Youngrobot

Did some searching and I couldn't quite find the information i needed.... So my 98's left ballast started to fail on me the other day. The Headlight will randomly Flickr off and I have to keep switching them on and off to get it going again.( the bulbs are oem and recently replaced) I ordered an aftermarket kensun kit not realizing that my oem harness won't connect and how it could work without having warnings and all that good stuff. So my question is: could i use a d2r adapter that will plug to the harness and have it working in replacement of my oem ballast.? Or is it more complicated than this? I don't want to spend money on a used one that might fail if i don't have to, but if it's more trouble than it's worth i can just return the kensun one and look for an oem ballast.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

im not too familiar with the dash warning system on 98-00 cars. I have a 97 with a more simple gauge cluster. so did the dash warn of a faulty headlight bulb when it was being finicky?

if not, then I don't see a problem trying to wire in an aftermarket ballast in place of the OE one, however I am unfamiliar with a D2R adapter that does this.
usually adapters just adapt the wiring from the ballast to the bulb itself (D2R is the bulb size), not the OE wiring to the ballast which I believe is what you need.

if it were my car, I would return the aftermarket kit and try to find a used OE ballast so everything fits as it should and wires up as it should. usually when you have to keep switching off/on to keep the lights on, that is a sign of a bad bulb not ballast, however you just said you replaced the bulbs. did you replace both or just one? try to swap the bulbs left to right and see if the problem follows.

Youngrobot

I didn't get any warning messages from the lights turning off, and yes i replaced both bulbs at the same time. I'd much rather have oem everything, but the reason i bring this up is :what happens in the future.? When oe ballast become hard to get and or very expensive? I'm glad my car came with hid's but God damn does it seem like a huge hassle in future terms if i can't replace Ballast with an aftermarket one without loosing functionality. Also i keep seeing d2s ballast on ebay for newer Lexus models. Would one of those work with my ballast as the only thing Changing is ballast and not bulbs? I'm not too familiar when it comes to oem hid systems.
Thanks

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

If you want it to bolt in and plug into the factory harness and fit in the factory spot, you need a replacement OEM unit. There's tons of used ones on ebay. Avoid the "new" versions as they are mostly cheap knockoffs.