HID Light Issue

[Sureshot]

The Mrs has a 2008 Nissan Altima that likes to burn out the low beam on her passenger side. The bulbs are stupid expensive and I'm not buying another until I find out the cause.
Anyone with experience converting to halogen or LED?
Replace ballast?
The car has a ton of miles so I'm almost to the point of using 100mph tape and a bulb out of the toolbox just to keep the fuzz from stopping her.

 

[nadogail]

Has your Nissan Dealer any advice? I doubt you are the only one who has this problem.

 

[mfewtrail]

Shouldn't a '08 Altima have projector HID's and the "low beam" is also the high beam(?). Did you install the bulbs yourself? If so: Are you touching the glass of the bulb with your bare hands? How long are these bulbs lasting?

 

[Sureshot]

Shouldn't a '08 Altima have projector HID's and the "low beam" is also the high beam(?). Did you install the bulbs yourself? If so: Are you touching the glass of the bulb with your bare hands? How long are these bulbs lasting?

It lasted about a month. It works on high beam but is dead on low the same as the previous bulb. I don't recall exactly but it was over $100 for the bulb.

 

[NewShockerGuy]

What is the actual bulb number? You can normally get Philips OEM or other bulbs cheaper. If the bulbs are lasting a month they are either generic Chinese garbage, you aren't cleaning the bulbs prior to installing (think oils from fingers) or there is something else causing the bulb to malfunction. Could be the ignitor or ballast.

Does the car have factory bi-xenons? Meaning it's a single bulb for both highs/lows but when the high beams are activated the shutter inside the projector lifts and the entire light can shine through the projector lens.

If it's a factory HID bulb, then no you don't want to do a halogen bulb. Not only would the connector not be the same and you would have to re-wire it, but the optics will be off as well. Same goes with LED headlight bulbs. Most think it's an improvement when they really aren't. It usually scatters light everywhere.

Doing a quick good search shows your car takes probably a D2S or D2R bulb... these have been around FOREVER. If you are paying $100 per bulb you aren't looking in the right place. Go to retrofitsource and see their bulbs. You can normally get a pair of OEM Philips for $80ish bucks. Obviously more if you went with Osrama night breakers or something like that.

Also an OEM ballast would be around $80ish as well. If you can swap the ballast from driver side to passenger side see if the problem follows. If it does then you know it's a ballast causing the issue.

-Nigel

 

[goingtoarizona]

Check all of the above, plus check if the car is over charging. Bad grounds, bad connections (check for tightness, discoloring and corrosion) and a short to ground (I'm not familiar with the circuitry on the ballast) all can cause short bulb life. It hasn't been mentioned, but moisture in the housing will also cause the bulb to burn out quickly.

 

[BlindViper]

If the car has HIDs its possible the ballast is burning out the bulbs. You might see if they list a part number. If the part number is the same fore both sides of the car. You might try swapping them and see if the problem stays with the ballast or the passenger side.

 

[goingtoarizona]

I think the blind viper is correct. I was thinking about this after I posted, then I remembered how HIS's work. The ballast produces a hi voltage arc that starts the bulb, then the voltage drops as the resistance required to keep the light burning goes down. If your ballast doen't lower the voltage, it'll over power your bulbs, possibly causing your problem. Swap the ballasts from side to side and see if your problem follows the ballast...

 

[Sureshot]

I bought an LED conversion kit. It's more money but it's a pain to work on the car and a bigger pain when the owner isn't happy if you know what I mean.