Rune Skigelstrand

My right-hand Xenon-bulb is on its way to bulb-heaven (light is reddish and
weak). May I change this myself or is it imperative that this is done by the
dealer? If yes - how?

I've seen some warnings on this from vendors ("high voltage"... bla-bla),
but mostly believe it to be the ususal crap to keeps the customers hands out
of the engine bay.

www.powerbulbs.com sells them for 98 GBP. Any better?

(Got the low beam only version - which means that they are on all the time,
but assisted by halogen bulb on high beam).

Rune S.
-98 A6 A/Q 2.8

John

Hi Rune,

I had exactly the same problem a couple of months ago (see some earlier
posts in this group)

You can change the bulb your self without any problems, just make sure the
power is OFF and you don't actually touch the glass on the replacement bulb.
Removal is fairly easy. If its the same side as the air intake you will
need to remove the hose to gain access (it just pulls off)
Undo the two clips holding the headlamp cover. You can then twist the
connector off of the Xenon bulb (the bulb type is a Xenon D2S) The bulb has
some lugs on it, so you can only fit it a certain way up. Then just
reconnect and replace the cover.
The bulbs are expensive (and I ended up buying from Audi as I needed it
straight away as I do a lot of night driving) BUT look on ebay
(www.ebay.co.uk) and do a search using HID D2S I now have a set of spare
Xenon's that cost me £35!!!

The bad news is......5 days after replacing the bulb, the Xenon control unit
failed (called an ignighter or ballast unit) not sure if this was a
coincidence or the bulb failure was an indication of the control unit
nearing failure. That cost me £300 to replace as the whole headlamp needs
to come out the car to get to the unit (its bolted to the underneath of the
headlamp housing) Dealer job.

Also have a look at http://www.xenonvalot.com/tuotteet_eng.html looks a lot
cheaper and they ship anywhere.

If you are in the UK (near Reading) I have a brand new spare bulb I can sell
you!!!

Good luck.

John.
[all replies to the news group as the email is a dummy one]

"Rune Skigelstrand" <skigel@fjerndette&hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%o_Mb.1242$Ed.23479@news4.e.nsc.no...
> My right-hand Xenon-bulb is on its way to bulb-heaven (light is reddish
and
> weak). May I change this myself or is it imperative that this is done by
the
> dealer? If yes - how?
>
> I've seen some warnings on this from vendors ("high voltage"... bla-bla),
> but mostly believe it to be the ususal crap to keeps the customers hands
out
> of the engine bay.
>
> www.powerbulbs.com sells them for 98 GBP. Any better?
>
> (Got the low beam only version - which means that they are on all the
time,
> but assisted by halogen bulb on high beam).
>
> Rune S.
> -98 A6 A/Q 2.8
>
>

Ronny

"Rune Skigelstrand" <skigel@fjerndette&hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%o_Mb.1242$Ed.23479@news4.e.nsc.no...
> My right-hand Xenon-bulb is on its way to bulb-heaven (light is reddish
and
> weak). May I change this myself or is it imperative that this is done by
the
> dealer? If yes - how?
>
> I've seen some warnings on this from vendors ("high voltage"... bla-bla),
> but mostly believe it to be the ususal crap to keeps the customers hands
out
> of the engine bay.
>
> www.powerbulbs.com sells them for 98 GBP. Any better?
>
> (Got the low beam only version - which means that they are on all the
time,
> but assisted by halogen bulb on high beam).
>
> Rune S.
> -98 A6 A/Q 2.8
>
>

should be nice and easy, to be on the safe side disconnect the battery, do
not spend 100 quid on a single d2s bulb, buy them from the states, at the
moment our pound is well good against the dollar
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2453069890

Have a look on ebay, and do a search for d2s you can then choose the colour
you require, 4100k is a whitish light, 6000k looks better imo

that d2s bulb I just gave you the link for works out at about 17 quid no
duty normally on items under £50.00

hth

ron

Ronny

"John" <someone@somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:jS5Nb.3047$JL4.21728@newsfep4-glfd.server.ntli.net...
> Hi Rune,
>
> I had exactly the same problem a couple of months ago (see some earlier
> posts in this group)
>
> You can change the bulb your self without any problems, just make sure the
> power is OFF and you don't actually touch the glass on the replacement
bulb.
> Removal is fairly easy. If its the same side as the air intake you will
> need to remove the hose to gain access (it just pulls off)
> Undo the two clips holding the headlamp cover. You can then twist the
> connector off of the Xenon bulb (the bulb type is a Xenon D2S) The bulb
has
> some lugs on it, so you can only fit it a certain way up. Then just
> reconnect and replace the cover.
> The bulbs are expensive (and I ended up buying from Audi as I needed it
> straight away as I do a lot of night driving) BUT look on ebay
> (www.ebay.co.uk) and do a search using HID D2S I now have a set of spare
> Xenon's that cost me £35!!!
>
> The bad news is......5 days after replacing the bulb, the Xenon control
unit
> failed (called an ignighter or ballast unit) not sure if this was a
> coincidence or the bulb failure was an indication of the control unit
> nearing failure. That cost me £300 to replace as the whole headlamp needs
> to come out the car to get to the unit (its bolted to the underneath of
the
> headlamp housing) Dealer job.
>
> Also have a look at http://www.xenonvalot.com/tuotteet_eng.html looks a
lot
> cheaper and they ship anywhere.
>
> If you are in the UK (near Reading) I have a brand new spare bulb I can
sell
> you!!!
>
> Good luck.
>
> John.
> [all replies to the news group as the email is a dummy one]
>
> "Rune Skigelstrand" <skigel@fjerndette&hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%o_Mb.1242$Ed.23479@news4.e.nsc.no...
> > My right-hand Xenon-bulb is on its way to bulb-heaven (light is reddish
> and
> > weak). May I change this myself or is it imperative that this is done by
> the
> > dealer? If yes - how?
> >
> > I've seen some warnings on this from vendors ("high voltage"...
bla-bla),
> > but mostly believe it to be the ususal crap to keeps the customers hands
> out
> > of the engine bay.
> >
> > www.powerbulbs.com sells them for 98 GBP. Any better?
> >
> > (Got the low beam only version - which means that they are on all the
> time,
> > but assisted by halogen bulb on high beam).
> >
> > Rune S.
> > -98 A6 A/Q 2.8
> >
> >
>
>

Ebay.com is better as it has tons more, and the $ is very weak at the
moment.

4100k is the standard for HID but you can right up too 8000k for a real blue
look, I would reccomend 6000k as this looks more like the Lexus/Merc new
cars on the roads.

4100k is the brightest colour though and will give you the most output.

k = kelvin btw, the colour temprature...

Ron

John

Its probably worth pointing out that the Audi OEM spec is for the 4300kelvin
bulb If you change to anything else you need to buy a pair (obviously!)

John.

Rune Skigelstrand

"John" wrote in message:

< DIY description as requested + warning about ballast failure>

Just what I needed. Thanks for the info!

Regards
Rune