Morimoto Mini D2S Ballast to Bulb Cable Failure

So I finished my upgrade to the Morimoto Mini D2S and it was an easy upgrade. Everything worked great for about a month and then my driver side headlight would periodically not turn on. If I cycled the lights on/off then it would turn on. After a few more weeks it would become more difficult to get the light to come on. 2 months ago I swapped the bulbs between the headlights and the failure remained with the drivers side light. I next swapped the cable from the ballast to the bulb between the headlights and the problem moved to the passenger side.

So my troubleshooting now appears to have located the problem to this one cable. I next adjusted the contact which mate with the bulb in an effort to make better contact. This did not fix the problem. Initial inspection of the connector which mates with the ballast indicates I cannot remove the contacts to adjust those. Also this problem appears to be more prevalent in the morning when it's colder and today I couldn't get the bulb to light at all until later this afternoon when it warmed up. Once I can get the bulb to light up, I can get ti to light up again easily even an hour after it being turned off.

Now to my question... Are there any electronics in the connector which attaches to the bulb?

Right now I suspect a cold solder joint in the bulb connector, or should I say that i hope it's a cold solder joint. I'm about to take this end of the connector apart. While I have no idea what the cost is of a replacement cable, I'm always looking to fix things myself.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

That should be the igniter cable if I picture this right in my head. Contact who you purchased them from and maybe they can send a replacement.

 

Thanks for your suggestion. Yes, it is called the igniter cable so I guess there could be some electronics in it. I just sent Lightwerkz an email, hopefully it will be a quick and positive response.

 

Depending on what you hear from them I know you can buy used Morimoto igniter cables for $10 at The Retrofit Source. Not sure what brand ballast/igniter setup you have.

 

I have the Morimoto Mini D2S Gen 3 version with the 35 Watt XB ballast and igniter. I saw new ones listed for $20 and they also listed a new version, not sure that that is a Gen 4 and/or if it's compatible.

 

Maybe @TRSAndrew or @TRSJimmy will chime in. They might know what will work with what.

 

OP,

Did you buy the parts from us or Lightwerkz? From your troubleshooting, it sounds like the igniter. If purchased through us, let me know so we can warranty it for you! If not, Caesar from Lightwerkz will definitely take care of you!

 

@TRSJimmy

Thanks. Caesar has already performed the warranty for me. The failure was a pin on the igniter cable that was pushed inside the connector shell. It is so far recessed that I could barely see it with a light. It appears the cable was made with the pin not seated because I can't imagine 3/4" of cable with that thickness was pushed back into that cable shell. So it was not the igniter but rather the cable pin. If push came to shove, I would have repaired it but it would not have been easy to disassemble the connector. I work with pushed pins all the time and sometimes the pin or the connector shell is just bad.

But, the new igniter cable should be at my house right now. I'm working on building new springs to hold the bulbs in because the ones which came with the kit look like someone took a single spring and cut it in half. This means I have one sharp edge which rubs badly against the bulb or nut. This would be the only real issue I have with the Morimoto kit. But a little music wire wrapped around a 5/8" long socket looks to create a nice spring.

Cheers!