Steamy headlights?
Discussion
Alot of cars have this "feature"........
I work with cars and if one comes in with this problem I just stick an infra red lamp on it for 20 minutes taking the back of the lamp to let out the vapours.
You can do this at home too....I have an infra red lamp in the barn keeping the water for the chickens from freezing, cost about £10. Not to close though or bits can start melting. Oh dear !
I work with cars and if one comes in with this problem I just stick an infra red lamp on it for 20 minutes taking the back of the lamp to let out the vapours.
You can do this at home too....I have an infra red lamp in the barn keeping the water for the chickens from freezing, cost about £10. Not to close though or bits can start melting. Oh dear !
My last car did it as well, on that I was brave enough to have a fiddle (not on the Vantage)
I think it is due to the airflow through the light unit.
With the power of the lights some form of ventilation is needed to allow the heat to escape. This draws cool (& damp) air in as well. The moisture drops out on the cooler front cover because the air flowing over it cools it.
Mine are always worse when it is v cold or has rained.
Silica bags is probably the best solution
Might have a play a putting some in myself, they will need heating up to regenerate them occassionally.
DB7's have the aircon running through the headlights to stop this problem.
I'm pretty sure that someone on the AMOC forum said that some of the other later cars had this as well.
Have you tried turning the aircon on with the blower to see if that clears it. It does on the DB7
someone will know???
I'm pretty sure that someone on the AMOC forum said that some of the other later cars had this as well.
Have you tried turning the aircon on with the blower to see if that clears it. It does on the DB7
someone will know???
On the subject of headlights I can vouch that there are indeed silica gel bags within the 07 Vantage HID lights as I found when trying to fix a light that had gone out.
I had one of the ballasts fail recently.
After a bit of messing about I tracked a new one down from Sayed at Autolights. What a helpful chap. £45 plus £5 postage for the ballast.
Bizarrely although it has the same philips XLD145 part number, the pins are slightly different but I've provided Sayed with the details of the connector required to create a short jumper cable to convert from the car wiring loom to the ballast. That should make it a relatively easy thing to fit.
Access to the ballast is through the wheelarch liner. Best to remove the wheel 1st.
Remove the crappy cover at the back of the light (one flat head screw)and then bend it out of position. It's a bit of a lash up!You then remove the weatherproof back of the headlight assembly (2 flat head thumbscrews).
Then remove the two crosshead screws that secure the liner to the bumper.
You can then do all the work through the side of the liner. Trust me it doesn't break when you bend it out of the way!
You'll then need the smallest 5.5mm socket and ratchet you can find and a bit of patience/dexterity to remove the three screws on the underside of the headlight unit. I managed not to drop any of the screws in the bumper!
The ballast then pulls out of the bottom of the lamp.
Two connectors and insert new unit.
Once practiced it's about an hour job.
The link to the ballast is here:-
http://autolights.co.uk/index.php?main_page=produc...
I had one of the ballasts fail recently.
After a bit of messing about I tracked a new one down from Sayed at Autolights. What a helpful chap. £45 plus £5 postage for the ballast.
Bizarrely although it has the same philips XLD145 part number, the pins are slightly different but I've provided Sayed with the details of the connector required to create a short jumper cable to convert from the car wiring loom to the ballast. That should make it a relatively easy thing to fit.
Access to the ballast is through the wheelarch liner. Best to remove the wheel 1st.
Remove the crappy cover at the back of the light (one flat head screw)and then bend it out of position. It's a bit of a lash up!You then remove the weatherproof back of the headlight assembly (2 flat head thumbscrews).
Then remove the two crosshead screws that secure the liner to the bumper.
You can then do all the work through the side of the liner. Trust me it doesn't break when you bend it out of the way!
You'll then need the smallest 5.5mm socket and ratchet you can find and a bit of patience/dexterity to remove the three screws on the underside of the headlight unit. I managed not to drop any of the screws in the bumper!
The ballast then pulls out of the bottom of the lamp.
Two connectors and insert new unit.
Once practiced it's about an hour job.
The link to the ballast is here:-
http://autolights.co.uk/index.php?main_page=produc...
Siy said:
I had this, asked my dealer HWM about it, and they just said it's normal. The temporary fix they said was to put in some little bags of silca gel (believe it or not!!!) - they did, and it seems to have done the trick. Seems a bit odd to me though!
It's what silica gel is for.The reason it's "temporary" is that it needs drying out every so often (only has so much capacity to absorb).
You get used to them being a bit steamed up anyway
Be careful messing around with the HID unit ballast modules. They make an awful lot of voltage, around 20,000 volts worth (there should be a picture of a bloke being struck by a lightning bolt on the unit as a warning). Do not touch the wiring with the ignition on. Not all HIDs are the same either.
I'm not sure you're right there.
The 20,000V is for the "strike" of the arc. That voltage is generated in the ignitor which is mounted onto the base of the lamp assembly.
So far as I'm aware the ballast (in the case of D1s) provides about 85volts which maintains the arc. That might give you a tickle but not anything like mains would and certainly nothing like 20,000 would.
What would further tend to support that is that the spindly little sheilded wiring from ballast to bulb/ignitor package is hardly a large well insulated wire, which would be required for 1,000s of volts and additionly the connectors do not look like high voltage style either.
Whatever; I would not advocate messing about with these with the ignition on either so please do heed that warning!
The 20,000V is for the "strike" of the arc. That voltage is generated in the ignitor which is mounted onto the base of the lamp assembly.
So far as I'm aware the ballast (in the case of D1s) provides about 85volts which maintains the arc. That might give you a tickle but not anything like mains would and certainly nothing like 20,000 would.
What would further tend to support that is that the spindly little sheilded wiring from ballast to bulb/ignitor package is hardly a large well insulated wire, which would be required for 1,000s of volts and additionly the connectors do not look like high voltage style either.
Whatever; I would not advocate messing about with these with the ignition on either so please do heed that warning!
Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff