I know this sounds strange but I want to downgrade from Xenon to Halogen headlamps.

I have a 2004 3 and I've had 3 ballasts replaced (one under warranty and two by me). I noticed this morning that one of the headlights is out and I'm dreading finding another blown ballast.


So my question is:
Can I retrofit Halogen in place of me my Xenon's. Maybe new wiring harness, etc...

Any help is appreciated.

 

I responded on 247 but I can respond here as well.

Has it been the same ballast each time? Have you confirmed that it's the ballast by swapping the lamps between the two headlights? Any damage to the vehicle or any issues with the wiring?

If you want to swap to halogen you'd need the OEM halogen housing in order to fit the H7 halogen lamp (HID uses D2S) or you'd need to cobble together a rebased D2S halogen lamp. The high beam and turn signal will swap easily, however you'd need to make some sort of adapter to change from the D2S connection to a H7 one. I don't think that should be too hard, though you'd probably need to confirm that the voltage on the wiring harness is the same as the OEM halogen. If not then a simple relay harness would take care of that.

If you get to that point (and have a hatchback not a sedan) I'd be happy to swap my OEM halogen housings for your HID ones. Alternately you could find a halogen projector, open your headlights and swap it out for the HID one (again I'd be happy to take even that off your hands).

 

If I racall, the drive to the lights is the same for both HID & halogen. Though i'm pretty sure the reflector is different for the two, so i'd suggest finding a replacement set of headlights and put in the whole thing. While you're at it, get the section of wiring harness leading to the halogen lights so you have the proper lamp connector.

As an FYI, HID's don't like to be 'flashed' or on for only short periods of time (under 5 min). So if you like to use the 'flash to pass' or if you use the lights for very short times, that may be damaging the lamps. The ballasts should be bulletproof - not sure what would be the issue unless they aren't getting the proper voltage. I know another post tried adding on a ballast to a vehicle with DRL, and the DRL voltage was too low so the ballast wouldn't always start up properly.

 

Well at least some of the wiring is different as I believe the left/right HIDs have separate fuses. This in part leads to difficulties with one of the independent fog light mods on models with HIDs. It works fine on cars with halogens but not on HID equipped cars.

This is absolutely true, HIDs don't like being flashed. If you do do this a lot then there is a modification you can make inside your headlight stalk (or rather on the board it attaches to inside the column). Basically you physically disassociate the low beams from the high beams so the lows are never flashed with the highs.

Also correct that HIDs don't like being run as DRLs. The ballasts require a steady flow of power and most DRLs operate by pulsing power. If the power pulses are smooth and frequent enough then the ballast may run without difficulty, however most do not and cause issues with the HIDs lighting. You don't have DRL hooked up do you?

 

Found the problem - headlamp casing had a small crack and was leaking. Water ran down into the ballast. Shook the water out of the ballast and poured a little CorrosionX into it. Works fine now.Sealed up the crack with some silicone.

 

Curses, no headlights for me!

glad you tracked the problem down and got everything working.

 

I have a 2007 Mazda 3 with Bi Xenon headlights in it and the car is totaled so my dad and I found another body that’s exactly the same minus heated seats and the the light (new body had halogens) so I was wondering if I took the housing with the Bi-Xenon lights and swap those with the halogens and switch out the Wiring harnesses and the stock on the steering column enable me to have automatic headlights and bi-Xenon like I used to and also switching out parts of the interior to have heated seats again

 

Hey there I'm hoping that this little note finds the moderator, cuz obviously you're the guy that knows quite a bit about it. My daughter banged up one of her headlights, just shattered the plastic and everything. I think the bulb actually works. Well she took it upon herself to order a new headlight which was halogen, turns out we have zenon. The car is in the shop for something else, so I asked them to install the headlight and they told me all about how it doesn't fit in a new headlights $800 or something like that. So basically my question is, if I pull both xenon headlights, the whole assembly, and I put in two new halogen assemblies, what else do I need? I think I saw some site selling a little wire adapter. Is that all? That would be great! Well, hopefully I you might get this so I can get an answer but I told him not to do anything with the light. Of course we can't pass inspection with the light the way it is! I also have a sweet 20011 Miata