Driver's side HID looks pink/purple

[tabasco]

Ok...I have done quite a bit of searching for the cause of this. My car has Catz HID's 6000k kit. When I turn them on, both come up bright. Then the driver's side slowly fades to a pink/purple color. I checked all of the wiring, grounding and everything is secure. I even swapped ballasts and ignitors and the problem stayed with the driver's side. The passenger's side is still OK. I also checked the fuses and noticed that the 7.5 amp fuses are still in #13 and #14. Per one DIY I read...these are the headlight fuses. So I think that I should try swapping out the 7.5 amp fuses for 10 amp fuses. Otherwise...I am fearing that the bulb may be the issue.

Any thoughts? I also did some searching on Catz website and other places for just the HID bulb. Where and for how much can I get one?

Thanks!

jason

[Ryan Stewart]

Did you swap the bulb?

Sounds to me like a bulb issue. The failure in HID usually occurs in the electrodes, they burn off a bit every time you ignite them. Once ignited and up to 800 degrees they, in theory, can burn almost forever once they build enough pressure and hold an arc. Once ignited they only need a tiny amount of current.

Id say you have some sort of defect. The brightness you are seeing at first is the ballast pushing 35watts through the bulb to maintain the arc until the environment is perfect before it drops to a half amp or less. Id guess that the bulb never reaches that environment and when the ballast goes into "easy" mode the pressure drops.

[Brew]

Yeah, I've seen this a couple times at work. Bad bulb.

[T.Dot E30]

Bad bulb, or it was improperly handled.

Its possible it got knocked around in shipment or the installer touched the buld, or banged it against the housing while trying to put it into the socket.

That or if it was always like that.......maybe its a mis-packaged 8000k bulb.

[MikesJo]

Mine has finger prints on it when I got it. I just cleaned it off with a shirt and it works fine.

If this is the first time you've put in the kit, I'd say they might've packaged the wrong bulb like t.dot said.

[E304life]

When you replace a xenon bulb on a bmw they are a blueish for a while, then after they "break in" they match the other side. There is a actual a service bulliten on this and about the proper break in time.

[tabasco]

These have been in the car and working normally for several months. The one just started acting weird on Friday. When I went out to the car today after work...the driver's side did not even light up at all.

So...where is the best place to buy bulbs?

Thanks!

Jason

[bimmer8604]

i think i heard somewhere that when a new bmw has a defective bulb, they replace it with a 5000k bulb rather than the factory 4300 as over time the 4300k "blues".

As far as getting a bulb, i would replace both. with something less ricy than 6000k :-). Try *cough* umnitza *cough*. some people dont like them, but they got a shitload of HID stuff.

Kyle

[Mike P.]

It's definitely the bulb. I'm starting to see a bunch of the cars with the earlier HID systems like the old Acura TL and some 7-Series Bimmers with pinkish/purple-ish colored headlights, and they're just fading from age.