Problems after first startup of newly installed HIDs

[FunnyGopher]

Hey everyone. I'm having some weird electrical problems that I'm hoping someone has experience with and can help me diagnose or walk me through diagnosing.

I just finished installing a Morimoto Elite HID kit with the big relay harness. I turn the headlight switch to ON, I hear an electrical zap, and all lights turn on. I turn the headlight switch to OFF, all lights turn off. I turn the headlight switch back to ON, another zap, no more HID lights but all other lights are on. I turn the headlight switch back to OFF and all the lights that were on stay on. I flip the headlight switch between ON and OFF a couple more times with no change and no more zapping noises. I remove the negative cable from the battery. The lights turn off. I put the negative cable back on the battery. Lights stay off. I try unlocking the car from my key fob to see if the turn signals will flash. Nothing, car doesn't even mechanically unlock. I get inside the car and try the power lock switches on the door, nothing. I can put the car in accessory mode and the dash lights flicker. Power windows don't work either.

I can still put the car in and out of accessory mode. Didn't try starting the car because of how loud the car is at this time of night.

I think I borked something pretty bad, but really don't know what. I checked all the fuses in the fuse box in the engine bay, and everything looked fine. I unplugged all the additional relay wiring that came with the kit and try the lights and stuff again with no luck. How bad did I ruin the electronics, and can someone help me figure out what I did wrong? Thanks in advance.

[Tcoat]

Can be hard to diagnose remotely but there are some clues there.
If you heard a "zap" you likely have a bad connection. Probably something shorting out directly to ground.
If you are lucky you will just need to locate/fix the short and replace a blown fuse (check the ones under the dash) or relay.
If you are not so lucky (and the results sound like you aren't) then you have blown the BCM that controls things such as the lights and doors. There have been a few blow those up when doing light "upgrades".

[FunnyGopher]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Can be hard to diagnose remotely but there are some clues there.
If you heard a "zap" you likely have a bad connection. Probably something shorting out directly to ground.
If you are lucky you will just need to locate/fix the short and replace a blown fuse (check the ones under the dash) or relay.
If you are not so lucky (and the results sound like you aren't) then you have blown the BCM that controls things such as the lights and doors. There have been a few blow those up when doing light "upgrades".

My biggest concern was the ECU was fried. I'm kind of scared of starting it up later. A body control module (BCM) doesn't sound too bad to replace. I forgot there were fuses in the dash, I'll have to check those. Thanks for the tips, didn't know about the BCM. I'm fixing my car up from being in an accident. The headlights were one of the last things I needed. I was so close to driving it again!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by FunnyGopher

My biggest concern was the ECU was fried. I'm kind of scared of starting it up later. A body control module (BCM) doesn't sound too bad to replace. I forgot there were fuses in the dash, I'll have to check those. Thanks for the tips, didn't know about the BCM. I'm fixing my car up from being in an accident. The headlights were one of the last things I needed. I was so close to driving it again!

Was the front of the car heavily damaged in the crash? You may have a pinched or cut wire that had nothing to do with the headlight change.

[FunnyGopher]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Was the front of the car heavily damaged in the crash? You may have a pinched or cut wire that had nothing to do with the headlight change.

No, it was really low speed and punched the driver side headlight in like, maybe an inch. I removed the old bent core support piece that the headlight bolts to and welded on a replacement from Subaru. The headlights and stuff worked after the accident no problem. I can't be 100% certain that's not a problem though because I haven't explicitly checked, but there was so little damage I highly doubt it. Also, the boomerangs on the VLAND replacement headlights worked before the HID install. Turn signals and everything. I just didn't have bulbs, found that the D2H bulbs fit the projectors really nicely, so I went with an HID kit. Obviously regretting that now. Should have just gotten an LED bulb or something.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by FunnyGopher

No, it was really low speed and punched the driver side headlight in like, maybe an inch. I removed the old bent core support piece that the headlight bolts to and welded on a replacement from Subaru. The headlights and stuff worked after the accident no problem. I can't be 100% certain that's not a problem though because I haven't explicitly checked, but there was so little damage I highly doubt it.

Well that does narrow things down nicely.

[FunnyGopher]

Some follow up to my problem just for documentation reasons. I tried starting my car tonight and nothing. Some clicks and electrical things turned on, the dash lights flickered as though there was a wiring problem, and the car didn't even attempt starting. There was then an oil can light and battery light left on the dash.

I was told by TheRetroFit source that the worst thing the kit would do is blow a low beam fuse, but that that scenario would be rare because there's an inline fuse on the positive cable on the relay kit. This is interesting information because this tells me my problem isn't the kit. I've checked all the headlight beam fuses and they're all good.

