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Over a year and a half ago I installed a set of HIDs into my fog light housing. Everything worked well until recently. The driver side fog light does not fire up when the fog light switch is in the on position and you fire up the car. But once the car is on, you can toggle the fog light switch to the off then back on and it works every time. I only get the issue on start up.
This kit does not require a relay kit. I have swapped out the ballast and bulb itself from side to side and it only happens on the driver side. I put a new ballast in and still have the same issue.
I had Lexus do a battery check and an electrical system diagnostic and they said all was good. battery check registered 75% health but noticed the voltage drops to 8.7V on start up and the ballast on the hid does not fire up to above 8.9v.
no HID kits that i know of REQUIRE a relay kit..but it always helps to have one. The car needs the electricity to start the car which is why the one light doesnt fire up. The reason that its always the same bulb i dont know, but im guessing maybe it has something to do with the wiring, maybe furthest from the battery? it could be tons of different things, but im sure if you had a relay it would 100% fix your problem. plus they are probably less that $15
Why not just switch back to the oems or even the oem leds.
I had those hids before and they always end up burning out and/or not lighting up on one side, and even flickering when the install was done correctly. Plus your always blinding people anyways.
I don't have issues with flickering. They are either on or off. I am pretty sure they will be good if I got a relay kit. Just funny how I haven't had issues with this set up for 1.5 years and then all of a sudden, it's quite consistent. I inspected the wires and all look good. connections are all good. the only thing that could change seems to be the life of the battery..
I did a retrofit into my fogs so i am in too far to slap the oem lamps back in. They perform a lot better than the oem ones.
You said it was hid kit in oem housing, nothing was said about retrofitting which is the proper way to do it...
I thought it was one of those $30 hid kits on ebay, I remember back in the day I slapped on those $30 kit in my halogen low beams as well as fogs. Blinded everyone on the road and ran into issues with flickering and one side not turning on...
Like mentioned above, a relay kit will 100% fix your issues! Alternators get weaker over time as the rotor, stator, and bearing wear in them. It can most definitely still work, and work for 5-15 years while parts wear down unit it finally fails. But 2 solutions....don't have your hids on upon start up, or 2nd solution, a relay kit. I work with and install hids/leds, all kinds of other electric wiring in cars everyday for the past 9 years :-)
Like mentioned before also, an led kit will suffice as well. They are plug and play. Not quite as much output as a quality hid kit, but close, and gives you the color and close to the brightness without a bunch of extra wiring, extra ballast, relay kits, and longer life.
I bought my car about a year and a half ago and it already had an HID fog kit installed. The last couple of times I took the car in for service at the dealer they told me one of my fogs was burnt out. I didn't really pay much attention to this because I new from time to time a fog would not come on but most times it was fine. Finally the last time I went in for service they suggested to take out the HID and just put the original halogen fogs back in. I agreed to let them do that since they were basically doing it for free because the car was in for warrant headlamp replacement anyway.
After reading this post I guess I could probably put the HID back in with relays. I like HID fogs. Never had issues with them in my ISF or my GS as far as blinding people and I like the extra brightness I get from them.
I will give the relay kit a shot when I have some time. I have one sitting in the garage anyways.
Thanks for all the input. When I get around to it, I will report back.
Most HID kits require the plugs to be wired reverse polarity, it is also really common for the wiring looms and pins to have connectivity problems depending on the quality of light (although most are the same).
similar issue here except i had my HID kit for 5 years. Not too long ago passenger side fog didn't light up and had to toggle the switch. Now it doesn't work anymore, and I have a relay kit already installed. Any idea what else i should check? light bulb never flickered or changed color. don't mind getting a new but would like to fix it if i could.
similar issue here except i had my HID kit for 5 years. Not too long ago passenger side fog didn't light up and had to toggle the switch. Now it doesn't work anymore, and I have a relay kit already installed. Any idea what else i should check? light bulb never flickered or changed color. don't mind getting a new but would like to fix it if i could.
Have you tried switching the bulbs from side to side. Maybe the ballast or bulb is shot on your passenger side
I actually have the opposite problem. Got the OEM fogs yesterday and found out the previous owner installed aftermarket bulbs. Unfortunately the existing wires didn't plug into OEM. Already ordered the wires and connector from lexus, hoping its an easy fix.
01-27-16, 01:07 PM
Minor Fog light issues
