When HID Won't Light Neither Will Dash Nor Error Matrix?

[syscrusher]

My H4 bulb is HID for low and halogen for high. The HID will fail, often now, but the dash will go dark with no icons as well. If I flip to high beam (halogen) then after a few seconds the headlight and dash will be back. Everything will work fine until I flip back to HID. Sometimes then the HID will light for awhile but then if the HID stops so does the dash.

 

I'm planning to replace the ballast but I'm just a little baffled about why the dash seems to follow when the HID fails? Again, the halogen part of the bulb always works, although with a long delay when switching to it. The halogen bulb has a greater current draw to operate than the HID so what's up? Could I be losing my Reserve Lighting Unit or CPU/Monitor? How would I test those devices and where are they located?

[Flyinfool]

Dirty contacts in the HI LO switch? I have to clean mine every spring to keep the headlight working correctly.

[syscrusher]

Dirty contacts in the HI LO switch? I have to clean mine every spring to keep the headlight working correctly.

 

It's something to look at but why would that pull down the dash?

[Flyinfool]

Usually when you have seemingly unrelated issues all crop up at once, it is a bad ground somewhere.

[syscrusher]

I removed and reseated each of my blade fuses but when I loosened the battery strap and raised my fuse block, moving the wires, the HID started working reliably again.

My wires to the fuse block are all very short and tight.

I'm afraid I'm going to need to splice in wires that are more relaxed.

The wire going to the headlight fuse gets warm quick. Has anybody used that to control a relay instead of directly powering the light?

[Flyinfool]

couple possibilities.

Since wiggling things around made it better, AND the headlight wire is getting hot. I would check that wire real close for a bad or corroded connection between the wire and the terminal.

 

Is your HID being powered thru the bikes headlight circuit? The HID draws a lot of current to get it started and then drops off to rated power once the bulb is lit. This initial surge of power may be what is heating things up quick.

my HID is wired direct to the battery and has a built in relay that is turned on by the bikes headlight circuit. So there is very little power going thru the bikes wiring.

[syscrusher]

Thanks for the info. I may do that as well.