Problem with Xenon Light

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Oct 28, 2003 | 02:20 AM

PaulW

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From: Wilbur by the Sea

Problem with Xenon Light

I have xenon lights on my 97 that I retrofitted from a 98.

Yesterday, it started. Haven't drove my car for 4 days (GF brought me to Vegas thank you) and when I got in it and started it up, put on the headlights, the right side flickered after about 20 seconds.

The headlight would go on and off about 2-3 times in 1 second after being on for 20 seconds. It then stayed on, but after a while, it looked white versus blue, then tripped off after another 2-3 minutes.

I could restart it by turning the lights on and off, and it would flicker 2-3 times after it would start up. Then it would just trip off line and the headlight warning buzzer and icon would come on.

So, it could be a few things I guess, the bulb, the ballast, or the wiring. If it was the wiring, I would take it that it has some kind of ground path that it is going through, as I recall, I nicked one of the wires while doing the install years ago. But I did tape it up.

Question is: Does anybody know how the xenon circuit works? Is it plausable that it is the bulb? I can get it to fire every time, but it goes out shortly thereafter.

Thanks! If nobody knows the answer, we just might have a new troubleshooting procedure in a few weeks!

pw

Oct 28, 2003 | 03:12 AM

KaMaKaZieP -ALUMIN8-

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Mine did the same thing on the driver side

I noticed it did it much mroe when the fo lights were on. I think with the xenons that we need to give them a better ground then what the stock harness has.. It looks like all of the bulbs share a common ground which is not large enough to hold the xenon and extras. I turned my fog lights off and the worked fine.. i need to replace that ground wire.

Oct 28, 2003 | 03:47 AM

Excellr-A8

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Re: Problem with Xenon Light--troubleshooting bulb

Have you tried switching the bulbs around to see if the problem follows the bulbs?

Oct 28, 2003 | 04:22 AM

JimR

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Great question.

When it comes down to it, there's only the lamp, the ballast, and the wiring. Doing that kills one of the three from the equation. And the wiring is somewhat inspectable/testable.

Oct 28, 2003 | 05:30 AM

PaulW

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From: Wilbur by the Sea

I guess that is what I will be doing next

It's such a PITA to get the back off those things, I think it's easier to remove the headlight assembly and then pull the back off.

I just tried it again this morning, the light starts and then trips off within 1-2 seconds after flickering.

Thanks.

pw

Oct 29, 2003 | 06:47 PM

s4master1

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Re: Problem with Xenon Light

igniter unit
where are you located?
i see that you know your way around audis quite well
i just quit working at the dealer after 8 years to open my shop in los angeles and is good to know people who n=knows the product

Oct 30, 2003 | 04:31 PM

Terrybill

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Same Problem - A couple of thoughts

Well, I'm late to the party as usual but I have the identical symptoms with my aftermarket xenons. In my case, after swapping parts around, it's not the ignitor module or the ballast or the bulb. On initial installation they weren't happy starting on battery power only and definitely benefited from having the engine running with plenty of volts/amps available. I'm hoping to blame an aging battery but I may eventually have to look at the wiring / power source. It's really kind of embarrassing turning the headlights off and on until it finally stays.

I'd vote for a thorough check of strong electrical power, including connections (I understand some folks are constantly taking their front end on and off ;-). And while I'm here, thanks to Paul (especially) and all the others for a great source of information!