Replacing factory Xenons with aftermarket HID's?

OK, I did a pretty extensive search before posting this but I could not find a direct answer to my question.
I have stock Xenons and the drivers side low beam is coming on for a minute or two before flickering and shutting off completely until I cycle the lights, which only keeps the light on for another minute or two. After researching online I believe the problem will most likely be in the ballast or ignitor. On a 2001 330CI
So instead of buying a new OEM ballast and ignitor, could I eliminate the problem by replacing these with aftermarket HID kit? Would it be as simple as unplugging the OEM ballasts and remove wiring? Then simply plugging in the aftermarket setup complete with ballasts, bulbs and code cancellors?
Would this eliminate any dash headlight faults from showing up? Can anyone recommend a kit that would work? I know stock bulbs are H7 but will I still need any kind of adapters? Also, should I stick with 35w or go with 55w in 5k or 6k? Thanks guys. I appreciate any help.

My 05 has stock HID's if you have a ballast, its an HID right?? Havnt thought about this much....

Dave

I don't know a whole lot about lighting but I believe Xenon and HID are different but both do use ballasts

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If you have stock xenons, the bulb and kit should be D2s. H7 are use in halogen headlights only . xenon and HID are the same thing. In theory yes, you can swap just the ballast but some modification is probably needed.

Stick with 35 watt and you need D2S bulbs

I thought Xenon was the gas used in the HID bulbs...

I think the Xenon name is BMW's marketing hype.. HID is HID. Different gas combinations make different colors..

From what I've seen you can change the bulb with aftermarket, but the ballasts are of 2 types and BMW specific.

Getting the high beam function to work would be the challenge if you don't have the shutter.


Dave

So I can get the D2 kit and keep full function of lows an high beams? Without error codes on dash? Would I remove the stock ballasts and ignitors? My high beams are not Xenon, just regular halogens. Where would I find one of these D2 kits? Thanks again guys.

In.

It sounds like your bulbs are wearing out. The fact that they come on makes sense. When HID's start to go bad they come on and after they heat up they shut of because they need more voltage.

It's easy enough to to check, turn your lights on and let them go off, wait a few minutes for the gas to cool and then if they come back on you know it's the bulb.

Once it flickers off it will not come back on until I cycle the headlight switch. So I'm thinking ballast or ignitor?

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If I were you I would try one more thing, you mentioned the other headlight works fine so switch bulbs from that and see if you still have the same issue. I can't remember for your model but the igniter could be inside of the bulb anyway. Even if it isn't I'd still try to switch and see if you have the issue. The ballasts are made of pretty high grade parts and usually outlive the car. Not to say it couldn't be the ballast I would just cut out all the other options first.

I'm currently having the same issue, the ballast / ignitor shat itself on the drivers side. thought the bulb was on it's way out so I purchased new bulbs, and the drivers side was still not working. Swapped the bulbs over and confirmed it was the ignitor or ballast.

Tried tracking down a spare ballast, but no wrecker wanted to sell them without the headlight, so I had a few options:
-buy a second hand drivers headlight assembly ($700 AUD!! was the best price)
-find ballast online via ebay
-aftermarket canbus HID kit from local supplier

first option is well out of my price range.
Second was an easy option although could not find any locally, and there was no warranty or anything on the item.
So I opted for option 3. (I actually bought a pair of black housing depo headlight w/ angel eyes and the HID kit all together, as my passenger side headlight was starting to flicker) Everything should be delivered tmrw and I should be finished with the install tmrw to. Will let you know how I go.

I'm curious about this as well, looking to upgrade my xenons to some 55w 8k HIDs

Originally Posted by braves011

I'm curious about this as well, looking to upgrade my xenons to some 55w 8k HIDs

That's perfect don't 30s are alright and 70s are unstable I have the 55s as well love the blue of 8000 also a good choice

Originally Posted by Nick_M3

That's perfect don't 30s are alright and 70s are unstable I have the 55s as well love the blue of 8000 also a good choice

personally dont like 8000k, light output is not as great as 6000k or less.

Well just did this conversion using depo headlights and h7 hid kit. With the kit HID kit i got it was plug and play, no errors on the on-board computer!
The process is exactly the same using a d2s HID kit, just make sure the kit is canbus

Anything over 6k looks cheesy IMO.

Originally Posted by snikwad

Anything over 6k is for wank factor IMO.

fixed

Originally Posted by PL4T

personally dont like 8000k, light output is not as great as 6000k or less.

Well just did this conversion using depo headlights and h7 hid kit. With the kit HID kit i got it was plug and play, no errors on the on-board computer!
The process is exactly the same using a d2s HID kit, just make sure the kit is canbus

I will agree with you light output is better at lower numbers, however depending on what company you buy your HID's from 8000 could be another company's 6.