My gta doesn't have xenons but..
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Autolusso might have some
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Do yours auto-level?
Yes HIDs have auto-levelling and Halogens have manual, but there is more to changing from HID to Halogen than just changing the headlights.
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25,677 Posts
Have a word with GTA Jim his GTA had factory Xenons but they failed and he opted to have the car converted to normal headlights as it was vastly cheaper than purchasing new units (last I checked £850 PER unit inc VAT).
The factory Xenons have a sensor that is attached to the rear ARB, if this also exists on your car then you know at some point they have failed and someone has opted to have them put back to standard.
It's unfortunate as the fix isn't that difficult it's just time consuming and logistically a pain. Xenon units are meant to be sealed and due to the huge size of the drivers side unit to get the back off the headlight you should really remove the front bumper and extract the headlamp to fit new sidelight bulbs but through lazyness this is often not the case, screws get left off and the headlamps become unsealed allowing condensation to form within.
This condensation then pools in the bottom of the unit and finds it's way down through the connection lug to the ballast unti that is mounted on the underside of the unit, filling it with water and eventually short circuiting it.
Quite a few of us who had xenons had this issue and we all resolved it in various ways, on my car some of the threaded inserts in the moulding had been snapped out of the moulding leaving the back completely unsealed. I sourced some brass threaded inserts for injection mouldings, push fit them in place of the originals and glued where necessary and then replaced the screws holding the back of the unit on with Stainless steel screws. Often the issue was compounded by factory screws rusting into the inserts which is why they had to be broken to get the back off.
New ballast packs from Alfa are approx £200 EACH, I purchased two ballast packs of the exact same model used on a same MY Ford Mondeo (only difference was it said ford on the sticker instead of Alfa Romeo) for £60 on ebay, refitted it all cleaned everything up and made sure that everything sealed properly.
The key thing with the xenon's is that if you start to see condensation it means that the seal is broken and this needs acting on immediately.
You might think this is more trouble than its worth but I'd say as I have gone from a car with xenons to a car without that they ARE worth the hassle.
Aftermarket ARBs can be a pain, on mine the sensor needed some work to fit the Eibach ARBs but slipped and I never had it sorted due to the fact it passed an MOT (twice) without the self levelling function working.
Hope this helps.
Sean
The factory Xenons have a sensor that is attached to the rear ARB, if this also exists on your car then you know at some point they have failed and someone has opted to have them put back to standard.
It's unfortunate as the fix isn't that difficult it's just time consuming and logistically a pain. Xenon units are meant to be sealed and due to the huge size of the drivers side unit to get the back off the headlight you should really remove the front bumper and extract the headlamp to fit new sidelight bulbs but through lazyness this is often not the case, screws get left off and the headlamps become unsealed allowing condensation to form within.
This condensation then pools in the bottom of the unit and finds it's way down through the connection lug to the ballast unti that is mounted on the underside of the unit, filling it with water and eventually short circuiting it.
Quite a few of us who had xenons had this issue and we all resolved it in various ways, on my car some of the threaded inserts in the moulding had been snapped out of the moulding leaving the back completely unsealed. I sourced some brass threaded inserts for injection mouldings, push fit them in place of the originals and glued where necessary and then replaced the screws holding the back of the unit on with Stainless steel screws. Often the issue was compounded by factory screws rusting into the inserts which is why they had to be broken to get the back off.
New ballast packs from Alfa are approx £200 EACH, I purchased two ballast packs of the exact same model used on a same MY Ford Mondeo (only difference was it said ford on the sticker instead of Alfa Romeo) for £60 on ebay, refitted it all cleaned everything up and made sure that everything sealed properly.
The key thing with the xenon's is that if you start to see condensation it means that the seal is broken and this needs acting on immediately.
You might think this is more trouble than its worth but I'd say as I have gone from a car with xenons to a car without that they ARE worth the hassle.
Aftermarket ARBs can be a pain, on mine the sensor needed some work to fit the Eibach ARBs but slipped and I never had it sorted due to the fact it passed an MOT (twice) without the self levelling function working.
Hope this helps.
Sean
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2,138 Posts
I'm currently dealing with a condensation issue with my passenger side headlight. Took loads of photos over the weekend of the bumper removal, headlight etc. Ordered potting compound from maplin which will arrive on Tuesday so I will be sealing my ballasts. With mine the condensation stopped the light working but if you catch it early enough and let it dry out it will still work (mine did yesterday). Will be putting a guide up at some point in the next few weeks when the whole job is done.
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Looks like the issue is your drivers side one in your sig pic or has that been sorted before?
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It was the drivers side giving grief previously now the passenger. It really is a case of people changing bulbs and not getting the back lid on properly to be honest. However the damage the condensation does is a major issue. Guide will follow sometime next week. May do it as a PDF if I can find somewhere to host it
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Well had a good look at my light this evening and looks like the guide will also have some advice on repairing the screw fixings as well. This is because the garage who told me try took the bumper off to change the bulb even though the bumper screws were seized have snapped the lid. Explains the condensation.
Dan if you are reading I'll be calling tomorrow for a new rear lid for a passenger side xenon so please put one aside for me
Dan if you are reading I'll be calling tomorrow for a new rear lid for a passenger side xenon so please put one aside for me
Both the rear covers on my xenons did not seal due to rusted and sheard retaining screws. i solved this in a similar way to Ghosty Dog by drilling out the remains of the old screws and epoxy resined some M4 brass studs in there place, it did occur to me whilst attaking them a cordless drill that if this goes t--ts up its going to be expensive! i also had to replace both tie rods on the self leveling switches which seem to fall apart. if moisture does find its way into the light unit what is the best way to remove it?
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I found I didn't even need to do that I just used aryldite on the existing fittings and it was fine.
With the water I just left them indoors for a week to dry out. First time I tried was in one afternoon with a hairdryer and that didn't work. You can get the lens covers off but I'm not risking it
With the water I just left them indoors for a week to dry out. First time I tried was in one afternoon with a hairdryer and that didn't work. You can get the lens covers off but I'm not risking it
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To get the condensation out, when the back is off you could put in a little sachet of silica gel crystals.
I need to do the GT - drivers side rear cover has a corner missing so the lens is getting condensation - bumper needs to come off to fix (and also replace sidelight bulbs which have gone too). It's just finding the time to do it, really.
Can the rear covers be bought from Alfa? I asked Autolusso about them but they didn't have any GT bits in - don't know if the GT rear covers are the same as 147?
I need to do the GT - drivers side rear cover has a corner missing so the lens is getting condensation - bumper needs to come off to fix (and also replace sidelight bulbs which have gone too). It's just finding the time to do it, really.
Can the rear covers be bought from Alfa? I asked Autolusso about them but they didn't have any GT bits in - don't know if the GT rear covers are the same as 147?
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