Xenon flickering - bulb or ballast? (video)

[maccalo]

My '09 facelift with bi-xenons has an annoying flickering during the first 30 seconds of warm up.

Once the xenon fires, the first few seconds it changes color from blue to white (as expected), and when the light intensity increases it starts to flicker for 20-30 seconds before it "settles". It does flicker on both sides, but more pronounced on the left side.

There's also a slight hissing / whining sound from the stereo during the first 5-10 second of warm up (OEM setup with RNS-E and no aftermarket additional amp...)

No history of bulbs being changed. Car has 127.000 km (79k miles) on the clock.



Any ideas? Bulbs? Ballast?

 

[SootySport]

Sounds like the bulbs, but could be a loose connection anywhere in the lighting circuit. Strange that it is both bulbs with the same problem though. Also check you have at least 12v going into the headlamp connector as soon as you turn on the lighting switch, as the battery may be on it's way out.

 

[MrSmithr]

I second sooty, check voltage to bulb connector