The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

by **adrian** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:22 am

Hey lads,

One of the HID bulbs on my GPX has gone. Don't know exactly what HID system is in the car, it's CJs old car if anyone else knows?

Where can I get a HID bulb at short-ish notice? Are they expensive and what type do I need to get?

Cheers as always,

A

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:37 am

You sure it's the bulb and not the relay?

I had to get a replacement relay there recently - found it available on eBay.

CJ would know the color "temp" of the bulbs he's got installed - if it's not the relay.

by **adrian** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:52 am

I'll check. Should be fairly obvious from looking at the bulb if it's gone or not I guess??

by **GarLaf** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:02 pm

Swap the ballasts over to confirm the fault it should be easy to do, about 5 mins.

by CJ » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:15 pm

GarLaf wrote:Swap the ballasts over to confirm the fault it should be easy to do, about 5 mins.

Good advice Garlaf. Adrian, I suggest you first jiggle about with the connections in case one has come loose. I used 6000k (electric blue) bulbs, they have a pretty long lifespan so I'm surprised one has blown already.

CJ

by **adrian** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:22 pm

Ballasts? Sorry, dumb moment.... are they the electric control boxes?

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:29 pm

adrian wrote:Ballasts? Sorry, dumb moment.... are they the electric control boxes?

yup - those are the ones.

by **adrian** » Fri May 02, 2008 12:44 pm

Going to look at this at the weekend.... could I just swap the bulbs instead of the units to test? Would that not be easier--- or am I missing something?

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Fri May 02, 2008 1:23 pm

no no - swapping the bulb would have the same effect :-)

by **GarLaf** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:56 pm

The reason I suggested swapping the units is because they can be very tight at the bulb connection and very stiff to take off.

by **adrian** » Sat May 03, 2008 11:09 am

hey.

No worries Garlaf. I tried taking the ballasts off last night... one connection is blue and easy to do, the other seems like a nut/bolt... but Iwhen I tried to turn it, it seemed a bit tight so I went no further. ANyone able to tell me how to remove that second one? Is it a matter of turning it?

Thanks,

Adrian

by **colm_mcm** » Sat May 03, 2008 11:39 am

GarLaf wrote:The reason I suggested swapping the units is because they can be very tight at the bulb connection and very stiff to take off.

unscrewing the screw that secures the bulb retaining clip about a quarter of a turn cures this problem.

by **adrian** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:53 am

OK so it's not the bulb as it flashed when I turned on the HIDS this morning, stayed on for about 5 minutes and then off again. At the weekend I could not get the connector off the ballast as I did not want to be too rough with it till I talked to someone on here.... how do I get that bolt type connection off.... turning it, it did not seem to be on a thread.

Sounds like a loose connection from the symptoms I decbribed above right?

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Fri May 09, 2008 8:54 am

there's one thickish (thicker than the rest) coming from the box - you do not want to be mucking about with that one.

1. It's likely to be permanently fixed to the cicuit board in the transformer box.

2. It carries High voltage - and there's bound to be a capasitor or two in there that could hold a charge & potentially leave you with a nasty shock.

If one of the transformer boxes have gone simply get a replacement and chuck the other one out.
When mine went I took it apart to see if I could fix it...when I eventaully removed the outer casing I noted that all the electronics are encased in a solid brick of rubber/resin.

by CJ » Fri May 09, 2008 10:04 am

Adrian, disconnect the original bulb connector from the HID loom and check to see if one of the terminals has melted or become loose in the plug. Is it right of left by the way? IIRC, I had to cut one side and splice the cables together with spade connectors - one of the terminals in the plug had deformed slightly. You may need to replicate this on the other side (assuming the problematic light is using the original connector!).

CJ

by **adrian** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:20 am

Thanks all. CJ, it's the passenger side.... does that make things more clear? Thanks again for all your help...

by **Dragonheart** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:06 pm

Adrian did you get this sorted cause one of mine has gone this morning, havent had the chance to check if its the bulb or what yet, and looking at all the ways to check it'l take me some time to figure out whats wrong too cause I'm not very technically minded in that department!
If it is a bulb where do I get one, and how do I replace it? Is it easy or do I have to go about taking out the whole unit? (Just as well my nct was last week!!)

by **adrian** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:28 am

Hey, sorry thought I had replied to complete this posting....

It was not the bulb, I found this out quickly by swapping the bulb that I thought was blown over to the other side and it worked! When I looked closer at all connections one of them had been broken at some stage and held in place with a nail, which had corroded and lost the connection so I stuck in a new nail and hey presto it worked!

Sorry, this is a fairly specific problem to my car and of no help to you!

by CJ » Fri Jun 13, 2008 2:45 pm

adrian wrote:When I looked closer at all connections one of them had been broken at some stage and held in place with a nail, which had corroded and lost the connection

My bad Adrian, now I remember...

. Nails and Wavin - indespensible items for the auto enthusiast!

CJ

by **Dragonheart** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:15 pm

Adrian the problem may be close to yours after all! My HID is back working, except now its not blue like the other one! And its seems to be.....pulsating or something. Cant think of another way to describe it! Its like the gas has leaked out or something, (stupid reason but thats my knowledge of lights for you) but I cant think of why the colour has now faded?

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:55 pm

It could be that the HID box isn't outputting on full power.

Try swapping the two bulbs or boxes around and see does the problem follow the part you swap.

by **GarLaf** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:39 pm

My right one went last week. I swapped everything around and confirmed both the bulb and the ballast fecked. Contacted Ricerocket and he said it was unusual for both to go. he sent me out replacements straight away. This guy is a top bloke and his service is second to none, can you imagine trying to get anyone to do that over here!

by **sinlessgunner** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:14 am

Dragonheart wrote:Adrian the problem may be close to yours after all! My HID is back working, except now its not blue like the other one! And its seems to be.....pulsating or something. Cant think of another way to describe it! Its like the gas has leaked out or something, (stupid reason but thats my knowledge of lights for you) but I cant think of why the colour has now faded?

I'm having the very same problem with mine, it flickers all the time and when it manages to stay on it is more of a yellow colour than white. Probably the ballast so...

by **colm_mcm** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:42 am

Dragonheart wrote:Adrian the problem may be close to yours after all! My HID is back working, except now its not blue like the other one! And its seems to be.....pulsating or something. Cant think of another way to describe it! Its like the gas has leaked out or something, (stupid reason but thats my knowledge of lights for you) but I cant think of why the colour has now faded?

That's a tell tale sign that your HID bulb is on the way out.

google "HID cycling" for the story, it's a bit long and boring to go into here! bottom line is you need a new bulb.

by **Dragonheart** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 3:32 pm

Sound, cheers lads. I'll be getting a new one so. Any problems fitting them or they straight forward enough? Like with alignment and all that?

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One of my HIDs went. What buld and where?

One of my HIDs went. What buld and where?

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