Headlights issue

[Sanfico]

Hi everyone.

my 2010 Estima has done something very strange this evening. Driving home in the dark country road the headlights just cut out. Thankfully I was able to switch the light off then back on quickly and the headlights came back to life but it’s doing it all the time now. They are on for about 5 minutes then one side cuts out then the second one goes out too. High beam works fine and fog light too. Any suggestions of what it could be? Thanks

[flash22]

Do you have HID's - D4S should be stamped on the headlight housing

[Sanfico]

5 hours ago, flash22 said:

Do you have HID's - D4S should be stamped on the headlight housing

The only mark I see is this one as in the picture. I can’t get my hand behind to get access to the bulb. I’m hoping it’s just a replacement and not a problem with the electrics

[Sanfico]

5 hours ago, flash22 said:

Do you have HID's - D4S should be stamped on the headlight housing

The light is this one. Could it be a projector headlamp meaning it is a HID lamp? 

[Derek.w]

If no corosion present on bulb holder change bulbs.

Expect bulbs will also be stamped with a type code.

[Sanfico]

19 hours ago, flash22 said:

Do you have HID's - D4S should be stamped on the headlight housing

Yea it’s the d4s . I managed to remove the bulb. No corrosion and bulb looks fine. 

[flash22]

Does the car have auto lights ?

The car has HID and an H11 bulb - H11's are wired together, but I can't remember what does high and low

Edit. HID is low beam, the H11 is high beam

[Sanfico]

57 minutes ago, flash22 said:

Does the car have auto lights ?

The car has HID and an H11 bulb - H11's are wired together, but I can't remember what does high and low

Edit. HID is low beam, the H11 is high beam

Yeah, it has auto lights and yeah the d4s bulb was from the low beam housing

[flash22]

Headlights in manual (on), do you have the same issue ? it sounds like the ballasts are shutting down for some reason not sure why they are failing like that, do they fail in the same pattern ?

[Sanfico]

7 hours ago, flash22 said:

Headlights in manual (on), do you have the same issue ? it sounds like the ballasts are shutting down for some reason not sure why they are failing like that, do they fail in the same pattern ?

Same issue with them on manual or auto. The passenger side  goes out first then the driver one. I only drove it once at night since it was registered last week. I might take a drive tonight again and see for sure if there is a definite pattern. It only started doing it after 20 minutes into my drive so are they overheating? Could the fuse be to blame? Not checked yet if it has the proper fuse.

[Sanfico]

21 hours ago, flash22 said:

Headlights in manual (on), do you have the same issue ? it sounds like the ballasts are shutting down for some reason not sure why they are failing like that, do they fail in the same pattern ?

So I tested them this morning on my way to work. Switched headlights on and after warm up I could see reflection from car in front that passenger light went out. Switched headlights off and on again and both lights stayed on. Surprisingly they stayed on for some time (10 min). I switched them off again and on to test but this time the driver side light failed to come on. Turned them off  and on again they both came on and stayed on until I got to work. They did seem to stay on longer this time. Very strange. This car has taken a long long time to get to me from Japan. It was in transit for 8 months wondering if lights have  just developed a fault over such a long time.

[flash22]

Change the bulbs, they are more than likely original and will have started to degrade many years ago, they may be changing resistance as they get hotter and the ballast is going into self protect mode, you should notice a big difference with new bulbs

Go with a decent brand like Osram or Philips - bulbs are not cheap but cheaper than the ballasts

[Sanfico]

27 minutes ago, flash22 said:

Change the bulbs, they are more than likely original and will have started to degrade many years ago, they may be changing resistance as they get hotter and the ballast is going into self protect mode, you should notice a big difference with new bulbs

Go with a decent brand like Osram or Philips - bulbs are not cheap but cheaper than the ballasts

I will do. I found LED equivalents. You think it’s worth trying them out? Or will it cause more problems?

[flash22]

Not sure how the ballasts will react to the LEDs TBH

[RUToyota]

Personally I'd stick with the original Xenon/HID..and as Bob says, use Philips/Osram rather than some cheaper Chinese jobbies.

Mine are D2R and I can get them for about £25 each..Philips.

Yes, they are more expensive but you'll only need to replace them once.!

[JohnGW]

Xenons/HID have a high start up voltage from memory might take out an LED not meant for that type of setup?

Hmm, Night breaker laser from Osram, sound sinister and good

[flash22]

14 minutes ago, JohnGW said:

Xenons/HID have a high start up voltage from memory might take out an LED not meant for that type of setup?

Hid D4S are 42v and D2R are 85v, they are AC IIRC, also the starter strike is 15-30kv

[PeterWeb]

On 5/1/2023 at 12:24 AM, flash22 said:

Hid D4S are 42v and D2R are 85v, they are AC IIRC, also the starter strike is 15-30kv

 

On 4/19/2023 at 10:19 PM, Sanfico said:

Yea it’s the d4s . I managed to remove the bulb. No corrosion and bulb looks fine. 

Did replacing the bulbs fix your problem? (I'm getting very similar behaviour with the HIDs on a 2010 V6 G).

[_dct_]

I had a similar issue and replacing the xenon bulbs with new Osram Xenarc's did indeed fix it. (Being on a budget I kept the original ballasts and opted for the cheaper Xenarc Original model).

[anup]

I had the same problem with my Estima.

Replaced the bulb with Osram xenon d4s bulb and it solved the issue. Replacing bulb is bit difficult in these cars so i had got it done by mechanic who charged 1 hr labour. I had bought them from local aupplier  but they are cheaper on eBay. I am not sure of the authenticity.