I installed a set of bosch driving beam housings on my suburban today, and put in a set of 35w HID bulbs. Got everything setup, and it keeps blowing fuses. I don't know why. I am just using high beam as trigger on the relay. Hopfully I can get this sorted out quick. Next up is a can of MAF sensor cleaner and give that a blast....see if it stops throwing codes. Other than that, I took the grille off and hid my plow harness behind it for the summer...I hate them hanging out on the bumper. I am going to figure something out for a more hidden permenant mounting solution. Other than that it's drive the wheels off it now. Its become my main off road rig now.
Installed a set of bosch driving housings with HID on the suburban today.....arrgghhh
- Thread starter kojackJKU
- Start date
Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
Is there any real advantage to putting HID's in a vehicle that was not designed for them? I understand HIDs provide greater light than conventional incandescent bulbs and use less energy, but do you really get any benefit if the entire system is not designed for them? It just seems to me that if you're blowing fuses, requiring ballast or other adaptations, might it not be simpler to just go back to what the factory put there?
jeep-N-montero
Expedition Leader
Which method do you plan to use for cleaning the MAF?
When the HID's ignite, they use 6 amp each (12 amp total), and in normal use (after 5 sec of turning them on) they only use 3.5 amp. Usually, low and hi beam fuse is rated at 10amp. Try putting a 15 amp fuse. If this doesn't work you have a circuit somewhere.
I did this on a 2003 Silverado I had, installed HID on the hi beams and blew 3 fuses, then put a 15 amp fuse and never had a problem again. And because it only consumes 12 amp for 1-2 sec, they line doesn't over heat.
I did this on a 2003 Silverado I had, installed HID on the hi beams and blew 3 fuses, then put a 15 amp fuse and never had a problem again. And because it only consumes 12 amp for 1-2 sec, they line doesn't over heat.
NevadaLover
Forking Icehole
I had HIDs in my 1500 burb, both high and low, the housings were not designed for them but they worked fantastic! You need to wire in a relay to get them to work reliably, if you are using a relay and still blowing fuses then you have a dead short somewhere in the wire!
They are not bosch HID, they are bosch housings, with a vvme HID kit I used for ages in my Hella 500s. I have to go through my wiring but it's straight forward. Unless something is touching something else. NevadaLover, they are not in the stock headlights. They are a set of driving lights with HID, using the high beam as a trigger for the relay.
The only thing I did "different" was I used lug terminals on the top lugs when everything else is connected to the side lugs on the suburban. That should not affect anything however. But funnier things have happened. I was trying to make sure everything worked before running the wire through the firewall. Just using the highbeam as switch.
jeep-N-montero
Expedition Leader
Are you spraying it in place or removing it to clean it really well? I haven't done it yet on my 03 and know that a dirty MAF is causing a less than perfect idle, but curious if spraying it in place is as effective as removing and cleaning it completely, update when you get yours done. They say you should just make cleaning the MAF a yearly event, it's a well documented issue with GM trucks.
I did the same HID installation a few times in different brands of housings. The benefit it's amount and quality of light. It should be a plug and play installation. The only thing I can think of, is if one of the ballasts it's defective or has a short circuit inside. It has happened before. You should make a direct 12V installation with a 10amp fuse, and try each ballast individually. It can also be the HID bulb, but that is more unlikely.
Got em running. Always use a relay and fused 12v wire. It was a short in one of the ballasts. swapped it out and all good. besides the fact the other bulb was burnt out. I had an H7 bulb hanging around so I chopped it up and made it "fit" the H3 hole. The beam pattern is crap and very wide from that light, but from the proper H3 bulb, these housings have great focus. This was a lighting setup from old scrap stuff I had hanging around. Installed out of necessity of having some extra light to drive 5 hrs in the dark to go on vacation. As far as I am concerned, Success. I will install the switch after. Don't have time to do it right now. So right now, they come on automatically with the high beams. I will fix it up after and have them switched to that I can turn them off inside the cab. They are now running off a 10a fuse as well.
NevadaLover
Forking Icehole
Upgrading the high/low bulbs to quality 55W digital ballast HID's is a great way to see them canadian moose or anything else lurking in the dark, there are alot of people that will tell you the stock housings don't work with aftermarket HID's but I haven't encountered one yet! I have sent a bulb back for replacement when the beam was misaligned but only one! This place is awesome to deal with and have no problems taking a defective bulb back for replacement. https://www.xenonhids.com/