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Lights flickering on the passenger side

2K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  mistergizmo007 
#1 ·
Hi folks,
Coming from Acura TL with HID, I figured I would put the HID Plug In and Play into my 2009 Civic Si Sedan. The vehicle is stock with the upgrade of HID. It was done about 10 days ago and today I noticed when I start up the car, the lights flicker a bit, and while I was driving, the passenger side flickered pretty intense. The light never went out, but it has this rapid flicker constant for a good 10 minutes before it became steady. The driver side was fine so my question is

A) Is it doing that because it's 28 degrees out? And needs to power up? (my TL which came with the factory HID never flickered.)
B) Is the right side balister(spelling?) a defect?

I called my carrier, he said the brand is from Europe and is a good private brand called (something DIGITAL...I forgot the name.) It is not one of those cheap product from ebay. He is a very reliable carrier who does alarm, turbo, s/c etc., He said it might need some additional harness since the right side isn't getting enough voltage...

is that true or BS? I am thinking if this is going to give me trouble, I might as well go back to stock Halogen. I still have the stock bulbs with me and I am afraid the flicker will make the bulb go out?
and by the way, after 10 minutes the light never flickered again.... so I am baffled.
Please help, I don't know too much about HID lights.
 
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#4 ·
My guess is that regardless of what the guy told you, the brand is just another cheap brand. I had a similar problem with my kit that I ordered through Fashtek, which sells German products supposedly. I tried switching the bulbs, and the same thing happened regardless of the bulb. So, I finally took the ballast out and it was full of water. These ballasts were supposed to be waterproof. I would start out switching the bulbs and see if the problem persists. If the other bulb flickers, then it is the ballast. Good luck. I'm getting to be a pro at taking my front bumper off because of these damn headlights.
 
#5 ·
Flickering can be caused by lower-end conversion kits that are universal in design. Now, not to say your kit is lower end, but it may be.

I had this problem too in my conversion kit when I had my 07 Civic Si, and it was the ballast that was to blame. Warranty replaced it and it didn't flicker as much.

I believe there should be a relay installed to eliminate fully the flickering problem. Remember you're going from 55w to 35w.

Darryl
 
#6 ·
Yes, I believe it has something to do with the heavy rain on saturday night while I driving (over an hour and parked for about 6 hours.) The HID kit is suppose to be WATERPROOF, yet flickering began only on the passenger side day after the rain. I am heading to the shop and get my stock bulbs installed back. I don't want trouble and problems so I am just going back to original halogen lights and suck up the less visibility.
I am not about to have the bumper taken off, change the bulbs, more flicker, take bumper off, change ballast, it will drive me crazy. HID lights isn't worth that much trouble.
 
#16 ·
It's not that bad having stock. I am tired of dealing with HID flickering issues. I have seen plenty of eye headlight HID wannabe car out there. Our Si isn't that easy to change the ballast or the HID bulb itself. You have to take the bumper off or go around it, it's such a pain in the ass. NO THX.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Pnp kits make ur car look tacky and cheap. Retro or gtfh...

i bought a pnp kit and never installed it after seein so many shitboxes with them running around town. The new hottest mod among ricers and jackoffs in turbo diesel pickups... the only pnp kit i would use is for yellow fogs and thats still a slim chance.
 
#18 ·
Totally agree. There are many folks on this forum that use PnP HID kit and works fine. I give them props but I just don't want the headache. Coming from 2004 Acura TL, I missed the HID so I figured I would go to my trusted dealer to get a kit. The kit I have is very bright, and great quality but the flickering got me frustrated. 4 yrs I had on oem HID kit in TL never once flickered.

I can live with halogen bulbs, the fog lights that came with the car makes it visible enough.
 
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