Replacing factory HID ballasts and bulbs

[Dragonheart]

With the help of Bernard today, we removed the front bumper and set about finding out the cause of my HID been blown, as its a factory HID its not a simple case of swapping bulbs in 2 minutes to get to the source, the front bumper has to come off to get the light unit out so that the back of the HID unit can be taken out and hence the bulbs can be removed. The factory HID unit extends out further than aftermarket units, and the aircon pipes don't allow you to remove it.
Heres an image of the back of the unit, anyone with HIDs will notice that the back protrudes much more than theirs, the second picture shows the location of the factory ballast for the HIDs which is below the headlight unit.



I'll be honest, its a ridiculous setup, and definitely not ideal for changing a light bulb! However, we finally got the bumper off and swapped the bulbs over to discover thankfully, it was only a bulb blown. Now the next problem, these are not ordinary HID bulbs, they are specific to FTOs, Evos, and a few more cars. The connection is totally different so you cant just go and buy a HID bulb, we found some for prices of $200, which is another joke, but then we found some on eBay for €40, obviously I snapped one up! The bulb in question is a Osram 66040 35W bulb. You can see in the photos below the connection and the bulb.



Hopefully this'll be some help to someone else who has a factory HID bulb blown, I've been looking for info on these for ages and its very hard to find it so maybe this'll save someone a bit of time sometime. Main thing is that these bulbs can be got cheaper than even camskill provide them, and that the bumper has to come off to do this job. I don't know why Mitsi did this, as if you go to a Mitsi dealer with a blown bulb, then theres a good chance, after labour for 2 men, you'll be paying the bones of €300 to €400 for a front lightbulb. It takes time to do it yourself with a mate, but it works out much cheaper!

[CJ]

Good write up, off the to the KB...

CJ

[mark m]

I had a problem with my hid units, i took off the bumper, stripped out the lights and got replacement hid kit with bulbs that fit into original lights as i went to a mitsubishi dealer with the part number and they looked at me like i had three heads! The full hid kit to fit into lights cost €70 in Dublin and i was able to make up brackets for the new ballust. If anybody is looking for the kit come back to me.....

Mark

[Dragonheart]

So you removed the standard ballast and fitted a new one? Was it the ballast that was gone in the unit or the bulb? If the ballast is gone then thats probably the better option, but if the bulb is gone better to buy a new bulb off ebay for about €40 instead of forking out for one of Mitsi or other suppliers or replacing whole units. Its a thing I was wondering though about the ballast, how to buy a stock one, where did you get the kit? Might be worth knowing for future reference.

[Bernard]

Considering how much they want for a bulb, it'd be interesting to see how much Mitsi would charge for a ballast.

[JohnM]

Thanks a lot for this man, was'nt 100% sure on how to access the HID, thanks again

[gt94]

Could you reach the bulb if you had repositioned the ballasts somewhere else for a future bulb change?

[Dragonheart]

I dont think so Brendan, its not the ballast that causes the problem, its the fact that the holder that holds the bulbs is extending back further than the non-HID holders. And the air con pipes are getting in the way. I think either way the bumper has to come off for the light unit to come out. Its a pain but I cant see any other way out of it.
Anyone looking to buy the bulbs, I got them off an ebay seller called arne-shop, he's German but the bulbs including shipping are only €42.
JohnM, no problem, I know the feeling of looking for the info and not finding it. Hopefully it'll come in useful this way.