Hey guys. Looking for a bit of advice.

2003 Sedan, 270K.

About 5 months ago, I started having issues with the driver side headlight. After turning the lights on, the driver side headlight would illuminate, and maybe flicker once or twice. After ~10 seconds, the light would either stay on or turn off. If it stayed on, the light was on for the remainder of the trip. If it turned off, I would have to turn the lights off and back on. I would repeat this process until the light stayed on. I never had issues with the passenger side light.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, when out of the blue, neither light will turn on. Occasionally the passenger side light may blink ever so slightly, but for the most part, I get no response whatsoever from either light, with the exception of a clicking noise coming from only the passenger side for 1 or 2 seconds when first turning the lights on.

When I was only having issues with the driver side, I figured it was a ballast issue, but I was able to make do. Now, however, it obviously has become an issue with no headlights whatsoever.

Maybe this is a wrong assumption, but I doubt both ballasts would fail, and I doubt both bulbs would fail at the exact same time, so I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas that would cause simultaneous failure of both lights. Could it be a simple fuse issue?

Anyway, thanks in advance for any advice!

 

Sometimes the answer is simply the most obvious: I'd guess you need new bulbs. They do have a lifespan and I'd say you got your money's worth out of your OEMs. Others here should comment on whether or not the ballasts need to be switched at the same time, I don't know.

 

Thanks for the reply!

I finally found the time to take the bumper off and see what I was dealing with, and it appears that both bulbs are broken. The passenger side bulb was flat broken, with a portion of the exterior glass sheared off. The driver side bulb appeared to have a broken interior component. I still find it extraordinarily odd that both bulbs failed at the exact same time, but I went ahead and ordered two new bulbs, that hopefully should arrive tomorrow. Hopefully, there is not some other issue that actually caused the bulbs to fail/break, but I'm optimistic.

 

What bulbs did you get?

Typically when having HID issues you swap the ballasts and see if the issue follows the ballast to help determine the issue.

 

After checking fuses and relays, that was the first thing I did. No change.

 

I know, you told us about the bulbs though so I just shared my bit of info .

 

I'd guess you need new bulbs.