How to replace Xenon bulbs
Hi everyone, this seems to be the time where xenon bulbs of MY14/15 slowly give up on life. Several forum members indicated that their replacement - at each owner's own risk - is an easy DIY exercise. Can someone please provide some guidance?
The headlights have a rubber cover and it is easy to remove them in order to see the bulbs. However, on the passenger side, there seems to be no space - an electrical box blocks the access. The box cannot be moved easily, as it is connected to cables underneath. Thanks in advance for your guidance how to solve it. |
The electrical box is only held on with one bolt...10mm if memory serves me right. Just undo the bolt and there is enough slack to move the box out of the way to gain access.
It's still a PITA and you need 8 fingers one hand and a hand the size of a small monkey, but I managed it when I switched over to Osram Coll Blue Boost HID's..best purchase I have made to date. |
Originally Posted by Tel
(Post 2024577)
The electrical box is only held on with one bolt...10mm if memory serves me right. Just undo the bolt and there is enough slack to move the box out of the way to gain access.
It's still a PITA and you need 8 fingers one hand and a hand the size of a small monkey, but I managed it when I switched over to Osram Coll Blue Boost HID's..best purchase I have made to date. I also had to undo that bolt to move the relay/fuse box just enough to gain access to the light globe. Much the same on the other side as well, I had to undo the power steering fluid reservoir retaining clamp and push the reservoir out of the way just a bit. |
Thank you, guys! My electrical box has two bolts and almost no room to move. Will give it a try nonetheless and let everyone know, should there be any further practical suggestions.
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Originally Posted by Tel
(Post 2024577)
The electrical box is only held on with one bolt...10mm if memory serves me right. Just undo the bolt and there is enough slack to move the box out of the way to gain access.
It's still a PITA and you need 8 fingers one hand and a hand the size of a small monkey, but I managed it when I switched over to Osram Coll Blue Boost HID's..best purchase I have made to date. |
I just looked at the fusebox again and yes it is two bolts not one holding it down.
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I gave it a go over the weekend and it worked. There is a switch to release the bulb. Once you know how, it is an easy 15mins DIY exercise. For the ones being no semi-professional mechanics, here is a brief step-by-step guide on how to replace the D3S xenon bulb in the passenger headlight of a MY14 (I have pre-facelift bi-xenon headlights with this moving-with-the-steering-option):
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What an awesome resource this forum is (with a bit of searching). Just noticed last night that the passenger headlight is out. Thanks to the trailblazers who figured this out and posted clear directions! Probably a job for the weekend.
I figure it makes sense to do both headlights at the same time; presumably the other one doesn't have a lot of life left. |
Originally Posted by DJS
(Post 2128316)
What an awesome resource this forum is (with a bit of searching). Just noticed last night that the passenger headlight is out. Thanks to the trailblazers who figured this out and posted clear directions! Probably a job for the weekend.
I figure it makes sense to do both headlights at the same time; presumably the other one doesn't have a lot of life left. My undergraduate statistics professor would disagree with your plan to change both, he always used "the remaining life of a working light bulb" as a prime example of something that doesn't follow a bell curve. But heck, that was like 35 years ago so it may only apply to incandescent bulbs. |
Interestingly, Milo lists a D3S bulb, but OzXFS's service manual states D1S35W. Haven't looked to see the difference between D3S and D1S; I don't have the adaptive headlights, but the manual doesn't say that those take a different bulb. (Milo is in Europe, and Oz is in, well, Oz. But as the manual talks about NAS or non-NAS, I assume it covers all possibilities.)
I have no complaints with the OEM lights, so I'd like to just replace them with the same thing. Hmm, this website says the D3S is newer and mercury-free, but also operates a different ballast voltage and therefore isn't a direct replacement with the D1S. https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/for...se-of-them-all |
Originally Posted by Chawumba
(Post 2128326)
My undergraduate statistics professor would disagree with your plan to change both, he always used "the remaining life of a working light bulb" as a prime example of something that doesn't follow a bell curve. But heck, that was like 35 years ago so it may only apply to incandescent bulbs.
If you're interested in science/technology, reading about how the halogen cycle works in these bulbs is interesting (at least, to me. ;) ) Metal vapor from the filament mostly gets deposited back on the filament, rather than condensing on the glass and reducing light output. A possible argument against changing both: did this in my former 2010 Mercury. When one of the bulbs failed 2 years later, discovered that the replacement bulbs were rated for fewer hours than the OEM bulbs. |
Well...
