my HID's are out! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

tacomonkey69 · 05-22-2008, 10:40 PM

driving home tonight and had to flash my brights to get the attention of a person driving in two lanes and after doing that i noticed that my lights were not as bright. came to a stop light and saw my reflection in another cars bumper and i noticed my right light was out. I tried flashing my brights to see if they would come back on and then the outage switched sides. then they both went off when i tried again!!!

i've checked all the connections and they look good. i would check the bulbs but they are hard to get to and there are tooooooooo many mosquitos out right now so i'll check tomorrow.

what could be the problem?

cykaaro · 05-22-2008, 10:45 PM

Haven't worked with HID's myself, but would check to make sure you're getting a good ground just in case. When I had my jeep I had weird things like that due to a bad ground.
Hope it's an easy fix for ya!

trdcamry00 · 05-22-2008, 10:51 PM

Do you have a relay harness?
if so check the relays or inline fuse

Does the 97 have DRLs? (which i don't think it does)
If it does check the fuses because they always blow for me even with a relay harness.

Does the bulb come on and then flicker and die or are they just dead.
If it flickers and dies, its most likely the bulb.

Do you hear the sound of the ballast?. Try to eliminate the problem and switch bulbs and then the ballast.

I've had all these happen to me before so I'm pretty familiar with it. On my old hella gen 4 ballast I would always have to make sure it was grounded or else it wouldn't work.

gl

tacomonkey69 · 05-22-2008, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trdcamry00

Do you have a relay harness?
if so check the relays or inline fuse

Does the 97 have DRLs? (which i don't think it does)
If it does check the fuses because they always blow for me even with a relay harness.

Does the bulb come on and then flicker and die or are they just dead.
If it flickers and dies, its most likely the bulb.

Do you hear the sound of the ballast?. Try to eliminate the problem and switch bulbs and then the ballast.

I've had all these happen to me before so I'm pretty familiar with it. On my old hella gen 4 ballast I would always have to make sure it was grounded or else it wouldn't work.

gl

relay harness is good

checked the fuses ... all fine

no flicker

i hear the ballast come on but no light

tried switching the ground a few time and it worked. but i turned them off and then back on to test them then they don't work after turned off.

cykaaro · 05-22-2008, 11:27 PM

Have you tried a new relay? Could possibly be a problem with the relay being bad, or not powerful enough.

tacomonkey69 · 05-22-2008, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cykaaro

Have you tried a new relay? Could possibly be a problem with the relay being bad, or not powerful enough.

don't have an extra one

cykaaro · 05-22-2008, 11:45 PM

When I had my jeep I had a problem with relays on lights. [3 sets on the front, one set on the back, and 4sets on the roof rack, two front, two back] I've run across with relays strange intermittent lighting. Try to get a hold of one you know is good and switch them. Sometimes the easiest and most basic is the culprit. With what you said, possible there's a ground problem with the relay itself?

tacomonkey69 · 05-23-2008, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cykaaro

When I had my jeep I had a problem with relays on lights. [3 sets on the front, one set on the back, and 4sets on the roof rack, two front, two back] I've run across with relays strange intermittent lighting. Try to get a hold of one you know is good and switch them. Sometimes the easiest and most basic is the culprit. With what you said, possible there's a ground problem with the relay itself?

i swithced the ground to a place with bare metal and the lights will for 3 turn on and offs but won't work after that. i dont get why the ground that worked fine since day one will all of a sudden give me trouble.

cykaaro · 05-23-2008, 12:30 AM

All I can say is who the hell knows. I've just seen really strange things happen with grounds. I've even done things like remove a ground wire, and put it back exactly where it was fix an issue.

tacomonkey69 · 05-25-2008, 05:46 PM

Now my lights only turn on ,if i'm lucky, when i first start my car for the first time of the day. I checked the bulbs and they haven't blown. i've checked the ballast's and all the connections and it still won't work. ARG!!!

bigbird · 05-25-2008, 10:07 PM

ya may have wasted the balasts. these cheap kits HATE being turned on and off especially when ya flash the brights. depending on how long you have had them and what brand that may be it if your not finding any other problems.

werkit217 · 05-26-2008, 01:51 AM

What brand is ur HID kit?

tacomonkey69 · 05-26-2008, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by werkit217

What brand is ur HID kit?

mod express. i thought they would be of good quaility since they were featured on this site.

tacomonkey69 · 05-26-2008, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbird

ya may have wasted the balasts. these cheap kits HATE being turned on and off especially when ya flash the brights. depending on how long you have had them and what brand that may be it if your not finding any other problems.

i got them in late february of this year

bigbird · 05-26-2008, 06:35 PM

hmm...sounds like a balast problem but thats real soon for them to go out.