2008 SRX headlight replacement

[kevm14]

Depending on who you ask, both my CTS-V and SRX "require" the front bumper to be removed, in order to pull the headlight assembly out of the car, to replace the bulb.

I looked at this Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gMnbo1rhno
I also consulted the FSM.

There are elements of both the video and the FSM that I did, and those that I did not.

But this job actually started with making sure my Philips D1S bulb was genuine. I put the code and ID number into the Philips website and it said I had an invalid number. Naturally this annoyed me since I specifically spent an extra $12 at Rockauto vs Amazon (or $100 at any parts store). I watched videos on how to identify counterfeit bulbs and you are supposed to remove the sticker on the bottom of the bulb. A genuine bulb is stamped with VOID all over it. Mine did not have this. However, every other way to identify a counterfeit bulb indicated that mine was genuine (basically, specific aspects of the bulb construction).

I tried contacting Philips by phone and by e-mail. Both were a bust. The e-mail would not go through and the lady on the phone said she couldn't help me, and that I had to speak to someone in Corporate. And no, she had no number. She said to use the e-mail address I was using.

Here is the box, which, by the way, does not appear to be US packaging. It has a non-US phone number on it, for one thing. You can see the code and ID here:

The new bulb:

The bottom label:

In the end, I said screw it and decided to dig in because even I get tired of wringing my hands sometimes.

These were approximately the steps I took to get the headlamp assembly out of the car:

Remove all of the upward facing plastic push rivets that hold the bumper/grill to the upper radiator support area. 10 in total, though I opted to remove another 2, which connect the grill to the upper/inner bumper area. I don't think this was necessary.

Next I removed a bunch of those plastic rivets that hold the inner wheelhouse to the car. I turned the wheel all the way to the right to get more room. I also removed some under the bumper itself.

Separate the wheelhouse from the bumper to expose the two mounting bolts that mate the bumper to the fender. One is a slot type that makes assembly easier.

Back up at the headlight, remove the two upper mounting bolts (10mm, like most things).

The third mounting bolt is accessed by pulling the bumper away from the car (the headlight washer cover area).

Then the headlamp assembly pops out, and you can then disconnect the single wiring harness which routes power for all bulbs contained within the assembly (a total of 4 I believe).

NOTE: as I write this, I cannot understand why I had to do all the wheelhouse stuff, and disconnect the bumper from the fender. Maybe it is necessary to get clearance to pull the headlamp assembly out of a mounting post. Actually, maybe it's to be able to pull back the top/inner bumper to get at the third bolt, without destroying everything.

Anyway, here is all the gory detail with the headlamp assembly removed.

Headlamp washer for no good reason other than it's fancy. CTS-V has these as well. They function only when the headlights are on (and you wash the windshield). They figure if you can't see out of the windshield, the headlights probably have crap on them, too.

Continued...

[kevm14]

Another shot of the headlight-less hole. You can clearly see the slotted bolt/mount for mating the side of the bumper to the fender.

Headlamp assembly removed! You can see the height adjuster (cone thingy).

Turned around. Projector low and high beams for extra fancy optics. The STS had the same.

On the bench, I removed the 3 torx screws holding the rear access cover on. Looks like Johnny Five in there...

The old bulb. I've never seen a burned out HID before, but this sure looks like one.

OEM was an Osram (as in Osram Sylvania)

The result. It works!

It may be a little brighter than the driver's side. Who knows when that one will go.

Next I will try to aim these. I already brought the fog lights up a bit. The headlights use a 6mm and the fog lights use a 4mm.

The Euro-market cars use a fancy auto leveling system, which I think is required by law.

All in all, this was not as bad as I thought it would be. But it was also way more involved than a headlight bulb replacement should be. Like it or not, the SRX is far from alone in this. Also, I do like HIDs and even at only 35W, they provide more light than halogens.

[kevm14]

Jesus Christ - driver's side just stopped working.

[kevm14]

It may be a little brighter than the driver's side. Who knows when that one will go.

Oh right...guess the answer is about 12 months.

[kevm14]

I got the bulb from Rockauto. Same one I ordered before, so I won't bother with the genuine bulb drama.

I will try to tackle this tomorrow morning, without disconnecting as much of the bumper as I did on the passenger side. If I can pry back the upper
bumper fascia area enough to get at the retaining bolt, then I should be able to pull the whole thing out. The top two bolts are in plain view.

One thing I am hopefully needlessly dwelling on: unlike when the passenger side burnt out, I see no attempt by the ballast to restrike the bulb like 5 or however many times. The restrike was seen as a dull flash if you looked right into the bulb. It would happen each time the headlights were turned on. The driver's side does nothing at all - it appears totally dead. All fuses and relays checked out OK. That worries me because I hope it doesn't mean there is something wrong with the ballast.

Either way, if the bulb is original as the passenger side was, it was probably due anyway. So I will put it in regardless and if it needs a ballast, I'll do that...

[kevm14]

Good and bad news.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/20 ... ution.html

Bad news: replacement OEM-style ballast is $200-$300.

