My drivers side headlight will not come on....
Is it possible for the igniter to go bad or is it always just the ballast?

 

ummm trouble shoot it. switch the bulbs see if they work.

 

well im pretty surer the bulb is bad, it has a big burn spot on it. if there is a short in the igniter and i swap it to the working balast, will it take out the ballast of the working side?

 

Igniter? I think the igniter is integrated into the ballast unless you have an aftermarket setup on a base model Z 2003-05. If there is visible burn marks on the capsule (bulb) i'm betting it just blew... happens occasionally. How old are they?

[edit] - Actually I take that back... after looking at mine, and some pictures online it appears the igniter is part of the plug that connects with the capsule. I still think it is the capsule though. [/edit]

Check the inside of the plug where it connects to the capsule and see if there are burn marks there. If so there could be a short with the connection.

Plugging the capsule into the other side of the car on a different ballast shouldn't hurt anything and will tell you if it is burnt or not. You can also plug the working capsule into the ballast your having problems with to see if that works.

 

i just didnt want to make another ballast go bad if there was a short in the igniter.

 

Is the igniter detachable from the ballast? If so and it does have a short, I suppose it would be possible to kill a ballast. I'd take the igniter from the other side and put it on the non-working side and a good capsule and see if it works. It's fairly simple really.... just a process of elimination. The hard part is being un-lazy, lol.

Check out hidplanet.com they got some knowledgeable members there if things get really sticky.

 

i wouldnt say im lazy, i just didnt want to mess another one up, but i went ahead and ordered a ballast and igniter just in case. But i might as well wait until it comes in to worry about it

 

Good luck... let us know how it works out.

 

well the ballasts came in yesterday, i tried the new ballast with the old igniter and it works, so the ballast is what was bad

 

How much that set you back? Under $300 I'd hope... Glad you got it fixed though. Any reason why the ballast died? Any visible burn marks or water condensation... maybe water got inside. Since it's dead you can tear it open and see whats inside.

But like any other electronics they eventually die, all depends on the quality of the parts used and how well it was built, and plenty of other design factors. Capacitors are the most common part to die from usage over time.

 

i got the gen 4 ballast. it was like 140. there was not any water spots or anything. It is he original one from 03 so i am thinking it just went bad. but i was going to take it apart to see but it has the tamper proof torx bit and i don't have that bit.