Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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Eventuful afternoon! Got my parcels and decided to fit my HID's whilst it wasn't raining for once.
Firstly, bumper off. Such an easy job, yet so annoying due to plastic expanding rivets which are pants.
Now I could see the extent of the wheel arch liner damage.
It should be like this:
Instead, it looks like this:
Opened my parcel and got my brake duct stuff, aswell as a first aid storage box (just for storage under the drivers seat) which I forgot I even bought!
Then got my HID's out:
From here on, I cracked on with the job and didn't get any pics.
What I did realise though, was that there was about half a litre of water inside my O/S headlamp, which is what caused the ballast to fail. Dried it out best I could but it needs opening up to clean properly.
When I first got them fitted, they kept flickering, so removed them and fiddled about woth the connections. Re-fitted and they worked! Lovely.
Got a couppe of quick pics of the light output. So much better than my old ones which were a bit chavvy. These are a nice crisp white, similar to audi/range rover xenons.
Tomorrows job is to fit that storage box.
[Edited on 07-02-2014 by Ben G]
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Jamie-C
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Registered: 3rd Jun 08
Location: Ballycastle
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What happended to the arch liner lol? Just wheel/lowz combo?
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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Something was bouncing around in the Road and went through the gap in the front bumper for the brake duct. Wasn't an animal, just an inanimate object of some sort.
It's been that way for a while now so i'm buying the bits to fix it now. Looks awful 
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BeetleGav
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Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
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Haha obliterated!
I had water in my light from when I had to change back to standard side lights. I've been slowly drying it out with a hair dryer. Seems to have worked.
Them HIDs look great! Look standard
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Jamie-C
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Registered: 3rd Jun 08
Location: Ballycastle
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Just noticed the dog
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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quote:
Originally posted by BeetleGav
Haha obliterated!
I had water in my light from when I had to change back to standard side lights. I've been slowly drying it out with a hair dryer. Seems to have worked.
Them HIDs look great! Look standard
Cheers Gav. Unfortunately the water has left watermarks on the inside of the lens and a theres a bit of grit in there aswell. Bit gutted really, but it can be sorted so no big deal.
Jamie, thats one half of my brothers dogs. Bloody things are mental Pug cross iirc.
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daymoon
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Aug 08
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Arch liner is a common thing to break on BMW.
One of mine is in garden smashed into 3 bits.
One previous one ended up all over m62 :lol;
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BeetleGav
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Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
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Yeah mine had watermarked so it let them fog up again and blasted it with the hair dryer. Came up clean
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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Might give that a try then. Cheers.
Daymoom, glad to see it's not just mine that has issues they're a pretty flimsy design really.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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Annoying, the lights have decided to start flickering today.
They're fine when I put the lights on whilst the engines off, but when I start it up, the lights flicker like a strobe light before going off entirely.
I'm guessing this means that they aren't drawing enough power from the battery?
Will a relay harness fix this? I have no clue when it comes to electrical stuff so if someone could explain what it does in lamens terms, that'd be much appreciated.
Shame really, they look great and almost OEM.
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djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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Check & clean all your earthing points for the Kits for a start.
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Simon_16v
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Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
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Normally the ballasts when I've retrofitted a kit before
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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I did think that simon, but they work fine wnen the engine is off.
djgritt, easier said than done mate. Bumper and lights need to come off to check them, unfortunately 
they worked fine last night though, which is why I think it's an issue with power getting to them.
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djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Ben G
I did think that simon, but they work fine wnen the engine is off.
djgritt, easier said than done mate. Bumper and lights need to come off to check them, unfortunately
they worked fine last night though, which is why I think it's an issue with power getting to them.
The earth is part of the circuit for the Power getting to them though, as it completes the circuit by providing the negative... Any paint/rust/dirt etc can reduce the quality of the contact point and cause resistance. Poor crimping of connectors can too. Generally, Power will either be there or not on the live side, the only way it wouldn't be adequate is from a damaged wire or a shitty connector.
My Cousin had issues with an Aftermarket HID kit of intermittently flashing or non-energising lamps, we solved them by sorting out the Earthing.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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Cheers djgritt, decided i'm going to have to remove the whole front end again today to sort it out. Will make sure the connections are clean.
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FlaFFy_91
Premium Member
Registered: 30th Sep 08
Location: Formby, Merseyside
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I would of said earthing.
Or do these have canbus systems? If so it's usually that which causes strobing
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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No canbus system AFAIK on these.
Managed to find some old H7 halogen bulbs in my garage, so got up early and fitted them instead. It's far too cold and windy here to be messing around outside all day.
Bumper off again then headlamp units out. I could do it with my eyes shut now. 7 tx30 bolts holding bumper on, 8 expanding push rivets holding wheel arch liners to bumper and 8 tx20 bolts for headlamps. Easy.
I forgot how rubbish halogens are/look. Absolutely awful. I will re-install the HID's when it's warmer.
[Edited on 09-02-2014 by Ben G]
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kennySRi
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Registered: 12th Nov 10
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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Sorry if I missed it but have you a link for the lights? The colour looks very oem.
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BeetleGav
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Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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Did you need to remove the bumper? Seems drastic lol
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Jambo
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Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
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I say earth too. Mine had issues with flickering and it was the earth to the frame inside the lamp itself.
HID's draw a lot of amps for about a millisecond to fire them, then use less power than a regular halogen bulb so it won't be the fact there is not enough power as you would notice this in anything and everything electric on the car.
If you had a spare ballast check that as they can sometimes be the culprit. Might wanna try wrapping them in tin foil as well 
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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Had the exact same idea with the spare ballast Jambo. Used the ballast off the old set of hid's with the new 5000k bulb. It works, well the bulb doesn't go out, but itflickers ever so slightly.
The old ballasts and bulb combo made the lights strobe and go out, so it's an improvement.
Unfortunately only one of the old ballasts works as the other drowned. When the headlamp filled up with water, so I currently have one HID and one halogen.
Are DC ballasts better than AC ones?
I'm going to order some new ones and hope that sorts it.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by BeetleGav
Did you need to remove the bumper? Seems drastic lol
Try changing any bulb with the headlamp still on the car. It's an absolute nightmare. More so because i'm lowered. Quicker to remove the whole unit and do it indoors.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by kennySRi
Sorry if I missed it but have you a link for the lights? The colour looks very oem.
I'll copy and paste the link when i'm on my tablet mate. My phone doesn't let me copy website addresses for some reason.
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BeetleGav
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Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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True. It's not the easiest to access. I've not removed my bumper yet, I want to get the lights out to properly restore the lenses but I'm scared of fucking the xenons some how.
And not getting the bumper on properly
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Ben G
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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Lol the bumper is easy to remove.
I'm absolutely sick of taking it off though just want the lights to work and be done with it.
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