So after the rain stopped in ca , saturday morning I wake up to see my cars left headlight filled with water. No biggie my friend tells me that it'll get dry eventually. So later that night I turn on my lights just to find out its not working. Someone told me to let it dry with the sun to see if it'll work again , or put a warm light to it and let it sit. Another friend told me to open it and clean it and dry it and see if it'll work that way. Im in no way familiar and nor do I know how to do that. Took it to the dealership today just to find out they want 600 to fix it. They didn't even tell me what was wrong they just said that's how much it'll be. Now im driving my moms car until I get this fixed I can't drive my car at night. Can anyone in socal help me out with this issue? ill pay someone to clean it open it and seal it back up. I don't want to deal with the whole oven microwave stuff . What else can I do besides this. Any input is welcomed

thanks

 

I got water in my right side headlamp, and water got into the HID ballast so it wouldn't power up. I pulled the headlamp out of my car and shook all the water out from the bulb access hole on the back. Took the ballast off, and shook it until all the water came out and I didn't hear it swooshing around inside. Let it all sit overnight and plugged it in in the morning, works fine...

If your car is still in warranty you might be able to get them to replace it as a factory defect. Good luck though it's hard to get them to do anything on issues like this.

If you cant' do that and you can't get the ballast to work you can probably buy one off ebay for ~$100 or so.

 

Stick a straw through the bulb hole and drink it.

 

^+1

Also try driving your car into the sun.

 

Mine is in the driver side headlight. It's condensation...it rained hell in Florida. Now my driver side headlight won't turn on. My passenger still does however.

I'm not sure if the bulb is fried OR its the ballast having water inside.

I read yours and another post of water being in the ballast. Is there any way to remove the ballast without removing the headlight? Can I get to the ballast by removing the fender or undertray or I HAVE to remove the bumper?

Thanks.

BTW if it is the bulb, can anyone tell me the size of the HID/Xenon Bulb? (H7, H9?)

 

most likely it will just be that theres water inside the headlight , and into the ballast wiring. remove fron tires . remove under panels , remove bumper . take headlight completely out. If you dont remove it completely out chances are that theres still water inside. Once out shake the headlight and dry it with a blow drier. Put it back and see if it works. Should work , i didnt even need a new lightbubl

 

So did you fix your problem?

My car was parked outside for 5 days without me driving it, and it flooded around my house 1 day and the other rained more.

I knew I shouldve parked in the garage. Too late now.

So HOPEFULLY its just water in the ballast...and I dont have to replace the headlight.

Also, did you reopen your headlights and sealed them?

Thanks.

 

I doubt you can get the ballast off without taking the entire headlamp out. You can try, but it would probably just be easier taking the whole bumper off. Yeah it sucks but it isn't that bad, it's just time consuming.

I doubt it is the bulb... but if it is you have D2R's if it is a 03-05 and D2S's if its a 06+. You can fit D2S's inside but you will have to cut a little notch in the top of the base, you'll see what I mean if you try to install it. This will not affect light output, i've done it and there was no additional light above the cutoff.

I did not tear open my headlamp though, just took all the bulbs out and held the entire headlamp up and shook the water out.

 

Fixed...

Definitely was the ballast. In case others need to know... remove the black box with the 3 screws holding it in place with the headlight. Disconnect brown clip, and unscrew the silver wire wrap from the ballast. There will be A LOT of water inside that thing. Just shake it till water comes out, blow in it (from where you disconnect the brown clip), and water will still come out. Then blow dry the outside of it so it can get hot/put it outside and let the rest of the water dry.

Goodluck.