretty sure that this will cure your problem.

[SimonG]

My car is exactly the same with one headlight a bit yellow and milky at the top and the other one perfect . i would suggest you to buy this: http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/osram-d4s-66440-xenarc-35w-hid-xenon-replacement-bulb-e-mark-made-in-germany/?utm_campaign=map&utm_medium=email&utm_source=yotpo&yotpo_token=b244fa1bdb322998c40b648c8cf8e69a961e27f5

and i am pretty sure that this will cure your problem.

Thanks Doro

If I have any further issues I'll give these a go.

I assumed my offside front light had been replaced at some pint, hence the difference in lens colour/clarity but maybe not.

Does anyone know if it's possible to clean the actual lense in a GS headlight ?

Cheers

Simon G

[SimonG]

Just wanted to update after running with the new bulbs for a few weeks now.

Oddly, the off-side headlight now seems to be switching itself off intermittently but if becoming far more regular - Turning off/on fires it up OK.

Last night both bulbs went out at the same time so I'm now pretty sure that it's a control unit issue.

I did try running the headlights switched to manual rather than auto and initially this seemed to fix the problem but the bulbs are now dropping out in either position.

I don't get any bulb errors flash up on the dash which I'd expect if a bulb itself was faulty.

I've an extended warranty on the car which doesn't cover bulbs but does cover the ballast & control unit but do Lexus have the ability to diagnose an intermittent issue like this?

My experiences of the local dealer have not been great so I'm half expecting them to say they need to replace the bulbs before they will consider replacing the control unit.

Very odd issue :eerrrmm:

[tonyricha]

IF it failed a MOT test because one of the headlights didn't come on the bulb will be covered by the warranty, funnily enough that's exactly what has happened before, not mine of course just somebody I know.

[ColinBarber]

Lights turning off is sometimes an issue with cheap bulbs with the OEM ballasts, so the fact that they are both doing this now doesn't surprise me (assume you did replace both?).

I suspect you have a ballast issue on the light that was originally giving problems. Personally I would have just swapped over the bulbs when first diagnosing to see if the fault moved with the bulb or stayed with the ballast.

[Zotto]

I had some time ago the same symptoms on my GS, just movede a little the connector and all went ok, I agree with the suggestion to verify and clean connector of the lamp.

[steve2006]

Just be careful poking around with the lights switched on, there is quite a high voltage involved in starting them up so use an insulated tool to do the connector prodding to avoid potential shocks.

[SimonG]

Lights turning off is sometimes an issue with cheap bulbs with the OEM ballasts, so the fact that they are both doing this now doesn't surprise me (assume you did replace both?).

I suspect you have a ballast issue on the light that was originally giving problems. Personally I would have just swapped over the bulbs when first diagnosing to see if the fault moved with the bulb or stayed with the ballast.

Hi Colin

I did swap the original OEM bulbs around initially and the issue stayed with the drivers side light but as both bulbs were old I decided to replace them both anyway. The fact the driver side now seems generally OK with the new bulbs and that the off-side light now fails regularly (Now after about 30 mins) seems to rule out the bulbs or ballast - Unless as you say there is some incompatibility issue with the ballast !?

Both lights going off at exactly the same time would also seem to rule out a bulb or ballast issue but I'm going to remove & refit over the weekend just in case there's a bad connection somewhere causing issues.

[alphacat]

I have heard this problem (light going off after a while then coming on again if you switch them of and on again) is the ballast control unit and not the bulb(lamp). quite expensive I believe. I have the problem on my 430SC..