Xenon Nightmare!

[clk320x]

I believe I have finally found the reason behind my dreaded Xenon nightmare

See Star Bulletin: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pw394u7om0...B1].pdf?dl=0

I believe I need to order the relevant kit for the igniter replacement, and it seems to be not too bad of a job? Bottom page it mentions around 1 hour.

there are 2 kits and the way to distinguish which one is to check the manufacturing date of the headlamp.. (shown on the attached pdf) and the actual replacement procedure seems to be simply cutting off the old igniter and soldering in a new one?

The symptoms of my car seem to hint towards igniter, as the bulbs sometimes fail to ignite however when the car is switched off an on sometimes the bulbs will restart and work fine... sometimes they work perfectly all the time!

According to others the original ignitor (such as the one fitted in my car) delivered only 25KV to the bulb but this was then increased to 30KV later.

Now here I am confused

Perhaps, as the xenon bulbs in mine have got older they require more voltage to ignite so i am having these issues? could it be just a set of new bulbs could solve this? As this only started a few months ago

However I have also seen a post where someone has had the same symptoms as me except it was solved by a new ballast!

Conflicting info everywhere

Any help greatly appreciated

Cheers

 

[Major774]

Check this out:

http://clives-wines.com/page/watch/vid2016BnRSNQJnlDM

 

[b1g1an]

I believe I have finally found the reason behind my dreaded Xenon nightmare

See Star Bulletin: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pw394u7om0...B1].pdf?dl=0

I believe I need to order the relevant kit for the igniter replacement, and it seems to be not too bad of a job? Bottom page it mentions around 1 hour.

there are 2 kits and the way to distinguish which one is to check the manufacturing date of the headlamp.. (shown on the attached pdf) and the actual replacement procedure seems to be simply cutting off the old igniter and soldering in a new one?

The symptoms of my car seem to hint towards igniter, as the bulbs sometimes fail to ignite however when the car is switched off an on sometimes the bulbs will restart and work fine... sometimes they work perfectly all the time!

According to others the original ignitor (such as the one fitted in my car) delivered only 25KV to the bulb but this was then increased to 30KV later.

Now here I am confused

Perhaps, as the xenon bulbs in mine have got older they require more voltage to ignite so i am having these issues? could it be just a set of new bulbs could solve this? As this only started a few months ago

However I have also seen a post where someone has had the same symptoms as me except it was solved by a new ballast!

Conflicting info everywhere

Any help greatly appreciated

Cheers

It's not the bulbs, they just go purple as they die. You've got the classic symptoms of a ballast on the way out.

 

[clk320x]

It's not the bulbs, they just go purple as they die. You've got the classic symptoms of a ballast on the way out.

This has been over 6 months.. can a ballast be on way out for that long? Wouldn't it have failed by now?

If the ballast was bad wouldn't the light flicker etc as ballast regulates voltage?

Igniter is what delivers initial voltage to start the bulb, so makes sense igniters not working properly as bulbs don't always start up but they need a few times?

 

[b1g1an]

One in a V70 I used to have took over a year to die completely, only put up with it for so long because I knew what a ball ache it would be to replace.

Don't know if MBs are different but igniter tends to be part of the ballast box.

 

[clk320x]

One in a V70 I used to have took over a year to die completely, only put up with it for so long because I knew what a ball ache it would be to replace.

Don't know if MBs are different but igniter tends to be part of the ballast box.

Ignitors are separate on the CLK

After driving to Yorkshire & Beaconsfield I now have 2 Ignitor retro-fit kits which allows fitment of a new and updated part, leaving the old ignitor in-situ hence meaning total fitment time of around 1 hour.

Last 2 in the UK, didn't want to special order from Germany.

Terry is fitting them for me tomorrow, so will report back. Hopefully this solves it once and for all.

 

[b1g1an]

Cool, fingers crossed