HID equipped

[skunk2]

anybody with HIDs noticed the black housing part of your headlights to be somewhat melted?
i\'m talking about the black part right in front of the projector.

[bluntman]

Nope. Nothing like that here, especially since HIDs run at a lower wattage than the stock halogen bulbs.

[skunk2]

that\'s what i\'m so baffled about.
the hid\'s are running cooler than halogens but i have like some burn marks on the housing.
it looks like somebody swirled around a hot piece of metal on the housing.
when i saw it last night i thought it was just the light playing tricks on me. checked it again this morning and it was still there.

[bluntman]

Who installed your HIDs?

[skunk2]

i did. how long have you had yours on?

[bubba1983]

im runnin mine for one year 8 months now..no probs watsoever

[skunk2]

ive had mnie for well over a year as well and i just noticed this thing last night.
when i get the pictures you guys might be able to help me better.

[bluntman]

I will have had mine for 2 years this October/November.

[McGuyver_3]

ive had mine for 3-5 months cant remember the xact date but something similar to that. I am having no problems either

[skunk2]

apparently i dont know how to post pics

[skunk2]

lets try this again.

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=6/17020585392.jpg&s=f5

[DrunknFoo]

http://f5.putfile.com/6/17020585392.jpg

Here you go =P, hmmm that pic looks interesting

[skunk2]

thanks dunknfoo

[majic]

Originally posted by DrunknFoo


http://f5.putfile.com/6/17020585392.jpg

Here you go =P, hmmm that pic looks interesting

can you take that pic any closer? :sarc

[bluntman]

That\'s definitely not right. Are both housings like that?

[skunk2]

majic: any farther and you wont see the burnt spot

bluntman: unfortunately yes, it\'s on both housings.

at this point i just want to prevent it from getting worst if the suspect is the HID.

[majic]

Originally posted by skunk2


majic: any farther and you wont see the burnt spot


lol.. sorry.. i was a little sarcastic ;) i can\'t even tell w.o looking at my lights which part you\'re zooming in on.. it\'s blurry plust with all those reflections i\'m having a hard time seeing where your burned spot is..

[bluntman]

I\'m just guessing but there may be a wire that\'s heating up (about to short out) underneath the housings.

[skunk2]

majic, its just right in front of the projector. i too had a hard time taking the pic because of the reflection.

bluntman, i did not run any wire underneath the headlight assy during installation, i actually ran it above unless there are wires underneath from factory.

i might just yank the HID out, put it back to stock and have the dealership check it.

[bluntman]

Before you do that, remove the bumper and remove the entire headlight housing.

[el squid]

is it on the base of the housing under the projector lens (looks like from pic)

it may be from the sun using the lens as a magnifying glass (see melting ants with magnifying glass)

we had the same problem with aston martin headlamps, and yours looks like it may be the same thing. our solution was to install a metal plate under the lens, but it was alittle easier, as we had engineers to redesign it for us. all we had to do was install it

park your car at different angles relative to the sun and see if you can see an intense focal point on or near where your melting is...

technically, it should not matter whether or not it is hid, unless the dimensions for the lamps are different (read distance from lens to base of housing) as we had the same problem on both halogen and hid versions of the aston martin

[skunk2]

el squid, what you explained was my first thought but nobody else seems to be having the same issue.
so far i have taken the HID stuff out...took me 4 hours to install before trying to hide everything...only took 10 minutes to remove.

[el squid]

if your car is parked at a certain angle relative to the sun, even if only for a few minutes a day, it could cause this. by no one else having this problem, it may be because their car is not parked at the exact same angle, also, the height of the sun in the sky would affect it as well. may only occur during the summer months, even for only a few weeks of the year at that exact angle, ya know?

[skunk2]

after over a month of waiting for Agincourt Mazda to call me after showing them what happened to the headlight housings, i decided to email the service manager. within 20 minutes i got a reply asking for details and in that same day he ordered the headlights and got it covered under warranty.
i like this guy because he was quick and was very helpful but the rest of the dealership gets a thumbsdown. i got it done at this dealership because it\'s like 10 minutes away from me. still no explanation though why the housing had burn marks...all i got was a defect from factory.