HID-Pass. Side takes a few cycles to turn on

[teameyecatcher]

This is small potatoes next to my little hissy-fit last night with a soldering problem, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

I've seen this problem posted elsewhere in an HID thread, and I was wondering if anyone has figured out a solution.

When the headlights turn after a while of not being used either on automatic or when I turn the switch, the passenger side HID turns on then right back off. I have to cycle the headlight switch 2-3 times to get it to stay on. Driver's side light works just fine.

What in the world could be the cause of that?

For reference, I'm using the Retro-Solutions H13 bixenon projector retrofit kit.

[MPTonyT]

Try switching the ballast to see if that takes care of the issue, if not switch the bulb as well. If both still have the same issue then it may be in the wiring. I have had a similar issue when one of my bulbs was on its way out. Inside the bulb there is a circle opening that in in the center of the bulb... is it cloudy? Normally when the bulbs go out those circles will turn a dark gray.

[teameyecatcher]

Bulbs are brand new. It must be the wiring then. I installed them last night, and I plugged in both ballasts and lights with the same results. Judging from my performance I'd be willing to bet that's where my high beam problem lies as well. Thanks for the help

[mechanix]

Did you get the harness with the capacitor from Retro? I have had the H13 kit installed for 2-3 weeks and still having the same problems. I did receive the new harness with the capacitor in the mail I am going to put on today to see if that works. Be sure your grounds are clean and you have good connections.

What issues are you having with the high beams?

I had issues with my high beams, I didn't notice any change between the high and low beam when I moved the selector switch. The high beam indicator stayed on in the dash when the head lights where on no matter what position the multifunction switch was in, but when I switched to high beam the indicator in the dash would be brighter. Come to find out the wiring on the harness was wrong that I got from Retro.

In the first picture you can see the wires, well after pulling my hair out and trying to find the cause of the high beams not working at all turns out the wiring was wrong.


In this image you can see how the wires are different and you can see the red wire going to the white wire, the red wire is from the capacitor that they attached to the harness to get rid of the only one bulb firing.


If you need anything else just ask, I have been through it all with this light kit trying to make it work correctly.
Eric

[teameyecatcher]

Glad to see someone else has the same issue. I didnt even get a nice harness like that one to plug into my headlight socket. What came with mine was the three-wire harness that plugged into a sealed-beam style adapter, then went to four wires: two white for low beam, and two blue for high beam. Apparently on that section, Todd said it doesnt matter which you plug as ground or + on each, but if its backward the high beams may not work. He then said it may be easier just to take that portion off, cut the 3-wire-plug off, and tap the white, blue, and ground wires into the factory plug using the quick splices, which I did.

That odd four-wire harness had a capacitor on it. However, when I discovered the problem with the high beams, I spliced it back on trying to troubleshoot and it gave me no luck there. I didnt even notice if it solved the issue with not turning on at all, so I may have to explore that route again.

Funny that we're having the same issue with the high beams. I cannot get anything to change when I flip the switch. It seems that its all high beam all the time. My high indicator on the dash doesnt stay lit all the time though. It will turn on when I push the stalk, but nothing changes with light output. I've been testing all sorts of things - I've swapped high and low leads (since they were just quick spliced it was easy) with no luck. Actually, if I only connect high or low beams without the other, I at least get some kind of reaction because the light itself will turn off when I select whatever setting is missing.

I also tried plugging my old bulb into the socket with the kit installed, and it would stay on high beam even in low as well. Except when I switched to high it would go out. Same on both sides.

This is frustrating me to no end, since I would like to have normal functionality. I had to drive last night and I had to point my headlights almost straight down to not blind anyone.

I ordered a couple male-to-female H13 connectors to cut apart and try attaching to this kit so I have full plug-and-play compatibility. I do not like have just quick splices connecting the three wires from the kit to the three on my headlight harness

[mechanix]

Another thing I did was modded the fog light relay so they will stay on even with the high beams on. By doing this is it will allow the high beam relay to turn off, which in your case sounds like it is NOT happening. For troubleshooting I would turn on the head lights and remove the high beam relay to see if they switch. I know on my 03 the fog lights use the high beam relay to work and some times it likes to stay on and not turn off. My original head lights are the 9007 bulbs, I installed the Harley lights which needed the h13 bulb, so I had to use a conversion harness to make this work. Can you post some pics of your wiring, I think I understand but a pic would clear it all up for me.


I just put in the new harness with the capacitor it works....for now. I am not completely convinced it will work time will tell though.

Eric

[teameyecatcher]

I did the same years ago with the steve racer mod. I wonder if that is having an effect on my high beams.

Next time i get these headlights out I'll be glad to snap a picture. I can tell you exactly what's going on though:

Ballasts on each side have + to its respective battery, grounded at nearest convenient location.

Each side is connected to the headlamp harness as follows: light green/black wire connected to blue wire to the kit for high beam. Brown to orange for ground. Other (forget exact color) to white for low beam. It's really as simple as that, which is why I'm confused

[teameyecatcher]

Just pulled out the high beam fuse under the dash and the lights will not come on. Is there another relay I should look for? I'm also thinking of undoing the fog light mod to see if that helps

[teameyecatcher]

No help taking the fog lights back to normal operation.

[mechanix]

Well, lets get back to the basics. Have you checked your low beam fuse? I know when I installed the HID's in the fog lights it kept blowing the 10amp factory fuse. You said also you put in the stock halogen bulb and only had high beams, correct? When you have the stock bulbs can you verify that you have voltage going to the stock headlight socket on the low beam terminal? If you don't then you need to figure out why you don't. Wish I had a wiring diagram would make life much easier that's for sure.

Eric