I replaced one of the HID bulbs, as it went out. But after replacing it with a new bulb, the light still didn't work.
So I checked the ballast to find that a lot of moisture had gotten into the housing and rusted the top of the ballast. (the part that actually goes into the housing)

My car has been sitting for quite a while, so I hadn't noticed it. And with these cold temps in Chicago, the water could not dry or evaporate.

Is there anyway to repair this?
Taking the ballast apart and sanding off all the rust?
Or, should I be looking for a new one?

I have not opened the ballast to find what the full extent of the rust is.

thanks in advance for any help

brendan

 

I know this is a pain but I would swap the bulbs from side to side (i.e. known good bulb) and verify it is the ballast and or bulb. Could be another issue you have not identified yet but a swap will tell you where the root of the problem is. If it is the ballast then replace it. It is not considered a repairable unit by Honda.

Utah

 

You also need to be very careful around the ballasts with the headlights on. There is enough voltage present to seriously wound/injure/maim/kill

 

It is in fact the ballast, as far as I can tell.

I swapped out the bulbs and tried them on both sides, and it works great on the "good" side. If I could post pictures on here I would, to show the extent of the damage on the ballast.
I completely remove the housings from the car before I start disconnecting anything. The warning, "may cause death" is serious enough for me to take notice of.

If it is considered unrepairable, I won't even bother with it, I'll just buy a new one.

Thanks for the help

 

A ballast is just coils of very tiny wire similar to a transformer. So normally it is not repairable. There might be a very slim chance that there are some connections that have high resistance that you could clean up. I havent looked at mine to be sure.