Xenon headlamps

firiesclose

I have a 2011 opel insignia elite 2 ltr. Both my headlights have stopped working within a month of each other.
This has happened as water is getting into both lights & due to a faulty part also in 1 of the light.

Garage says not possible to seal the lights & prevent water getting in. A local garage can sell me 2nd hand headlights but they are a standard bulb not xenon. The garage says I can change the wiring to accept the standard headlights but opel garage says not possible to do so.

Anyone come across this? What do I need to do with the standard headlights for my car to accept them.
I am unable to source 2nd hand xenon headlights & am not willing to buy new 1's from opel .

kirving

Seems bizzare that they cannot be sealed to an acceptable level?

There are hundreds of types of glue for bonding all types of materials to one another, just a matter of selecting the correct one.

Atlantic Dawn

There's a few of them up on ebay uk but your looking at about €600 for 2, search for Vauxhall Insignia.

bazz26

Here is one with xenons for breaking, worth ringing them:
https://www.donedeal.ie/damagedcars-for-sale/0pel-insignia-2-0cdti-09-only-parts-/21569556

Another one here:
https://www.donedeal.ie/damagedcars-for-sale/vauxhall-insignia-for-parts-or-repair/23081797

Del2005

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Seems bizzare that they cannot be sealed to an acceptable level?

There are hundreds of types of glue for bonding all types of materials to one another, just a matter of selecting the correct one.

A garage that won't try and bodge headlights is a good garage. What someone does at home is a different matter.

firiesclose

bazz26 wrote: »

Here is one with xenons for breaking, worth ringing them:
https://www.donedeal.ie/damagedcars-for-sale/0pel-insignia-2-0cdti-09-only-parts-/21569556

Another one here:
https://www.donedeal.ie/damagedcars-for-sale/vauxhall-insignia-for-parts-or-repair/23081797

Thanks for all feedback. Found 1 available for €200. Seems to be a huge difference in price between the standard & xenon. I can get the standard headlights locally for €100 for both. I'm interested in feedback on converting my car to accept standard headlights as they are much cheaper to buy 2nd hand & the bulbs are far cheaper. Anyone have any experience with this?

You'll get them in but the car will have a **** attack unless you can find someone to sort out the coding.
It'll light up the dashboard like a christmas tree!

kirving

Del2005 wrote: »

A garage that won't try and bodge headlights is a good garage. What someone does at home is a different matter.

Normally, I would prefer to replace than repair. Particularly with electrical components it's usually not with the hassle.

But a good repair ≠ try and bodge.

Alternatives from the OP were to buy 2X new Xenons, or swap to Halogens given that the OP said they could not source a second hand one, and I think in that scenario a repair could be worth considering.

I'm not familiar with the that headlight specifically, but it could be a very obvious leak that's easy to fix and a very good job could be done.

Of course it could also be a hairline crack that's only present at hot/cold temperatures and very difficult to find which would be a waste of time.

bazz26

firiesclose wrote: »

Thanks for all feedback. Found 1 available for €200. Seems to be a huge difference in price between the standard & xenon. I can get the standard headlights locally for €100 for both. I'm interested in feedback on converting my car to accept standard headlights as they are much cheaper to buy 2nd hand & the bulbs are far cheaper. Anyone have any experience with this?

Xenon headlights are a more complex and expensive setup. Xenons also have an automatic leveling system whereas standard headlights have a manual leveling system with a switch in the dashboard so that is where the price difference is. Be very careful retrofitting standard headlights to a car designed for xenons as they they need to have a working leveling system to pass the NCT. It might not be so easy to get the xenon auto leveling system to work with normal headlights.

Tropheus

Like others, I wouldn't recommend converting to halogen. That's almost as complex as converting from halogen to xenon and keeping it legal for the NCT. The car would also needed to be coded to tell the ECU that the xenons aren't there any more. That would be a minefield.

Is there actual water ingress or just condensation? My wife had an Audi A2 and condensation was common in the headlights. It was due to a poor seal on the cap at the rear of the headlights used to access the bulbs. It wasn't really possible to improve the seal, but someone on an A2 forum suggested adding a silica gel sachet (used for packing) to the inside of the headlight (obviously not too close to the bulb). It worked great and there were no more issues after that.

If the lens is poorly sealed, it's possible to remove the headlight and reseal. There's lots of DIY videos on YouTube. If it's the rear cap, then it's not so easy.

firiesclose

Tropheus wrote: »

Like others, I wouldn't recommend converting to halogen. That's almost as complex as converting from halogen to xenon and keeping it legal for the NCT. The car would also needed to be coded to tell the ECU that the xenons aren't there any more. That would be a minefield.

Is there actual water ingress or just condensation? My wife had an Audi A2 and condensation was common in the headlights. It was due to a poor seal on the cap at the rear of the headlights used to access the bulbs. It wasn't really possible to improve the seal, but someone on an A2 forum suggested adding a silica gel sachet (used for packing) to the inside of the headlight (obviously not too close to the bulb). It worked great and there were no more issues after that.

If the lens is poorly sealed, it's possible to remove the headlight and reseal. There's lots of DIY videos on YouTube. If it's the rear cap, then it's not so easy.

Thanks for all feedback. I think I will forget about converting from xenon to regular head lights. I've attached a photo of the driver headlight.

Popoutman

HID or xenon?

It's not a stupid question, as there's a particular variant of standard filament bulbs that uses xenon gas within the bulb

And just to muddy the waters a bit, some (but not all) High Intensity Discharge bulbs use xenon as one of the component gases within the discharge tube.

The three types of bulb used in automotive these days are LED / HID / Filament bulb, and there are various types of the filament bulbs used in headlights.