Elwood4u

Hey, Does anyone know whether you can take a Halogen 06 mazda 3 car and put in factory HID headlamps with HID?

Obviously the wiring is completely different but perhaps there is a harness to go from stock halogen connector to the HID ballast connector?

Thanks.

djs2571

search the forum, there are a couple posts on this. I think the connectors before the ballast are the same (to keep a common wire harness in the cars), but the light side is different due to high voltage. And the HID's have a motor for height adjustment too.

Elwood4u

Thanks Dave for the reponse. What I ended up doing was splicing the HID connector to the low beam harness in my existing car. I had both harnesses (1 from the parts car and 1 existing on mine).

The height adjustment has a manual adjustment so I left that disconnected after I got it dialed in. So there is no switch in the car but o well. Then the high beam is just a high beam.

When I spliced in I soldered, heat shrunk and electrical taped to try and keep it sealed. Winter makes me a little concerned here but its been 3 months with no issues thus far.

djs2571

Heat shrink and tape should be good for many years, soldering melts the wire a bit to seal it better than the normal stripped end as well.
The height adjustment is a straight forward connection, power, ground and a voltage output signal to adjust. I've got my update in another post if you want to try using it. though I just looked and I didn't put in a picture of the vehicle wiring schematic to show what's connected where.
https://www.mazda3club.com/how-tos-96/headlight-level-switch-adjustment-47722/

icspots

FYI if you wanted to get the leveling motors working it is possible. I believe it requires running just a few wires from the front to the PJB, and installing the OEM switch. The wiring inside the cabin is already present, and if you remove one of the blanks by the dash dimmer you'll see a blue plug stuck into one of the blanks... that's for the leveler.

Elwood4u

Well it happened sooner then I would have liked but it appears that the driver's side bulb has burnt out. Not all surprising since the headlights are 6 years old.

So my next project will be removing the bumper (again), pulling the headlights and replacing them with these:

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...ducts_id=10591

While I'm at it, I'm also going to pull the housing apart and replace the lense with these:
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=150

My question is if either of you have baked housings and pried them apart? Sounds like you pull the ballasts/bulbs and a few minutes at 250 degrees and give it a shot. If not bake a little longer and then try again.

To put them back together I did buy new glue strips to make sure no water gets in. Which I assume I can use a heat gun to heat it up and then sandwich the housing back together.

Thoughts on that plan? Thanks for any response.

Zack

icspots

Bake them for about 10-15 minutes on the lowest your oven goes.... most are around 175. You want the adhesive to be pliable but not so hot to be liquidy. Once they've heated up remove them (wear gloves) and use a flat head screwdriver to bend up (gently) the clips holding the clear cover onto the rear housing. Then start at one end and start prying the cover of of the housing. It helps to have a second person, but I've done it myself as well. If you can as the adhesive stretches have someone with a utility knife cut it. Think of it as a hot slice of pizza with the cheese stretching.... cut it before it manages to stretch and it will: A) keep the adhesive where it's supposed to be, and B) keep it from making a big mess.

For reassembly put the strips on, stick the housing together, heat it up to soften the strips and then remove it and push it back together while the adhesive cools. While it's hot bend the clips back down over the hooks. I never used additional adhesive with mine, just reheated with the stock.

As to the lamps themselves spend a little less and get the phillips 85122+ http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=148 They're arguably the best D2S lamps you'll find.

Elwood4u

Thanks icspots, after taking the bumper off and headlights I decided to test to make sure it was the bulb by swapping to the passenger side and of course it lit right up. So it was actually the ballast that went bad.

At this point I have a replacement ballast and am going to attempt to put everything back together tonight...

I was going to go with the Phillips but I figured since I'm already dropping $100 I wanted to put the best I could in there. They claim an extra 300 lumens so we will see. I can post a pic if your interested to see what they look like with those bulbs and clear lenses.

icspots

Score. I'm sure the lamps will be fantastic, especially once you stick the clear lens in.

If you want some more color across the cutoff (clear lens will provide a little bit) look into the washer mod. Basically you space the shield from the projector bowl using a few #8 washers. It's easy enough to do while you have the lamps apart.