172 Xenon Ballast units

[Chad]

Anyone know where I can get these, cheap. Renault have just quoted me £600 to replace both. Theres know way I'm paying that much when I know you can get them for around £70 and I know it will only take me an hour to fit them. Just can't seem to find any sites that sell them.

 

[GR172]

http://www.hids4u.co.uk/products.asp?cat=3

The Clio ones are the top ones, Hella. But from the looks of it there's at least a couple of cheaper options on that page.

 

[Chad]

I thought the ballast unit was the black box on the back of the bulb?

If thats the ballast unit where is it on my car?

 

[GR172]

They're fixed underneath the headlamps (to the bottom of the headlamp itself).

The black thing on the back of the bulb is the starter.

 

[Chad]

Thanks, still got to take the bumper off again then. £250 plus £80 for the diagnostics is alot better than £600.

 

[Dooby]

How do you manualy adjust the hight of xenons ?

 

[Chad]

dont think you can tbh but someone is bound to correct me

 

[GR172]

How do you manualy adjust the hight of xenons ?

There's a motor attached to the back that moves them up and down according to the load in the car. You can turn them up and down with an allen key, there's a little white bit that turns. If you do it with the car switched off though, as soon as you turn it on it resets to where it started.

I did it with the engine running and they stayed where they were.

 

[GR172]

Thanks, still got to take the bumper off again then. £250 plus £80 for the diagnostics is alot better than £600.

No problem. As far as I know the Renault Diagnostic gives a definite confirmation that it is the ballasts so at least you can be sure that that's the problem.

Well, as sure as you can ever be with Renault!

 

[Da]

You can manually adjust the beams on the rear of the headlight.

*edit* too slow

 

[Chad]

Thanks, still got to take the bumper off again then. £250 plus £80 for the diagnostics is alot better than £600.

No problem. As far as I know the Renault Diagnostic gives a definite confirmation that it is the ballasts so at least you can be sure that that's the problem.

Well, as sure as you can ever be with Renault!

Do you know if Renault would have to remove the bumper to diagnose the fault? or would they know just by plugging it in? Only I haven't got it back yet as they say they had to strip the front end and remove the injection computer?

I was presuming the guy I was talking to was full of s**t (mostly the injection computer part)

 

[Chad]

Anyone know of any other suppliers? other than the one GR mentioned I can't find any online.

 

[Chad]

^

 

[Da]

What are you wanting to replace, the starters on both lights?

 

[Chad]

No the Ballasts

 

[Dooby]

How do you manualy adjust the hight of xenons ?

There's a motor attached to the back that moves them up and down according to the load in the car. You can turn them up and down with an allen key, there's a little white bit that turns. If you do it with the car switched off though, as soon as you turn it on it resets to where it started.

I did it with the engine running and they stayed where they were.

I thought that allen key adjusted the main bean and not the xenos ?

 

[GR172]

Do you know if Renault would have to remove the bumper to diagnose the fault? or would they know just by plugging it in? Only I haven't got it back yet as they say they had to strip the front end and remove the injection computer?

I was presuming the guy I was talking to was full of s**t (mostly the injection computer part)

I don't work for Renault, but if they did it properly they would get an error code after plugging it in and then take the bumper off to measure the voltages from the ballasts.

The fact they say they took off the bumper makes me think their diagnosis is likely to be correct (providing they have actually inspected the ballasts). Can't think why they'd need to take off the ECU though.

 

[GR172]

I thought that allen key adjusted the main bean and not the xenos ?

No, the xenons have to adjust themselves to comply with Euro legislation. There's a device on the rear axle which tells the car how heavily it's loaded and from that the car decides where the lights should point. It moves the xenons up or down with the brown motors at the back of the headlights.

When you turn the adjuster the change in height is quite subtle, I had to move my passenger side up a fair bit to get it right. Garage I bought the car from changed the bulb and obviously fiddled a bit too much with the motor after that.

Either that or the car felt like being boss eyed it does some strange things sometimes.

 

[BrianR]

There is still a set up adjustment. You can use an allen key inside or a socket on the outside, of the white plastic adjusters.

 

[GR172]

There is still a set up adjustment. You can use an allen key inside or a socket on the outside, of the white plastic adjusters.

That's what I was saying.

Maybe less than clear - the first paragraph was in relation to the fact that the motors you adjust don't act on the main beam. Second was regarding the adjustment itself as previously mentioned.

Or do you mean the main beams as per dooby182's question?

 

[Chad]

I've got the report from renault, looks like they plugged it in and there were no faults. Then they had to check the wiring to the ballasts (which would mean removing the bumper).