957 Hesdlight swap Xenon for Halogen?

mhariush · mhariush's Garage

I need to replace my headlight(s) after the very heavy rain here in LA. The passenger side headlight took in water and the xenon light stopped working giving a Headlight System Failure. It appears that it's the Xenon Control module. And they are really expensive, plus you need to have them re-coded.
But i see that the halogen headlights are around 700 ea. which is close to what it would be to replace ballast plus I get brand new clear headlight instead of the yellowed ones I have now.

Is it a straight swap from Xenon to Halogen or will this also cause a trip to dealer to sort out?

RNajarian · RNajarian's Garage

Good question, I noticed some condensation inside my Xenon lights after that rain. Fortunately I am still OK. Next major rain I’ll put the car cover on as insurance. Looks like a pain to resolve.

mhariush · mhariush's Garage

if you have, I'd take the headlight out and dry it. I tried drying mine but it was too late. And probably reseal it.

Also looks like the halogen have different plugs so I have bought a new ballast to see if that will solve it. And then a trip to the dealer or someone with piwis to recode it with the vin.

RNajarian · RNajarian's Garage

Where is the water coming in from? Isn’t the headlight a sealed unit? I would imagine the rear access cover is where the moisture is coming in from.

I imagine the front of the headlight is not an entry point, however, I could be wrong.

mhariush · mhariush's Garage

they are sealed from factory, but they don't stay that way always. Mine are faded from the hard sun out here, and the passenger side is the worst, that's the only one that had condensation inside the lens, and water inside the unit itself. So will have to reseal them.

bought one of these ballasts and now it works, but the driver side is dead as well, maybe fried when the left one went or both need to be replaced at the same time. so ordered a new one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/153998605131

Quote:

Originally Posted by RNajarian

Where is the water coming in from? Isn’t the headlight a sealed unit? I would imagine the rear access cover is where the moisture is coming in from.

I imagine the front of the headlight is not an entry point, however, I could be wrong.