Headlight Flicker then goes out. Looks like a ballast problem.
 

It's a `07 G35S.

I noticed my passenger headlight flickering and now it goes out randomly.

I can turn off then headlights and then back on to get the passenger headlight working.
Until then next time it goes out. Don't need to drive the car. Happens sitting still in park.

I've swapped the headlight bulbs and the problem stays with the passenger side, same symptoms.

So now I'm thinking it's the ballast. I've looked through the forum and google but getting different opinions and not very clear on how to replace the ballast. Looks like it could be a big job.

I found this on the assembly removal.
http://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-in...al-w-pics.html

But I've also heard you can jack up the car on the passenger side, Remove the inside fender skirt and get to the black box part of the ballast. I think I see it under the headlight assembly.

Do I really need remove the headlight assembly? If not, how is this done?

Thanks!

Mick

It's definitely the ballast. I went through the same thing because there was water in my ballast. It's not hard to remove and doesn't require you to remove the headlight. It's going to be way easier if you remove the wheel though. Take a look at my DIY.

https://g35driver.com/forums/v36-diy...t-ballast.html

Remmy,

This is exactly what I'm looking for! Looks like I get the jack out, block the
other wheels and pull the ballast.

Since I can't see any damage or water around the ballast or headlight I'm assuming it's
just bad and will need to be replaced.

Do you have a suggestion for an OEM replacement?

Thanks for the post. Excellent work!

Mick

Hey Mick, there's a few guys on ebay that sell used OEM ballasts from Nissans and some sell them new. If I remember the new ones were fairly pricey so I just bought them used. You can get them on amazon also. The used ones range from $45-$75 depending on who's selling them. I'm sure there are others on the internet but I just went with ebay. Infiniti forces you to buy the whole headlight housing so you won't be able to get it from them or nissan.

Swap the ballasts first to see if it follows the side or if you have a wiring issue.

That would help nail it down but swapping ballasts twice is a PITA if you don't have the time. Instead of doing that you could turn the headlights on, wait for the bulb to go out then leave them on and pull the harness coming into the ballast. If you see 12Vdc at the harness (battery voltage) and the light was out then it's likely a ballast problem. Of course this isn't fool proof but more likely 95% assurance it's the ballast, and a shortcut to save time.

I wouldn't replace it just yet. Take the light off and see if there's anything super obvious happening. Once I had this same exact problem and took the light off, and somehow my igniter came loose and was touching its connection point juuust enough to work until jostled. Turn it off then on again and it worked.

Anyhow, just locked down the igniter again and good to go.