[YamahaR86]

Originally Posted by FunnyGopher

Some follow up to my problem just for documentation reasons. I tried starting my car tonight and nothing. Some clicks and electrical things turned on, the dash lights flickered as though there was a wiring problem, and the car didn't even attempt starting. There was then an oil can light and battery light left on the dash.

I was told by TheRetroFit source that the worst thing the kit would do is blow a low beam fuse, but that that scenario would be rare because there's an inline fuse on the positive cable on the relay kit. This is interesting information because this tells me my problem isn't the kit. I've checked all the headlight beam fuses and they're all good.

Sounds like a dead battery. Charge it up and try to start the car again. If that's the case then there is an electrical draw somewhere that is draining it.

[FunnyGopher]

Originally Posted by YamahaR86

Sounds like a dead battery. Charge it up and try to start the car again. If that's the case then there is an electrical draw somewhere that is draining it.

I can check the voltage of the battery in the morning. The only reason I'm doubtful that's the problem is because I was running all the lights before, and then I had that scenario where I turned my headlight switch to OFF and all my lights stay on. That behavior doesn't seem like a dead battery to me.

[FunnyGopher]

Originally Posted by YamahaR86

Sounds like a dead battery. Charge it up and try to start the car again. If that's the case then there is an electrical draw somewhere that is draining it.

I brings updates. The battery is in fact very low. My voltmeter was reading 5v. Probably not even enough for the starter to do anything. I can try getting the battery charged and trying again. If anyone has any tips on charging an Optima battery, I'd appreciate the information. My research shows I need to use a charger that can deeply charge an AGM battery.

I still think my power doors/locks and my phantom lights situation is not related to this, but maybe I'm wrong. I've never had the battery in this car this low before. I tell you what though, I'll be a happy camper if I charge the battery and everything starts functioning as normal again.

[YamahaR86]

Originally Posted by FunnyGopher

I can check the voltage of the battery in the morning. The only reason I'm doubtful that's the problem is because I was running all the lights before, and then I had that scenario where I turned my headlight switch to OFF and all my lights stay on. That behavior doesn't seem like a dead battery to me.

Originally Posted by FunnyGopher

I brings updates. The battery is in fact very low. My voltmeter was reading 5v. Probably not even enough for the starter to do anything. I can try getting the battery charged and trying again.

I'm not sure about the headlight situation, since I'm a visual person and have to be there to see it (I hate electrical diagnosing for this reason).


Symptoms of dead battery to me is exactly as you described, gauge lights on, car won't start and you just hear clicking sounds. Only a few things are needed to actually start the car: Battery, Spark Plugs, Gas, Starter, Oil.

[FunnyGopher]

I bring more updates. I got the battery charged using a Noco Genius 5 charger. Was incredibly straight forward to use, very portable, and can be used for a variety of battery types. Very happy with it. Okay, ad over.

I'm in talks with TheRetrofitSource about my situation. They're telling me I don't actually need the relay at all, and that I can just plug the back of my D2H bulbs straight into the ballast because my car came with HIDs from the factory. So the setup is just bulb -> ballast -> igniter -> back to bulb. With this information, I removed the relay harness from the engine bay. With the way I attached the ballasts to the bottom of the VLAND housings, the cable on the back of the bulb is not long enough to plug into the ballast. I'll have to find extensions.

Now, with the battery charged and the relay harness out of the car, I went to click the unlock button on my FOB, fully expecting nothing to happen. I was blown away when the doors actually unlocked. Everything works just as it did before installing the relay harness.

I'm still of the opinion that the relay caused most of this. My guess is it drained the battery while causing my phantom light situation. The battery must have been so dead absolutely nothing but the dash worked. I've never experienced that before.

Now that I know I didn't fry anything important, once I get cable extensions I can update this thread further with my findings. It'll be interesting to see if I can actually use the HIDs with just the ballasts and the igniters. I have a hard time understanding how all the different components play into getting HIDs to work, so I'm going to go do some more research. If anyone would like to drop some knowledge into this thread, I'd also appreciate it.

[FunnyGopher]

Final updates! I received the cable extensions and everything works great! No relay harness needed. My understanding about what I have in my car that other 86s with halogen bulbs do not is lacking. It confuses me that a lot of others on this forum use the relay harness. I thought all model BRZs came with HIDs from the factory, but I guess that's an incorrect assumption. It makes sense for the FRSs though, because those had halogen bulbs, but I'm still unaware of the physical differences that allow my car to work with HIDs while others don't. If anyone can shine some light on matter, I thank you in advance.