[s-cars] Xenon Lights Report

[Sean Douglas]

Got the xenon lights installed this weekend, took me about 5.5 hours, an
extra hour was spent re/re the bumper (see below).

The lights are a direct swap for the DOT units, but of course have the
addition of a ballast wired to the rear which requires wiring.
Installation is straight forward, most of the time was spent fabricating
a fused wiring harness. I drew constant 12V from the jump-start terminal
on the firewall and found an unused 8mm stud attached to the body for
ground located near the fuel filter. I wired up the city light and drew
power from the side marker lights. I used all the factory connectors and
shrink-tubed all spliced connections. The OEM connectors and associated
terminals aren't cheap, cost me close to $100 for the bits and pieces
but they are of very high quality and makes for a professional install.

I managed to mount the right ballast on the bumper support where the
bumper bracket mounts to and used a 6 mm "nut-sert" in an existing hole.
I had to remove the bumper to gain access to this area which of course
is a PITA to line back up. I haven't quite figured out where to mount
the left ballast, its being held by zap straps for the moment.

Also, the auto-check is showing the bulb out symbol and apparently,
there is a black wire from the ballast that is supposed to send a signal
to the auto-check to tell it if the bulb is burned out or not. I haven't
figured out how this wires up yet and any ideas would be appreciated. I
don't really want to disable the auto-check.

I did a quick aiming on my garage door, man those xenons are bright! It
make the high beams look extremely yellow in comparison. I plan to hook
up the leveller motors when the dash switch arrives hopefully in a
couple of weeks.


Sean Douglas
1997 Audi S6//RS2-spec
1990 Audi 90 quattro 20v