I got in my vehicle the other morning and noticed the road was pretty dark. After investigating, i found that only my fogs lights were working. The high beams also work with no problem. Ive checked out the fuses and relays and everything seems ok. As most people, my budget is extremely tight so taking this thing to a dealer cant be done. All help is GREATLY appreciated.

Have you checked all the headlight fuses both in the engine bay and behind the coin tray?

How did you check the relay? Did you try swapping it with another one of the same color?

Towncivilian wrote:Have you checked all the headlight fuses both in the engine bay and behind the coin tray?

How did you check the relay? Did you try swapping it with another one of the same color?

hmm..i wasnt aware that there were fuses behind the coin tray, i thought they were all under the hood, i will check these. I swapped the relays for my horn and my rear defroster for the headlights being they were the same color and still nothing. ill attempt to pull the coin tray out and ill report back.

checked all the fuses behind the coin tray...nothing blown. i did notice 3 blue relays, do any of those have to do with the headlights?

Nope, those are for other systems.

Did both headlights die at the same time, or did one fail before the other? Are there junkyards near you with any QX4s that have HIDs so you can possibly source a ballast? Can you remove and open up the ballast to see if any solder joints look bad?

they just died all of a sudden, no warning, not one at a time. i can try to remove a ballast and see, i just find it hard to believe that both ballast died at the same time.

Might be a combo of dying bulbs + a bad ballast(s). (It's not totally honest, but you could buy some new bulbs at the auto-parts store, test them and return them if it doesn't solve the issue!)

I haven't any knowledge about the HID and ballast packs... but can you simply unplug the bulb and test power output/supply of the ballasts though there is no bulb?

Dont know but i'd wait for someone with more knowledge than me because I know their high voltage

Not sure what caused both ballasts to go bad all of a sudden unless the engine bay was blasted with water/moisture. The OEM Matsushita ballasts are notorious for not playing well with water but they are great otherwise (according to the HID guru I dealt with)

I had some HID issues last year that resurfaced again a few months ago. I ended up replacing both ballasts and put new bulbs in.

Here is a link to a thread I started that goes into detail of the problems I was experiencing and what I did to rectify the situation.

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthr ... y-HID-help

Keep in mind you won't be able to find new Matsushita ballasts (those are 10 years old) exactly like the ones that came stock on your vehicle. Furthermore, if you opt to find a set of used OEM replacements there were two different Matsushita's used in 2002...one with a single, large power supply connector and the other with two, smaller separate connectors.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Another small update. My low beams are still not working however, ive noticed that when i turn them on, they both flicker for about a second and then nothing. anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this?

^ I had that exact problem when i had a bad ballast. I did a retro fit and had one DDM ballast that was working sometime and not others, it finally blew and when i tried to turn it on it would flicker for a second. but i send it my ballast and they replaced it for free (lifetime warrantee) so it sounds to me like you may have a ballast issue.

gmcdougal wrote:Another small update. My low beams are still not working however, I've noticed that when i turn them on, they both flicker for about a second and then nothing. anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this?

Is this a U.S. or Canadian vehicle?
Reason I ask is: If it's Canadian and has day Time Running Lights, then the problem could be with the DRL module.

I had my passenger headlight go out yesterday. No flicker, no weird colors. Worked fine then nothing. Bulb or ballast?

Probably the bulb, you could swap in the driver side one to test. Be sure to put on clean gloves before handling the bulb itself, as oils from our fingers degrade bulb longevity. If it's a xenon, I have replaced one with a Philips "Made in Germany" bulb that is lasting well, and the color/temp is a match for the other side.