UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Noticed tonight when taking photos that my left Xenon bulb isn't even coming on sometimes. My mate actually noticed it the first time. Switching it on and off still doesn't rectify the problem but sometimes it will go first time. (This is the headlamp that gets condensation in it). What's going on here?

Also this isn't as bad, but I'm hearing a high pitched squealing noise when I'm driving. Could this be a wheel bearing? I already had one done when I got my coilovers fitted in December

Could just be a loose connection to the bulb, have a look at the connector

For the xenons as sally_healy said check there is no lose connections however from the symtons you describe it sounds more like its either the starter or the ballast on its way out. The easiest way to find out is to swap first the starter over with the other headlight to see if the problem then transfers over if it doesn't the ballast is the next port of call. Could possibly then be the bulb however normally when these go they simply don't work at all.

Word of warning however its the starter puts 10s of thousands of volts through the bulb to ignite the xenon gas I would simply disconnect the battery and leave it for 10 mins this is what a garage would do before working on them.

To the noise without a better description chances are is going to be one of two things, a wheel bearing or the gearbox\clutch release bearing starting to go. If the whine gets louder with speed generally it will be the wheel bearing and coming from the corner of the car. If its the gearbox\release bearing the noise is normally quiter and stays fairly constant in noise level and either goes when you lift your foot of the gas, accelerate or dip the clutch.

Had the xenon issue on my Audi S3 and it was the ballast charge pack that needed to be replaced as the bulb was fine.

Hopefully it's that and not a £150 bulb. I've checked the wires going into the back of the lamps and they look fine. Do I have to take the headlamps out to check anything else?

Mouse_GTI wrote:Hopefully it's that and not a £150 bulb. I've checked the wires going into the back of the lamps and they look fine. Do I have to take the headlamps out to check anything else?

Sorry to break the bad news however you can get the bulb for about £60 online however I think the ballast is well over £200 from VW at least. I think they are interchanable with pre 2002 Golf/TT/S3s so you should be able to pick up a 2nd hand one cheaply if required. If it turns you do need one I will do a bit of digging to confim for you.

That's ok then. Well £150 is what the previous owner told me it cost him

I'll have to give it a proper listen today and pinpoint

sorry to hijack the thread but i've got condensation within my xenon lamps but the lamp still works fine... having read this thread tho I'm a little concerned something could go wrong so would rather seek prevention rather than an expensive cure! are the any ways to solve the problem without dismantiling the lamp, in fact the whole front end of the car?! cheers!

I'm also gonna need help on dismantling it slightly to have a look.

Tonight the problem was worse than ever, and it took me about 5 minutes to get it to eventually fire up at one point My MOT is due 2nd of March and I don't want it to fail on this

Grrr, now I just can't get it to work at all. Looks like an MOT failure coming my way