My 2015 Lariat now has 89K miles on it. Last weekend I was leaving the farm at night and noticed the passenger side headlight was flickering. I pulled up to the garage and turns out it was the High beam flickering on and off. I switched to high beams and it stopped, then started in that mode also. I also noticed at that time I had moisture in the housing itself. Next day, in the daylight, I could not get it to reproduce the same issue. Got busy and forgot about it. Noticed this morning in twilight that it entire passenger side is not working. No running lights, parking lights nor high/low beam. Moisture still in housing. Do you think I have a wiring issue, certainly a moisture issue, or some other issue I you guys may know about? Have you seen how much a OEM LED housing is? Man...

If this has been address elsewhere please direct me. I did not find it..

EDIT: the orange outer perimeter led band and turn signal are working. Just High and Low are not.

 

I hate to tell you this but you might have to replace that fixture and yes, they’re very expensive.
One thing that you can check is the actual ballast for the fixture.
Hopefully this is the problem and yes, the ballast can be replaced and it’s less expensive than an entire fixture.
Good luck.

 

Thanks. Based on cost, I think I am going to try the ballast first and see what I can find out. Looks like I have to take the entire assembly out anyway so I will dry it out and see if I can find the leak. Maybe, it will be a $100 job instead of $900. I'll junkyard for that first though. Seems like the flickering points to ballast/controller.

 

This is just another reason not to go above a 501A Lariat. I cannot believe there is no way to replace the LED element without having to replace the whole assembly. That's just plain stoopid.

 

This one of the first threads I’ve seen of a factory LED headlight going out. However, since all the lights in the housing are dark.....that should mean the actual LED didn’t fail. I won’t swear that I’m right, but I am not aware of the factory LED headlights using a ballast.....at least I didn’t see one when I was in there adding to the harness.

I would suspect one of two things.
A. The moisture in the headlight caused a short on one of the circuit boards
or B. You have a wiring harness or body control module issue.

I would test the wiring harness before buying a replacement headlight. Below is a pic of the pin identification for testing the harness. This will at least confirm if it is before or after where the harness plugs into the headlight housing. Note, this is specifically for the Right headlight, which is the passenger side.

After testing, if you do determine the headlight has shorted, you can try a Hail Mary operation...as a last resort. This would be drilling a couple of 1/2” holes in the back of the headlight housing. You would do it in such a way the filings don’t fall into the housing. Then, you’d use a hair dryer to blow through one of the holes so the air escapes from the other. Once it’s thoroughly dried out, seal up the holes and test it. If it works, make sure the factory vent isn’t coated in mud or debris...which could be the actual cause of the moisture buildup. It’s a hack job...but, what the heck if you were going to toss it in the trash anyways. This will only work if the moisture is causing a wet short....not if the short fried any electronics.

 

Thanks for the input. The ballast PN is FL3Z-13C170-A. I will take it out and do a full inspection. I feel like the moisture is certainly an issue causing the failure.

Not sure I would do this but, does anyone know if I decide to go to Halogen aftermarket they will plug up to the wiring harness?

 

The halogen assembly uses a different harness because of the halo thing on the LED assemblies. I will add that R&R on just one headlight assembly is WAY more complex than it deserves to be. Just a royal PITA. I did find a short video about changing the lamps in a halogen assembly from inside the wheel well. Only like 3 or 4 screws to remove and bada bing. No help, unfortunately for the LED assembly. Wow are those things expensive.

 

I’ll have my fingers crossed for you that it’s only a ballast.

 

Accident damage

I ordered a ballast that arrived this past week. On the weekend I disassembled the front end and removed the headlight. Found where the moisture was coming in. This was from a accident about a year ago where I was clipped in the front end. Body shop obviously missed this. Not sure how as they replaced the grill and bumper among other parts. When water gets into the headlight assembly it will obviously collect in the bottom of the housing which is where the ballast is plugged in. It shorted out and fried the ballast.



I apologize for the GIANT pics.

 

Because th insurance company wouldn't allow for replacement if the part still functioned. Many times a part won't get replaced if a tab or two is broken. That shouldn't have made it past inspection though. Call your insurance company and have it replaced on the old claim. They usually warrant their covered repairs for the life of the vehicle.

 

Dang. At least you found the culprit.
I wish you luck with the insurance company.
At least you can demonstrate that it isn’t new damage, due to condition of the connector.