Changing the ballasts of Subaru Forester SG9 -07 (and fitting DIY mudflaps)

So, a while ago other of the xenon bulbs in my wifes Forester died. Nothing dramatic about that since they are parts that wear out. I ordered two Philips Xtreme Visions from eBay and changed the bulbs when they arrived. First they worked great but after a while other one started to "wave" and blink. Eventually it got to a point when it blinks a while until the it goes out. Apparently the ballast has some sort of protection system that causes it to shut down?

Now i have to admit that when i got the bulbs, they weren't in their proper places inside the cardboard box. See, i ordered the service packed version instead of those fancy plastic retail boxes. One of the reasons being that they were cheaper that way, and other being the fact that i absolutely hate this modern culture of disposable stuff. For exaple a plastic fancy package for lightbulbs that has no other use what so ever. And since cardboard can be used as a template, fuel for fire, paper for "homebrew schematics" etc. i preferred them that way. No, i'm not your over-psyched eco-friendly nutjob. You could say i'm selectively cheap/stingy as i prefer to pay for quality over quantity. For example my gaming PC is 6 years old now, and runs even new games pretty ok. Costed a "fortune" when i bought it. I bought the big Kamasa Tools ratchet set because i'm not going to spend money buying new sockets, spanners and ratchet wrenches every year because the cheap ones usually break apart and destroy the corners on the bolts. That set should last my lifetime when properly used and maintained. Well maybe not, but pretty close.

As it happens to be, on the other side you can quite easily access the xenon bulb. Just unscrew one 10mm bolt that holds the plastic cover over the power steering reservoir. Then you can flip the cover open that conseals the bulb and the igniter. But on the drivers side there's a bigger job to do. The car battery. You have to remove the whole thing before you can get to the bulb unless you have removed the front bumber. So i was quite reluctant to swap the bulbs from side to side (wich would have probably been a really, really, REALLY good idea after all as you'll soon find out). Lucky for me, few days after the light started to go out a fellow Subaru driver was selling a pair of ballasts with igniters, only 90k kilometer driven. If even that because they seem to be quite fresh so i bought the pair.

So today i went to the garage and started to wonder how am i going to get the lights off. After few (not so intensive) investigative minutes things got suddently really intensive. Actually so intensive that i cursed for a while. Apparently on pre-facelift model you can remove the housings easily, no exess things to take apart. But on facelifted version you're looking for decent amount of work since you have to take the front bumber off. Now, anyone who has done these things (fiddling with vehicles) knows that when you need to take a big body panel off, it usually means that you're in atleast for good few hours with that panel alone for the first time and then the main repair to top it off.

When you're doing any work that relates to electricity, remember to unconnect the power source (battery). Unless you need electricity for diagnosing the problem, then connect the electricity only to diagnose. Otherwise you might end up wondering where does that funny smell come from and result in some burnt electronics.

So quite carefully i started to take off the plastic body panel studs. If you haven't taken a bodypanel off before, hear this warning. You are bound to break few studs. Maybe few exeptions here and there but usually they have so much dirt and muck and have possibly had some roadsalt during winter and UV light during summer that they are prone to crack. So BEFORE you start taking the whole thing apart, take one off as a sample and head to the local car parts store to find correct ones. And don't be shy, take a bag or two as they don't wear out in your shelf waiting for any another project. You might even need to replace every single one with a new one if they're really prone to breaking. I didn't count but there was something between 20 to 30 studs holding the bumber when i looked in the parts bucket after taking the bumber off.

I don't know if standard halogen versions have headlight washers, but xenons do. You have to take the washer nozzles off before you can take the bumber off as the body of the washer is bolted to a metal frame that's bolted to the bottom of the light housing. I gently pryed a small flat screwdriver under the washer cover. I didn't find anything more suitable, but if possible use a string or fishing line since they are softer materials and won't damage the paint. I pulled the washer out as much as i could. Notice that these washers work by hydraulic pressure (not all of them do, depending on the model and marque so check from service/internet before you act). Atleast that's what i deducted since they have spring that pulls them back inside and they hardly resisted when i pulled them out. The plastic cover is attached to the nozzle, and nozzle is attached to the body with two clips. Gently pry the clips open (Small flat screwdriver works here). And when i say gently, i mean it. The clips look really easy to crack and break. After i got the nozzle off i let the washer back in slowly. Then i took off the studs (and didn't break a single one. It's a miracle) and took off the bumber. Well, almost took it off, i left it attached to underbody panels on drivers side. And after the picture i placed thick plank of packaging cardboad since it's really not ideal at all to keep painted surface against concrete (this is turning out not to be my brightest days now that i think of it).

Then i got to the light housing. The housing and the washer comes off as a single package from the car. After removing them from the car you can separate them so you'll only need to handle the housing. I've circled the 3 bolts (Right side housing) that come off and a one plastic stud that i released from behind the panel. Those are the only things you need to take off to get the package off. If you open the bolts that keep the brace attached and pull the light off, you'll probably end up breaking the plastic pins that align the light and the metal brace.





In the right picture i have already removed the light once and separated the metal bracket




I pulled the light off, separated the metal bracket and the housing and after that i pulled of the electrical plugs. I used a small flat screwdriver as help to press the clips on the plugs open. Then i flipped the light over and got to the ballast.

From here on it's a matter of opening the cap that hides the igniter and the bulb, pulling off the electric connector outside the ballast, unscrewing the three screws that hold the ballast and taking it off, opening the screw that holds the igniter wiring in the ballast, disconnecting igniter from ballast, twisting the igniter off the bulb and gently pulling the igniter out from the cap hole. Put the new ballast and igniter back reversing the steps.

Results? Well... errrrrrr... Success? After changing the first ballast i tried the lights and the flickering was gone for few seconds. Then it came back, but the light didn't go out. So i took out the other housing too and swapped bulbs from side to side. The result was that the flickering chaged side too and the light died with the old ballast. So hooray for (what ever you like) and exess labour. I changed the other ballast too and the bulbs back like they used to be as the flickering one was on the right side where it's easily replaceable.





Minor extra: Mudflaps

I was pretty horrified for the fact that my wife drives daily on gravel roads and the spray of stones and sand from the tyres hitting the car body. So i decided to do my own mudflaps. You COULD save some time, spend some money and buy model specific pre-made ones. But where's the fun in that?

So i bought a 100cm*60cm roll of rubber for less than 30€ (probably nitrile, only specification was "mudflap rubber" and it's quite flexible). I made the sablons out of cardboard box that is used to package frozen pizzas. I bought some body panel studs from local car parts store since there was factory made holes for mudflaps in the arches.

As i opended the front arches for installation i removed a pile of clay and sand from passangers side. I made the sablons weeks ago on the drivers side so i had removed the clay and sand on that side back then. Even though the cars are quite well protected against rust it would still be idiotic to leave any exess moist dirt behind the panels.

On the picture you can see where i found the dirt at the front of the car. There must have been about 1kg of really packed clay and sand per side.

After cleaning up i made the flaps to front and back and installed them.Only decent shots i got were from behind.

The right side flap looks shorter than the left because the rubber was sold as a roll. It should straighten down quite soon. There is about 5,5cm clearance between the flaps and the ground. They're quite long but if driver takes care with reversing and doesn't jam them between the tyre and some obstacle they'll be fine.

As you can see from the pictures, there is some snow on the ground. Finally. I've been wating so long for snow and ice.




Take care, enjoy the ride and drive safe
Hannu