Hey guys, just wanted to run this by everyone before I made the purchase. So my drivers side low-beam is out. It went out after being in the rain for a couple days. My headlights have been separated to change the yellow strip to a clear one and resealed and yes, water does get behind the headlight if it rains hard enough. I'm guessing it's a water logged ballast. So, I took the car to Nissan and they said this...

"BULB IS GOOD, SIGNAL AND GROUND TO LAMP ASSY IS GOOD, XENON AMP IS NOT GIVING OUTPUT. NOT AVAILABLE SEPARATELY. NEEDS NEW HEADLIGHT ASSY."

FYI, the cost of a new OEM headlight assembly is between $900-$1000 so yeah, not the path I want to go down.

Is the "XENON AMP" just the ballast? My understanding is that isn't pretty much just the ignition switch, ballast, and the wiring that is mounted underneath the headlight assembly to power up the low-beam.

So, thankfully, my trusty body shop (unlike Nissan) will take apart the headlight assembly, fix whatever, and rebake/reseal the light. They said roughly $120 for labor if not free because I got all my work done their. I can live with that.

Well, I have to get the parts b/c the body shop doesn't have them (understandable). So, should I just order a ballast? ...

NISSAN INFINITI Ballast HID Xenon Headlight D2S/D2R OEM

Does all of this seem logical and the correct thing to do? I need to order this part pretty much ASAP as my appointment is next Friday, June 10th, 2011.

Thanks.

 

Yeah it's probably the ballast. Take the headlamp out, remove the ballast, and try to shake all the water out of it. I've had water in my ballast before, shook the water out and let it sit 2 hours, then it worked fine. These are excellent and reliable ballasts in my experience so I bet yours is still good. If it isn't just buy a used one off ebay for like $50 or something.

Make sure you get the headlamps sealed well, and make sure you have the fender liner inside the wheel well to keep water from getting up onto the bottom of the headlamp.

 

The ballasts are filled with epoxy inside to protect the components from vibration and moisture. In other electronics applications, engineers do this to hide the circuitry so it cannot be reverse engineered. I'm not sure if anything other than the harness can be affected bay water and even then, water is conductive. It would cause a short.

 

Just an FYI, it was the ballast. I ordered one on ebay, had the body shop replace it, good to go.

eBay + body shop = $190 (win)

Nissan + labor = $1000+ (lose)

 

Have the same issue, will ordered the ballasts and do the install myself this weekend. Let's see how it goes!!!

 

How difficult was that ballast install? Have to do it on my wife's G35x

 

They are easy to install if you remove the headlamp from the car.

 

what exactly is the install like? i plan on doing this asap because my headlight has been out and the dealer told me there was a short so im assuming its the ballast. i just dont wanna bake it open it up and then not know what im doing

 

Isn't the ballast under the headlamp, not inside?

 

Correct, the ballast is connected to the bottom of the headlight via several screws.