I have a multitude of dead ballasts on my 99.

The driver Low and High went out, then passenger Low and now driver Fog as well.

My original 6 ballasts were from a forum vendor. The highs and fogs remained from the same vendor and I had replaced a pair of dead ones and gone with an even cheaper brand piece from Amazon.

How susceptible are these ballasts when exposed to water? Since they are sealed and all wiring is likewise weather sealed I would not think this to be a problem. *BUT* every time I have lost a ballast it has been not long after a car wash or a heavy rain.

How about if one area had a weak ground? The grounds on both side are clean and not corroded, but I suppose it could be possible.


If the culprit is the water, what can I do to make sure the ballasts and wiring go untouched in the future?

The ballasts for Low and High beams are taped with 3M permanent outdoor double sided tape to the inside of the wheel well below the headlight assembly. Should I make extensions and move the ballasts? If so, where to? Even one of the fog ballasts is gone now and they are mounted to the inside of the frame next to the air filter on either side.

I really want this to be the FINAL time I pop the headlight assemblies out. I don't have the time or the money to keep playing with them as I'm in grad school. As it is, I've let them go long enough driving around with one bulb.

One last question.... the relays I am running are attached to the positive power connector outside the fuse box by the battery. When I used to turn the lights on and they would fire up as intended, the car's voltage would PLUMMET for a brief instant BELOW 12v on the DIC. I attribute a Traction System code to being sparked whenever the voltage drops below 12 like this. If I wired the relays directly to the battery, would this prevent the car's accessory systems from experiencing loss of voltage?

I'm giving serious thought to investing in the ACA kit from RadioFlyer. My only real hesitation would be if I add the new expense only to begin having the same experiences over time because the problem was not the hardware itself but the result of water damage, poor installation on my part, or grounding issues.

 

Note: this car is driven almost daily and sees all weather types. Definitely not a garage queen.

 

Our ballasts are sealed and the connections are weather proofed. I have driven through some of the most severe thunderstorms Texas has to offer and never had a problem with ballasts.

 

After the fact update.

Now that it is Spring, I finally tore into the lights again tonight.

What happened is that the driver side low beam bulb somehow came free from the projector and had been dangling free and occasionally burning the brake air duct before being lodged (safely, thank heaven).

I still went ahead and yanked the poorer quality ballasts out from on the plastic wheel guard. The new Morimoto Five5 ballasts are mounted cleaning to the inner side of the frame facing the BPP vortex.

The only realization I have here is that the highs DO also require their own direct power relay like what I did for the lows.

Once I get that done and some extensions put in place between the ballasts and the bulbs for safe clearance as the assembly raises and lowers, it should be good again.

 

I did all mine without adding any extensions. Make sure you weather proof the splices you make with heat shrink or tape or that will become an issue one day since it gets pretty wet in front of that wheel well. Every time I have had problems with hid lights it's been crap ballasts. I bought digital ballasts this time and they are great.