Wet ballast DIY
 

Well I attempted to post this in the DIY Section but would not allow me for some reason so I'll post it here. Driving home the other day I got caught in heavy rain and had left the cover off the back of the head light so in turn the ballast had gotten wet. I thought I was going to have to buy another, but i tried to dry it myself after it sat for a day.

First of all you can access the ballast from the wheel well and is probably the easiest. You will need a short phillips head screw driver to get the ballast out. Here you can see the ballast hangin once you unscrew all three screws.
Attachment 243397
Next unplug the main power supply, unscrew the screw next to the bulb power supply, and unplug.
Attachment 243398
Then you should be able to remove the ballast and take the three screws holding the housing together.
Attachment 243399
Once you get the three screws out you might have to use a flat head to gently pry it apart.
when you got it apart it should look like this.
Attachment 243400
My ballast was full of water and you could here it swish around inside when you would shake it.
First use a vacuum and suck out all the excess water. This prevents the water from getting further into the circuits. Then use a towel to soak up the excess water and moisture. Finally you can get a hair dryer and dry up what ever seems to be still wet. Be careful to not get anything too hot, because you can warp the circuit board and accelerate corrosion. Once finished go back and plug your ballast back in, cross your fingers and hope you just saved yourself a trip to the stealership. Hope this helps some.
Attachment 243401

Good stuff since the dealer here wants over $500 for one new ballast, wtf....................

Thats the trouble with the std ballasts, the positioning and open circuitry is the reason they fail should the light units get bad condensation or leak, lost two this way, almost looks deliberate on the part of the manufacturers, why they didn't just encapsulate the whole thing, and make the lead captive, as this is one of the things that gets filled with water and shorts, makes no sense.
I have now changed mine for aftermarket types.

Lol i shouldve made a diy. Ive dried out my balast 3 times already. Never could find out where the water gets in after baking open my lights twice. Im sure this will help alot of members with this problem!

Glad to see Im not the only one who had this problem. My ballast went bad and when I pulled it out to replace it....i was full of water to my surprise. Obviously a design flaw now hearing everyone elses similar stories.

Bump! Good info for the rainy season. My headlight just went out. Gonna try this

how do you gain access to the third bolt on top of the ballast? I'm having trouble getting to it from the wheel liner.

just replaced mine, although mine was so far from repair.....Coated with acid buildup and corrosion. I tried to clean it but nothing, finally bought an oem replacement on ebay and fixed it today

My driver side fender lining tore off, and I've driven in the rain a few times here in Socal, so far my headlights are working fine but if I start having any problems I know which thread to come to..... Thanks. Oh and on different note does anyone know where else I can buy a cheap fender liner with clips, the dealer is way to over priced.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trks...at=0&_from=R40

Chinese made and cheap. There are also plenty of these cars being parted out everywhere, chances are you can snag a used OEM one for cheap off of craigslist.

The clips/push pins are available at your local autoparts store.

Anyone know how to access the third screw on top of the ballast from the wheel well? I'm still having trouble getting it out on 04 passenger side...

Same issue lol did you figure out how to get to it?

wasn't able to figure it out..i lucked out somehow after a week or so my passenger headlight started working...

I don't know if I have the same issue.

So last night it was raining kinda hard and then I notice passenger HID was out. So I thought it was the bulb going bad. Then the next day I tried it and it was working and it stopped raining as well. So then this morning it was working but then it was raining again and then after that I parked the car. Then just now I started the car again and the HID is out.

You think it is the ballast wet? Or just a bad ballast, Mines 05 Coupe