Protius

Hey Folks,

Recently installed an 35W HID Kit from ebay with 8000k bulbs in a 99 Z28. Absolutely love them! However, the other night I drove about 4 miles, shut off the car and left for about 10 minutes. Got back in and the car wouldn't start. The gauge needles did a quick dance from left to right and slowly settled back to zero when I turned the key. No clicky, no nothin!

Had the wife meet me so I could jump start the car and get it home. Unplugged the HID kit (as a precaution as well as a new android radio I was installing before the jump) and started the car. Drove home. Tried to start the car again and it was fine so I plugged the HID's back in. They came on fine. But I had no brake lights. Apparently I blew the 20A fuse for the brake lights at some point (initial death or restart or somewhere in between not sure). Put in a new fuse and we're good.

Today, since both ballasts didn't stick where I had mounted them, I mounted them to the frame with a screw behind the headlights. Everything seemed fine but when I tried to start the car again...dead. Jumped the car and we're good. But...1 hour later and the battery is dead. I did turn on the lights without the car running but only for a minute or two tops.

New radio is still unplugged so I'm guessing the obvious culprit is the HID kit but I'm not sure why? Can anybody explain what's happening here to cause this? I really like the HID lights but I've never had a problem before.

I've seen posts about using relays when installing these kits but I don't know why. Can anybody help the uneducated? Thanks.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

get the battery tested, it is highly unlikely that HID's are killing the battery, they take LESS power then the stock headlights to run.

Starting the car again immediately after driving it home is different then letting it sit for an hour and trying again, also you didn't say how long the drive home was, after jumping off you need a good drive to recharge the battery, generally it's best to let it idle few several minutes before even driving.

on my bird I was getting the sweeping gauges (at the first drive of everyday) like you but the car always cranked fine, I had the battery tested and it was putting out like half the CCA it was supposed to do.

The "relay harnesses" are ONLY needed if you have a "flicker" in the HID bulbs, but that can also be a sign of a CRAPPY ballast, I've had the same bulb on the same car and on one ballast it flickered on the other it didn't and was brighter and whiter.

Protius

Thanks for the reply.

The battery is only about 1.5 yo and prior to the HID kit I had no electrical problems at all. The drive home was only about 5 minutes so you're right about the charge time being too short.

But here's another oddity...after the last "dead" battery today I went to jump the car and it wouldn't take a jump. No interior lights, no lock/unlock from the fob...nadda.

So I disconnected the headlight leads from each ballast, disconnected the battery...waited about 1 minute...then reconnected only the battery. Everything was back to normal. Doubt it matters but it was after sunset so it was dark.

WTF? Ghost In The Machine...???

Again...I don't want to blame the HID's but it's getting tough not too.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

did you watch your voltage gauge to make sure the alternator was charging the battery? I really don't see anyway hid would drain power when there off and a good shape battery can handle several hours of headlights on (I know from personal experience, years ago I left the lights on my old tahoe on and road off with a friend) and still have the power to crank the car. Anything is possible , so it could be the HID's (they are ebay "specials" to start with) but i'm just not seeing it, get a good solid charge on the battery, get it tested (its free at any autoparts store) and go from there. you could also hook everything up and with the car off test the current flow (with a multimeter) anything more then 1 or 2 amps when everything is off would imply something pulling to much power, there is a small current flow that keeps the alarm and all constant power sources supplied but it totals under 2 amps IIRC.

Protius

Yup. Voltage gauge shows right around 14 where it always is. Alternator is the original unit in the car so if it was getting ready to go I wouldn't be at all surprised. 110,000 miles and the other than a water pump last year she has been rock solid. Just weird that the problems start at the same time I finally start changing things in the car.

I'll stop by Autozone and get them to test the battery and if that comes back good I'll bust out the meter and look around. If nothing jumps out I'll put the regular bulbs back in and give it a week then try the HID's again and see if the gremlin returns.

Wait...you mean things we buy on eBay aren't always the highest quality my $26 can buy?

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

seriously watch this video, the difference between the cheap ballasts (which is whats in those 26 dollar kits) and good ones is insane.


@110k wouldn't surprise me to see the alt go and things can go bad randomly, I had my car up on jackstands replacing the steering rack and when I took it off the stands I cranked it up (to do the final step in the bleed procedure) and it stalled out within a second and would not crank again, turned out to be the fuel pump. If you have major temperature fluctuations where you live it can increase the likely hood of a bad battery.

Protius

Funny...I found that same video last night while trying to pinpoint what might be going on! I have no dreams that these are high quality parts by any means but I wanted to give them a try. I'm hooked so I may need to shop for a more quality version.

What you said made me think of something...I just had the steering column tightened up at the "stealership" literally the day before the HID's went in. Wonder if the guy working on it could've done something "flaky" during the extra 2 hours it took him to complete the job?? Definitely think the original bulbs need to go back in and see if the quirks continue.

Protius

Stopped by AutoZone and had them test the battery and alternator. Everything came back good. Guess it's a little meter checkin' and putting the original bulbs back in and see if the problem goes away.

Perhaps she's just a little temperamental and doesn't like me changin things up...

Z28RS

I wonder if perhaps you have a pinched wire that is causing something to short or ground out. My gauge cluster kept going out on me and other systems malfunctioned repeatedly when a tear in the rubber casing of one of my side marker's wiring caused it to make contact with some adjacent metal. Did the service tech remove any parts of your steering wheel column? If so, I wonder if a wire got crimped in the process?

Good luck, man!

Protius

At this point that wouldn't surprise me at all! I don't think they had their "top tech" on my car that day since it took him 5 hours to complete a quoted 2 hour job of just tightening the bolts.

If the original bulbs are back in then the car is completely back to stock so if it happens again the finger points back to the "stealership".

man-o-war

Those ballasts are junk man. Hit or miss