Help w/ HID's and Euro Smiley's

[e30_325es]

These use either 9006 bulbs or h1 or h4's. It all depends on what lights you run. US ellips run 9006, euro ellips run h1, hella h4's obviously run h4.

[Low Level E30]

Ok - so I finally got to work on doing all the wiring, etc --- put it all in the car today, right as the sun was going down, and fired her up in the early evening's darkness...

... only to find that the driver's side fired up right away, but the passenger's side will not come on.

I have gone over the wiring, comparing the passenger's side to the driver's side, making sure all the same colors are connected to each other, mirroring the driver's side --- but it still won't come on.

I installed brand new 15 amp fuses in the left and right side fuse receivers in the fuse box, up from 7.5 amp fuses, as I understand that these ballasts pull 13 amps as they fire up, and then reduce to a draw of 7 amps once they're running.

I have done the relay mod, also - drilled holes in the #30 pins on the low + high beam relays, and ran a small thin wire across the pins, soldering it at both ends, right near the top of the pin (close to the plastic relay housing) --- but I don't get high beams on either side.

I haven't pulled the two relays since I first installed them after doing the mod - could they have an impact on whether or not the passenger's side will come on? And of course, I don't have high beams on either side, as I mentioned.

So I'm frustrated and out of ideas. Any help?

[JasonC]

Very odd. Maybe someone on here lives close to you and help you to see what is wrong.

[Low Level E30]

Very odd. Maybe someone on here lives close to you and help you to see what is wrong.

How can I test the wiring? I don't know how to use a voltmeter, but I guess now's the time to learn...

What about the ballast? Any way to test that? Might be that I've got a ballast that's fucked, even though it's brand new... ?

I actually bought brand new factory connectors and factory wiring for the Smiley's --- soldered spade ends onto the wiring. The hot + ground wires from the HID kit are attached to the hot + ground wires in the cap on the back of the smilies. Then, the factory connectors are plugged into the caps, and the spade ends are plugged into the factory sealed beam plugs. This way, I have not had to cut into any of the factory wiring. Have I created too much resistance by doing this?

To summarize - HIDs are plugged into the Smiley cap wiring - Smiley cap has a factory connector plugged in, which is plugged into the factory sealed beam plugs. 15 amp fuses in the low + high beam slots. Wire bridge on the #30 pins on the low + high beam relays.

[Low Level E30]

Any ideas?

[JasonC]

Did you find out what's wrong with it?

[Low Level E30]

Did you find out what's wrong with it?

Haha - yes, I did!!!

Turns out that the brand new 15 amp fuses I bought were not all in working condition. One of the fuses I put in was already blown - of course, it was the LAST thing I looked at, because I assumed it was OK since it was new.

I spent a couple hours last night fumbling around in the dark w/ a flashlight, trying to fix the problem. Then today, I took ALL of the headlight/wiring stuff out of the car and went over it w/ a fine toothcomb, finding no issues what so ever. For no apparent reason, I decide to pull the fuses while the driver's side was lit, thinking the fuse diagram in the Bentley manual was wrong.

Turns out that I was wrong.

Thanks for the help!

My new headlights are AWESOME, by the way!

[smonkbmw]

i had a similar issue with my 86 325e car. put in a cheaper ebay kit and the left would start up, right would flicker for a split second and not come on. switched sides, same problem. put them in a 89 and they worked fine. put in prolumens that have the separate ignitor's and they worked fine, put in the digitals and they worked fine. theres something odd about the ballasts and rewiring the sealed beams. i dont think it puts out enough voltage...not sure though.