Thread: Drivers side HID headlight wont turn on when the car isnt running

Ok here's my problem. I installed my 35w 9007 HID kit from VVME yesterday. I am using a relay harness and its single beam only. Everything is plugged in the way its supposed to be. When I start the car up and turn on the lights everything turns on just fine. If I turn the car off and try turning on my headlights, the drivers side headlight flickers for a split sec then goes off. It almost seems like there isnt enough power going to it. I tried putting my battery jumper on the battery then trying to turn the headlights on with the car not running and it didnt change anything. I know the ballast and bulbs are fine because I swapped them with the passenger side which always works whether its running or not and it still wouldn't work on the drivers side. I even disabled DRL by unplugging it and it didnt change anything. Ive cleaned up and redid all the grounds on the car including the new grounds used for the two HID kits that ive installed and that didnt help. Ive tried new locations for the ground, and that didnt help.

I have 35w 880 HID fog lights from vvme installed too, don't think that matters but I thought I would add that info.

Why does the drivers side HID light not turn on when the car is not running? This problem is driving me nuts ! If anyone can help please let me know, thanks !

Ok I think I'm making progress. I tested the voltage going into the drivers side ballast with the car off and its only 10.6 volts. When I turn the car on, its getting 14.8 volts. So obviously the problem is the ballast isnt getting enough power when the car is not running. Now the question is why?

Any thoughts ?

Well it wasnt the battery either. I just put in a optima red top and the drivers side headlight still doesnt work...........

FML !

I guess i have to live with it. It was just bothering me because it makes me think something is wrong (OCDing bad right now). I give up though. 10 hours 150 dollars and countless headaches later, I literally have tried everything. The only way I can get it to work is by not using the relay harness and just connecting it.

WEIRD. You say you are using a relay to turn on the HID's. If that is the case and you are getting 10.6 volts to the drivers side ballast, you should get exactly 10.6 volts to passenger side ballast also. If not, then there is either a problem with the relay or your wiring connections to the drivers side ballast. A relay should take the actual car voltage(either 12v when off or 14,4 whhen running) and run it in parallel to each ballast( ie. same voltage to each ballast) and use the factory wiring to trigger the relay only.

I tried swapping the relay with my relay from my hid fogs and it didnt change anything. I don't know how it could be wired incorrectly, it should be wired fine. The voltage going to the passenger side ballast that is closest to the relay harness has like 12.4 v when the car isnt running and at the same time if i test the drivers side its only like 11v. I have no clue why they wouldnt be the same voltage, it makes no sense to me.

I'm really lost here also, your grounds are indeed good right. Like no paint metal to metal grounds? Almost makes me think there's a short in the headlight harness somewhere. Try swapping the oem headlight harness to the other side and see if this replicates the issue on opposite side.

ok, i would remove everything, i mean everything. Start testing everything piece by piece. Start with the 12v lead coming from the battery and the ground to the relay, if still 12 v(while car not running) then move on. Then add the relay. Check both sets of positive and negative for each light, you should still have 12v each side while relay is switched on( 0v while off). Also test any extension leads you may have added. This is not a difficult problem, just start at the beginning and test peice by piece. You will find your problem by process of elimination. I have been a union electrician for 12 years so i know what i am talking about. You may want to borrow a "good" meter if you do not have one just to make sure your tests are correct.

Well I am at a complete loss. Now the drivers side wont always come on even when the car is running? I did what clean suggested and tried hooking up the wiring harness closest to the drivers side headlight and ran a long power wire to it. When I did that the drivers side would always come on but the passenger side now has the problem.

Ive checked the wiring harness the best that I can. I swapped the relay with my relay from my fogs lights and that didnt help either.

My conclusion is the wiring harness is bad or I have some other issue with my car's headlights.

When I hook up the HID's w/o using the relay harness they work fine, whether the car is running or not. I guess I'm going to cross my fingers and try using them w/o the relay harness and hope that it doesn't have any problems.

Anyone else have any suggestions, please let me know

Im having the same problem with my 9007-1 hid kit with relay from vvme did anybody ever find a solution?

I hope someone jumps on here with an answer. Hate when **** dont work right..............

Originally Posted by thegipper

Well I am at a complete loss. Now the drivers side wont always come on even when the car is running? I did what clean suggested and tried hooking up the wiring harness closest to the drivers side headlight and ran a long power wire to it. When I did that the drivers side would always come on but the passenger side now has the problem.

Ive checked the wiring harness the best that I can. I swapped the relay with my relay from my fogs lights and that didnt help either.

My conclusion is the wiring harness is bad or I have some other issue with my car's headlights.

When I hook up the HID's w/o using the relay harness they work fine, whether the car is running or not. I guess I'm going to cross my fingers and try using them w/o the relay harness and hope that it doesn't have any problems.

Anyone else have any suggestions, please let me know

Just buy the relay harness from TRS, get the bi-xenon 9007 relay harness. That will allow you to use bi-xenons for your bright lights if you buy the bulbs. Not sure what bulbs you're using, but just get bulbs that have the bi-xenon pnp connector on them.

This way you can change the pins in the relay harness like I have and have perfect functioning lights. I have a picture of the connections with the harness from TRS....



tan/white
black/brown
green/blue

It will function like a stock car should this way with no bright lights indicator on the dash or hud. My only guess is your relay harness is bad or not hooked up right at this point.

We'll last night after heavy drinking I was leaving my friends house and started up my car and noticed that my drivers side headlight was not on..... FML......

At this point I am not using a relay harness because that was the only way I could get the lights to work fine. It has worked fine for over a week now until tonight. So I got outta my car just to make sure that it wasn't actually on and nope it was off. This is the real kicker though, during this entire time my hid fogs that I installed from VVME never had a problem once, but this time not only was my drivers side HL not working my drivers side fog light wasn't on either !!!!!!!

I am at a complete loss. I turned my car back off and waited a couple mins started it up again and they all came on? I have no Fing clue what the hell is going on.

Anyone have any other suggestions? Could maybe the auto-lights be acting up? Can you disable them?

Please help !

I read up on disabling the auto headlights and I'm going to radioshack and buying a 470ma resistor and installing it.

Hopefully this will solve the problem, other then that I think I've run out of options !

[QUOTE=thegipper;525087]We'll last night after heavy drinking I was leaving my friends house and started up my car and noticed that my drivers side headlight was not on..... FML......