BrandoMeats

Replaced valve cover gaskets tonight, figured while I had that airbox out it would be the best time to experiment with a headlight issue I've been having. They work most of the time, but once in a while the passenger side would be delayed in coming on or would flicker a touch before coming on. A couple times the passenger side would not come on at all and would display the warning on the dash. If I'd switch the lights off and back on or restart the car it seemed to help it work. Had a theory in my head of maybe switching some interchangeable parts side to side to see if the problem would switch to the opposite side and therefore diagnosing the malfunctioning component. Thought I'd start by switching the igniters so I verified they were the same and swapped left to right. Afterwards I switched the headlights on and got nothing from either light. After a while and playing with the switch and restarting the car, the passenger side would come on, but it wasn't right away like it used to be. Out of about 20 tries, the passenger headlamp came on twice and the driver one never came on. Anyone else had a similar issue before? I don't understand how everything was working great then went to hell after switching igniters.

mikerouze

Do you know how old the HID bulbs are? I had an odd issue when I first bought my car with the HID's. Turned out they were the originals from 2008 and that's why they had starting/igniting issues. I would try some new bulbs, maybe from theretrofitsource.com, they're pretty reasonably priced.

BrandoMeats

No, I do not know how old they are, I've had the car for about 4 months now. Anyways looked into it and one thing was my bad, when I switched the igniters I didn't get the plug fully in all the way on the driver's side. After I pushed the plug in the rest of way the driver's side started working properly but the passenger side was acting up. Took your advice and sourced out some different bulbs not knowing the condition or age. The driver's side was an Osram and the passenger side was a GE Xensation. Usually finding mismatched bulb brands will throw up a red flag for me (should've checked them earlier) but I'm not familiar with HID systems. It seemed like the passenger side wouldn't "ignite" properly so I went that route. Thought about bulbs but at $100 plus each I was cautious. Found some cheapies, gave them a shot and everything worked properly, was very relived. Thank you for the advice, I can drive at night again!