I got this car a week ago. Its an 05 base. I'm wondering if these are the stock headlights. I read that the 05 base models came with halogens, but this one has HIDs. I'm guessing that they installed an aftermarket HID conversion kit.

I noticed that one of the bulbs flickers when I turn them on, then dies a couple of seconds later. The other one is working just fine. After it dies, there is still another light in there though.

If thats the case I read that this year and model calls for h7 bulbs if it was a conversion kit, correct? Of course, going to try and change up the lights and ballasts to diagnose late .

I've seen and heard good things from Depo headlights, so I might just get those in the future. But for now, I just want to get this light working. Just wondering if this is the stock headlight or maybe an aftermarket one. I could probably find this if I find the ballasts, but these headlights are a pain to get to. See if you guys can save me some trouble.

Here is the good bulb

Here is the bad buld, even though there is still a smaller bulb in there?

Here is the headlight

Another view of good light

Another view of bad light

 

It's stock HID was an option, you just need to remove it and figure out if it is a factory HID or converted.

 

Sounds like the ballast might be bad. If it's an AM ballast, get oem ones for both lights. The oem ballast is the only one that should go on these headlights

 

It turns out its an aftermarket HID kit, not OEM HID. I'm going to order an aftermarket HID kit for now, to fix the bad bulb/ballast.

This means that I have the 6 pin connector, not the 8 pin that Depo headlights use.

If I wanted HID high beams now, I would need a second HID kit correct?

 

I'm not gonna tell you you have to splice wires to the OEM HID kit (that's my GUESSING), I'll just tell you YouTube will have loads of videos for this since it's a popular subject. I personally haven't done it so I really don't know (again I was guessing about the splicing).
but do not order aftermarket ballasts. Order oem ones.
I saw a video a while back this guy got a 350z with HIDs. Headlight wasn't working so he inspected it. Turned out the previous owner used an aftermarket ballast, and the plug that the bulb clamped into melted as it was made of plastic. The oem ballast itself is plastic, however the plug that runs off if it, that the bulb goes into, the head of the plug, is supposed to be metal. If you DO go with aftermarket, make sure you get one that has that metal plug or you'll be ordering another ballast in the future.

 

Oh and just for reference if I'm not mistaken, the HID lights weren't available on the Z's until the 06+ model. 05 and below were factory halogen so it had to have been a swap.

 

Yea I've seen some. I'm not too comfortable in my splicing/ soldering abilities. But will definitely do this when/ if I upgrade the headlight in the future. Maybe those are from extremely cheap, off brand ballasts.

Personally, I haven't had a bad experience with aftermarket ballasts on previous cars. I'd go OEM here, but each ballast is running $200+.

 

Let’s correct some stuff.... HID were standard on all Z’s with all trim levels above Base 2003-2009

If you source ballasts that are non-OE, stick with ”known” aftermarket ballast units for stock wattage application such as Matsushita, Denso, Mitsubushi -all of which are also OEM suppliers.

If you decide to upgrade to big wattage ballasts, bulbs, ignitors, strongly recommend Morimoto.

If you want to make upgrade to HID super easy without wire splicing, there are 6-pin to 8-pin adapter cables available.

 

Yeah it was an option, I had them on both my cars 03 and 04.