Afternoon all,

I posted a month or so ago about my headlight issue throwing a headlight malfunction warning. Seems the circuit boards inside the cluster are all corroded which is causing it not to work.  The advice from the garage is to obtain a new/2nd hand cluster completely as to take the cluster apart, and finding replacement circuit board will be impossible to none.

 Now, trying to find a replacement unit isn't as easy as I thought, I'm a little confused as to what the actual part number is I should be looking for as the unit seems to have two, plus when searching either they tend to have additional numbers after the first two parts that don't appear to be on the unit?  Or am I missing something obvious?

It's a 2011 Titanium X and attached is a picture I took of the unit.  Happy to supply any other info if people need it to help.

Thanks in advance.

The basic number you should see 13005 which is the basic number for any Ford headlight. You then need to check the preceding numbers and letters and also the letters after the 13005.

Part BM51-13D154-

Ford Finis - 1856838

You are looking at between £700 to £1000 for a replacement headlight.

Are you sure you need the full headlight and not just the ballast control unit ????

 

51 minutes ago, unofix said:

Part BM51-13D154-

Ford Finis - 1856838

You are looking at between £700 to £1000 for a replacement headlight.

Are you sure you need the full headlight and not just the ballast control unit ????

 

Yeah the unit got some water ingress and was filled with water so a few of the circuit boards inside are now corroded.  Although it is only the dipped beam xenon that isn't working, the rest are fine.  Dash is throwing a Headlight Malfunction warning, and then a dipped beam fault.  Replacement bulb also didn't work so it has to be the circuits boards inside faulty.  Tried the passenger side light into the drivers side loom and everything lit up so it's not the cable.  

Picture shows some of the corrosion on the board. I've dried out the unit about three/four times now, but it keeps on filling with water somehow.

Was looking at 2nd hand as spending a grand on a new one is kinda out of budget atm!  I have spotted some 3rd party ones, but i'm always sceptical of 3rd party knock off's!  

Yes that looks like it has really bad corrosion.

On 12/17/2023 at 5:52 PM, unofix said:

Part BM51-13D154-

Ford Finis - 1856838

You are looking at between £700 to £1000 for a replacement headlight.

Are you sure you need the full headlight and not just the ballast control unit ????

 

So after searching for a 2nd hand light unit in the usual places and coming up with nothing or someone beating me to it, I did have a think about what you said.  It bugged me that it was ONLY the Xenon not working, all other lights are ok surely if there was a major issue then all lights wouldn't be working??.  I just took my local garage's word for it that I needed to replace the whole unit. 

So I decided to swap the ballast units over and lo and behold the fault did move and moving the working Ballast to the "Faulty Headlight" sure enough that worked as well! So you where indeed correct @unofix!  So I've cleaned the corrosion I showed above with some isopropyl just to be on the safe side and for the time being moved the faulty unit back as that headlight is still getting a lot of condensation/water inside the light.

So first question to the hive mind, can anyone recommend a replacement Ballast unit, mine is pictured below and as per usual trying to make sense of the part numbers is confusing.  and a lot of big price fluctuations depending on where you look.

Second question, I can't for the life of me work out where the water is coming into the unit, but one thing I did see is there is bung missing from the drivers side, that is present on the passenger side (the one that is working fine with no water). The other pictures show the missing bung, and the bung that's on the passenger side.  This is the only difference in the two units I can see.  There's no cracks, the seal between the lens and the black plastic all appears fine, so that bung is the only thing that stands out, but, seems odd how something so small could be the cause of the water/condensation that probably blew the Ballast.  So last question.... are those bungs available anywhere and could this be the cause of the issue?  

Ford do not sell the ballast as a separate item and you can only get it from them if you buy a complete headlight assembly.

However there are plenty of secondhand ballasts available on eBay. Or you can go down the road of a brand new 'aftermarket' ballast.

