Factor HID short

[volvomadness]

2005 s60. Daughters car. Caught in a heavy rain storm, now every time the hid comes on it blows a fuse. I don't think its the ballast because I replaced it with a oem unit about 4 months ago and sealed it to prevent moisture from getting to it.

I think it might be the igniter but not sure. Any ideas? and way of testing the igniter with a meter?

Any help appreciated Madness.

[Botbasher]

Does it blow the fuse when it's disconnected?

You can go forwards or backwards with the fault finding for this. I prefer backwards. I have a set of breakers that I can tap into the fuse spots on the panel. That way when it blows, I just reset it and keep going. Fuses in my industry are $10-20/ea so this is far more cost effective.

Then, starting at the bulb, turn it on. Pop! Disconnect the bulb. Reset the breaker and try again. Pop. Disconnect the next item in line. And so on.... Wires, connectors, switches.... whatever is between the battery and the bulb. Till you can turn it on without the breaker tripping. Then, replace that last component that tripped the breaker and retest. Good. Now follow the same line out, reconnecting components till you hit the bulb.

I do it this way because sometimes there is more than one failed component and you end up replacing a thought bad component, it still doesn't work, so you put the bad back in (because that didn't solve the problem, right?) and end up chasing your tail with multiple failures.

With a breaker (or a bag of fuses) and a wiring diagram, you should be able to find the fault quickly.

Be sure to inspect the connectors in the line. If you had a water related failure, you could have a burned connector and the carbon trails are causing the short. Very hard to find and repair, but a common failure where water is concerned.

Good Luck,

K "bloodhound" S