Strange HID's

[Shanda]

On a 2011 ( 50k miles) I had a leaky drivers side headlight. I fixed the leak and replaced the ballast with one from Dorman. The light seemed all good so I put things back together and then it started flickering 3 times and would go out. When I happen to get lucky it it stays on but there is no particular pattern to it working. So after being followed home from work by a cop for what I'm only guessing would be a headlight out , I was thinking it was the ballast not being an OEM I ordered one and installed it. This one lights the light but will not turn off no matter the position of the switch.
When I first replaced the ballast a bunch of water poured out which fried the original ballast. Could the water have damaged something elsewhere as well? Passenger side works normally.

I'm totally frustrated and have no ideas on what else it could be.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Jeff2017]

Maybe try a new bulb too.

 

[Johnbigdog]

The bulb is going to do nothing for a concern of headlamp staying on all the time.

The ballast is kinda a module. Well it' a transformer with a relay built in is a good way to describe it. The ballast gets power and ground all the time. It will only turn on the bulb when it gets power on a signal wire.

You mentioned you "fixed" the water leak. If this fix didn't involve lamp replacement. You may need a new lamp or have water in a connection to the lamp.

What is aweome about ford is that the connctors for the assmblies are usually the same allowing one to disconnect the left lamp and plug it into the right lamp connector and vice versa. Similarly, modules attched to the lamp can be swapped side to side.

Next step. Figure out if you have a fault with the car harness, the lamp assmbly or the head lamp.

 

[shaker281]

Sounds like the relay that completes the signal to the ballast is stuck "on". This diagram is not entirely accurate for the SHO (ignore the "original socket" portion), but it is illustrative to some degree.

Our SHO has a relay for each side , left and right. Try swapping them. If it changes sides the relay contacts are stuck/fused. The relays are designated positions 59 & 60 in the fuse/relay panel diagram.

Just a WAG, but maybe excess current draw from a water related short caused the relay contacts to overheat and fuse together.

 

[Johnbigdog]

He is going to have one L of a time removing the F.E.T. transistor from the S.J.B. and swapping them.

There is no serviceble relays for the H.I.D. headlamp system in this car.

 

[shaker281]

Oh, I see. Thanks. I was going by the owner's manual diagram. The locations marked "59 & 60" are designated "relays", but I have no first hand experience with it. In that case, Another thought would be to put a voltmeter on the trigger lead and see if it changes state (12v to 0v ?) when switched on or off, if nothing else works.

 

[SHOdded]

I believe the underhood fuse box uses 57 and 78 20A mini fuses for the HID headlamps.

 

[shaker281]

After checking under hood I now see what is going on. The items designated "left/right headlight relay" on page 290 of the following PDF are only equipped if the car has halogen headlamps apparently. Those positions in mine (HID) are empty.

http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/catalog/owner_guides/11tauog3e.pdf

 

[SHOdded]

A place to start ...

 

[shaker281]

Another awesome PDF to add to my collection. You da man!

It appears there is no relay at all, the BCM controls the lamp operation via uProc at BCM.

Based on the diagram it looks like the leads from body control module connector C2280E to low beam ballast that controls operation is either pin 1 (BU/GN) for right side or pin 2 (BN/BU) for left . Since the "hot" side is directly from the fuse, if the affected headlamp has a GRD on either of these leads that would illuminate the low beams continuously.

If connector C2280E at BCM is disconnected and the lamp stays on it is a problem on the harness or ballast/lamp end. If the lamp goes out, there could be a problem at the BCM.