Ford Finis Code: 62941C00DG  --- The last letter 'G' is not so important. In an ideal world the letter would be G,H,I,J,K,L etc etc, but if possible try and avoid letters which are lower like F,E,D,C,B,A.

Example:

Used part-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296079769211     Don't worry that it says Jaguar.

Aftermarket part-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314942657783

 

That's brilliant thanks!  Very helpful as per usual!  Anything to be weary about with the aftermarket version or would sticking to a 2nd hand OEM unit be better?

There's a breakers near me so I may pop in and see if they have one and possibly a spare Headlight vent that's missing above to hopefully stop the condensation. 

43 minutes ago, Dave Barden said:

the aftermarket version

In all probability it's the same part as the original. Made in the same factory by the same people. What else would we expect from the Chinese 🤔

Ahh that's fantastic thanks for the advice!

Sorry, can I just check - were you getting the Headlamp Malfunction, service required prompt on dash. Was the bulb not working, or was it the adaptive lights?

Apologies, I've just booked my car into auto electricians to get to the bottom of this fault on my mk3 Tit X. The bulbs are all working fine (aside from DRL) but have had the headlamp malfunction warning for a while now and story sounds identical to yours (bad water ingress).

2 hours ago, Dinyull said:

on my mk3 Tit X. The bulbs are all working fine (aside from DRL)

What year is your car ?

Your profile is saying 2011.

61 plate mk 3, sorry assumed that was 2011.

Yes 61 plate is 2011, you are correct. I was just confused by the reference to the DRL which I didn't think the 2011 models had.

Are your lights Xenon with a ballast unit or just regular Halogen ?

If you use the software FORScan then you will get a lot more information as to why you have the warning light on.

FORScan: https://forscan.org/download.html

vLinker FS cable: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-vLinker-Adapter-FORScan-MS-CAN/dp/B0952P4MLP

6 hours ago, Dinyull said:

Sorry, can I just check - were you getting the Headlamp Malfunction, service required prompt on dash. Was the bulb not working, or was it the adaptive lights?

Apologies, I've just booked my car into auto electricians to get to the bottom of this fault on my mk3 Tit X. The bulbs are all working fine (aside from DRL) but have had the headlamp malfunction warning for a while now and story sounds identical to yours (bad water ingress).

Hi yes the replacement ballast mentioned by Unfix sorted the issue!  I would also check to make sure all the large rubber grommets are in place over your bulbs, when I brought mine one was missing.  And to make sure all the headlight vent tubes are in place as well, i also had one missing which is what i believe caused the build up of condensation which subsequently blew the old ballast.  These are the small L shaded bits of rubber.  For the moment I've Macgyvered mine with some gaffer tape and a small hole to allow it to vent.... until I can source a replacement.  Since I did that there's been no more condensation. (Fingers crossed!)

You may also want to check there's no corrosion like I had as well, some isopropyl alcohol and a tooth brush got rid of mine.   

Morning I am having a similar problem with my MK3 Tit x 2012.  I get a message stating headlight malfunction service required. The xenons work but they don't level to the right height when starting and stay in lowered position.   I've taken to an electrical specialist and they advised to replace lights first and foremost as they have water ingress.  I want to buy an aftermarket light due to cost but cant work out which is the right oem on my light.  Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance

The letters/numbers after the Ford logo is the full part number.

When you source your replacement headlamp ALL of the letters and numbers MUST match, except the last "G", that can be higher but must not be lower

1 hour ago, focusts1977 said:

Morning I am having a similar problem with my MK3 Tit x 2012.  I get a message stating headlight malfunction service required. The xenons work but they don't level to the right height when starting and stay in lowered position.   I've taken to an electrical specialist and they advised to replace lights first and foremost as they have water ingress.  I want to buy an aftermarket light due to cost but cant work out which is the right oem on my light.  Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance

Before you splash out on headlights, check that the auto leveling sensors are working. One on the front o/s wishbone to chassis and one on the rear o/s subframe to lower control arm. If one or both of these are faulty then headlights will default to the lowest position.