Have the stock GM Valeo HID Headlight assemblies, with the LAD56 (12-pin) ballasts. Recently the passenger side headlight randomly will either cut off mid-drive, or fail to turn on altogether.
Sometimes turning headlights off then on again would revive it, sometimes not. Sometimes both headlights would kick on together, sometimes the passenger side took a second or two longer to kick on, sometimes it wouldn't come on at all.
Tested by swapping the entire headlight assemblies (drivers side to passenger side and vice-versa - same wiring harness, same bulbs, figured it should be an easy way to rule out other issues like wiring). Problem followed the headlight assembly.
Next tried swapping bulbs. Problem stayed with the headlight assembly.
Then tried swapping ballasts. That caused issue to follow the ballast being swapped, so we had a culprit.
Closer look at the ballast looks like some moisture around the ballast seal and inside the housing. It's been especially wet around here lately.
Used some canned air to dry things out a bit, then cranked the ballast back on nice and tight to seal the rubber gasket.
Any chance it was just a little moist and when it dries out it will be fine? Is there anything else it could still be with the tests I ran above?
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I should clarify, the moisture I found was around the ballast seal and inside the headlight housing - I did not open up the ballast, just sprayed some canned air into it and around it.
Any other tests or things I can do from this point? $150-$200 for one used 12-pin ballast seems ludicrous, and I'm not in the mood to convert the 4-pin ballasts to 12-pin. Man these vehicles have golden parts - it would put King Midas to shame.
Also, what I'm not understanding is why there is a gap between the bottom of the headlight and the top of the bumper (example:
http://www.carid.com/images/grilles/...rx-grilles.jpg)
It's a relatively huge gap, and if you look straight in, you can see it's a clear shot..straight at the ballast! What in the world?!
Found this, was helpful:
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/PE...021425_srx.pdf
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I can't help but compare these to HE (high-efficiency washers) - super expensive, "prestigious", awesome when they work, and super costly and miserable when they fail (seemingly frequently, in the same ways over and over)..