The shop manual says D1S. Philips 'automotive bulb finder' says D3S for MY14 F-type, as does the Sylvania website. The previously linked website says D1S and D3S not compatible. The Internet seems to be consistent that D1S and D3S are not interchangeable, unless perhaps the ballast is also changed. Think I'll be removing the failed bulb to see what it is, before I buy a replacement. |
Following Milo’s directions, it was easy to access the bulb (though I haven’t gotten the harness off it yet.) Easiest access to the bulb of any car I’ve had. Thanks Milo! I did disconnect the battery, just to be extra-safe.
I can confirm it’s a Philips XenEcoStart 3C19 D3S So, everyone was right except for the service manual. (Note that the Owner’s Handbook says the headlights aren’t user-serviceable, so it doesn’t give a part number.) Now I can stop talking to myself here, and go get one. :) https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...b4095e233.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...c62487e57.jpeg |
Originally Posted by DJS
(Post 2128410)
Well...
The shop manual says D1S. Philips 'automotive bulb finder' says D3S for MY14 F-type, as does the Sylvania website. The previously linked website says D1S and D3S not compatible. The Internet seems to be consistent that D1S and D3S are not interchangeable, unless perhaps the ballast is also changed. Think I'll be removing the failed bulb to see what it is, before I buy a replacement. I just pulled the rubber cover off the back of one of the headlight assemblies and printed on the back of the globe (on the square metal box on the back of it, the "igniter") is: Osram Xenarc 66340 CBI D3S. CBI = "Cool Blue Intense", from memory the stockers are 4,500K and the replacements I got are 5,000K. Great light and zero problems in the time I have had them in. So no need to pull a globe out to see what it is, just pull the round rubber cover off the back and have a squiz. Edit - too slow as usual, by the time I finished faffing about checking the light you had already done it anyway! |
I thought it was tomorrow in Oz, not yesterday. :)
Don’t think Philips makes that exact model anymore, just ordered two Philips D3S OEM Basic off Amazon, $125 for two. (I’m OK with the original color.) Autozone wants $150 for one Sylvania D3S. The argument for replacing both is that the one that still works may be dimmer than the replacement one on the other side, and the color may or not match between new and old. |
Just to save another new thread on headlights, I'd thought I throw this out. Firsty, my 2015 V8S was not as easy to do as I expected especially due to the lack of slack on the passenger side fuse box. But that is a different topic. My question is I damaged the green wire-tube that runs along side (and to the top) the main tube during installation. It appears I scraped about 1cm of the green insulation of about half way up while trying to fit my hands into the opening during install. I was expecting the light not to work, but it does. Should I just leave it?
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Originally Posted by David Meier
(Post 2142003)
Just to save another new thread on headlights, I'd thought I throw this out. Firsty, my 2015 V8S was not as easy to do as I expected especially due to the lack of slack on the passenger side fuse box. But that is a different topic. My question is I damaged the green wire-tube that runs along side (and to the top) the main tube during installation. It appears I scraped about 1cm of the green insulation of about half way up while trying to fit my hands into the opening during install. I was expecting the light not to work, but it does. Should I just leave it?
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Hmm, pretty sure that wire carries the HV, which they say is 10s of kilovolts, at least during ignition. Not sure what I’d do in your case.
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Originally Posted by DJS
(Post 2142202)
Hmm, pretty sure that wire carries the HV, which they say is 10s of kilovolts, at least during ignition. Not sure what I’d do in your case.
Take it to an auto electrician pronto but in the meantime do as the Unhingd one says and wrap it in insulation tape as best you can. Edit - so I thought I would check and have a squiz at my lights. Took both dust covers off and had a good old nosey in there and no hint of any "green wire-tube" anywhere, either inside the lights or around them or around or near the fuse box. And anyways it can't be a separate igniter lead as once you unclip the "silver" cable lead on the underside of the igniter box and unlock the plastic locking tang the whole globe with igniter pulls out with nothing else attached to it. I'm confuzzled as to what this mysterious "green wire-tube" could possibly be! |
Looks at the photo for any D3S bulb, like this...
That one has a blue insulator. If that’s damaged, I would think it may arc to the glass body if there’s any surface contamination. |
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