Good news: You can get a generic D1S ballast and fit it into the headlight housing as the guy does in the link above. The generic ballasts are WAY cheaper.

Bad news: From a CTS-V guy (same D1S bulbs):

I removed the bumper cover, and headlight to find the ballast with water dammage. I had never done this before and learned that the ballast actually is the bottome plate to the headlight housing so you cant just remove it and use another one. I also saw that the ballast is not water tight from INSIDE the headlight housing (wich is how mine fried).

Why is this bad news? Because of two related things:
1) I had just brought the car through the car wash
2) There was visible condensation/moisture on the inside of the light housing when I was diagnosing the dead bulb. This would also explain why no restrike. And why there was zero warning (no browning of light color, no flickering, etc). Goddamnit.

Good news: apparently the replacement generic ballasts tend to be waterproofed instead of relying on the headlight housing.

I'd say there is an 80% chance I have a ballast issue now that I've read all this. Sigh. Water and high voltage don't mix after all.

[kevm14]

Good news: You can get a generic D1S ballast and fit it into the headlight housing as the guy does in the link above. The generic ballasts are WAY cheaper.

They sure are.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-D1S-D2S-OEM ... K4&vxp=mtr

$59 for a plug and play installation. That's almost as cheap as the bulb.

Rockauto says this is the compatibility list, which seems to match what eBay says:

AUDI A4 2003-2005
AUDI Q7 2007-2009
AUDI S4 2004-2005
CADILLAC CTS 2003-2007
CADILLAC SRX 2004-2009
CHRYSLER 300 2005-2009
PORSCHE CAYENNE 2003-2010
VOLKSWAGEN EOS 2007-2010
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT 2006-2010
VOLVO S60 2005-2007
VOLVO S80 1999-2006
VOLVO V70 2001-2007
VOLVO XC90 2003-2006

I know what the first comment will be: wow, that sure is a list of super reliable cars. But if it's water damage, that isn't really a ballast issue per se.

[kevm14]

Why is this bad news? Because of two related things:
1) I had just brought the car through the car wash
2) There was visible condensation/moisture on the inside of the light housing when I was diagnosing the dead bulb. This would also explain why no restrike. And why there was zero warning (no browning of light color, no flickering, etc). Goddamnit.

Evidence.

[kevm14]

I managed to finagle the headlight out without pulling the bumper. I pulled back the upper grill area. But honestly, I should have pulled the driver's side bumper away from the car like I did on the other side the first time. I had to bend it at ridiculous angles and it's just not good to do that. This bumper is already damaged so whatever. Oh, and to reinstall, I actually had to disconnect the part of the bumper anyway. Just could not get it back in. So...lesson learned. It's really not THAT hard, just a little tedious.

I think this damage occurred when Jamie hit the garage with the car, but I also stressed it trying to get the light back in.

Upon removal of the light, I went to remove the back cover to access the bulbs and lookie what I found. One of the three retaining ears is snapped off. This MAY be where water was able to get in as the rubber seal wasn't making a good seal here.

The bottom one is actually stressed but not broken. Not entirely sure how this happens, but it COULD be from someone else trying to jam the light back into place without properly disconnecting the bumper (i.e. Barrys when they replaced that marker bulb for me).

Here's the ballast. It is the LAD5GL which a plug and play replacement is available at that eBay link for $59. Look closely - I just noticed it says 4/9/14. That sure looks like a date. Which means it was replaced a year before we bought it. Or probably more recently since the part has to ship from GM. Now that is interesting.

Here was my fix. I found a screw with a similar thread diameter and pitch and shoved a washer in there. Hopefully that does the job of forming the seal.

First step, try the new bulb. The old bulb did not look bad and sure enough, the new bulb didn't work, either.

Next I disconnected and set up the ballast in a vice and pointed a hair dryer at it at full heat. It did look like it was a little wet but not like bottom of the ocean bad. I must have left that for a good 5-10 minutes. While that was working, I rinsed the headlight assembly with distilled water, like 4 times. After that, I dried it with the hair dryer. There really wasn't any real water in there when I initially took it apart. I expected a puddle.

After everything was dry, I reinstalled all the bulbs and the ballast. I should note that I used the OLD bulb still as it looked fine. I figured I would need to order a ballast so may as well just put the old bulb back in.

I walked the light over to the car, temporarily plugged it in and:

Hell yeah! It works! I think drying out the ballast is what did it.

I let the car idle with the low and high beams on to dry the housing further.

It still has condensation but I hope my fix works. I will monitor it. I mean, I used no new parts so I will just wait and see if it dries out and stays dry. It cleared up reasonably after idling for a while but after cooling down there is still condensation. The official GM advise I think is drive with the headlights on for some time and it should work itself out if it's not actually leaking or whatever. Occasional condensation is normal.

I will set the D1S bulb aside as it fits both this and my CTS-V anyway. I was toying with ordering the ballast to have on hand. I still may.

[bill25]

So no more pressurized water for the SRX. It probably got in from the side since that is the direction of car wash water, and isn't the direction of rain at 65 mph, which you had no trouble with. I am surprised you didn't just use the new bulb given the stress crack and amount of work to get that out...