Buick 2012 GS driversside headlight problem

[Dirt]

If all fuses and relay is good then chances are the ballast went bad. You can buy it on Amazon for $40.

Link?

 

[OlSmokie]

G.M.: Some moisture in the headlight is normal.

 

[bdc86]

Had my driverside HID Headlight assembly leak with loss of headlamp.
After reading this thread I realized I should have pulled the assembly and resealed the unit before loss of the HID bulb. Very discouraged after reading the thread and the lack of support by GM.
My 2016 GS sat on a dealers lot for 3 years before I bought it last year and have enjoyed driving it around town.
Shocked by the cost and difficulty sourcing a new headlight assembly.
Found a reconditioned headlight assembly (Recon by Northern Lights) from Rockauto.com for $250.
Have always been pleased with dealing with them in the past and as advertised the part was refurbished to a new condition.
With the help of a friend pulled the assembly following a youtube video and replaced it without incident. A little tricky finding the 4 screws that hold it in place and pulling/sliding/wrangling it out. Compared to $1500 service and parts thought the $250 plus lunch was a deal.
Don't see the part listed on Rockauto today but if anyone runs into the same problem calling Rockauto might be a good solution.

 

[bugspop1]

My car is a 2015 Premium I and it's lights too have condensation building up in them.
My lights aren't the HID Headlights, and at the cost of replacements I'm glad they're not!
The drivers side is much worse that the passenger side, but the both do get condensation in them.
When I notice the condensation I use a Hair Dryer and a 90° drain pipe for plumbing to dry them out.
The Plumbing pipe helps to direct the air where it's needed, as you all know, you're not going to get a hair dryer in that tight space.
Eventually I'll replace the headlights, but I have other things that need to come first.

 

[LARRY70GS]

2012 BUICK REGAL 2.0L L4 Turbocharged Headlamp Assembly | Shop Now at RockAuto

Body & Lamp Assembly Parts and More for Your 2012 BUICK REGAL at Reliably Low Prices. Fast Online Catalog. DIY-Easy. Your Choice of Quality. Full Manufacturer Warranty.

www.rockauto.com

2012 BUICK REGAL 2.0L L4 Turbocharged HID Lighting Ballast | Shop Now at RockAuto

Electrical Parts and More for Your 2012 BUICK REGAL at Reliably Low Prices. Fast Online Catalog. DIY-Easy. Your Choice of Quality. Full Manufacturer Warranty.

www.rockauto.com

 

[bdc86]

Maybe I should get a NIL from Rockauto, I have a racecar they could sponsor. 😎

 

[JohnD195six]

May I ask, which 3rd party vendor, and what do the lights look like? Can you post a picture?

 

[bdc86]

Ill post a picture tomorrow
"Recon by Northern Lights" was on the package
Best I can tell they recondition marine and auto parts
Rockauto said their recon parts would be to OM standard
Looks brandnew to me, on close inspection in the corners there were some polish marks but otherwise a match to OEM.
Function the same as well. If the part does not leak long term I am totally satisfied.

 

[carl3pedals]

May I ask, which 3rd party vendor, and what do the lights look like? Can you post a picture?

Post 60 in this thread describes my experience replacing my front headlight assemblies in my 2012 Regal GS with new third party headlight assemblies:

Regal GS headlight assembly w/ HID Discontinued?

$1500 to replace at dealer for a 2012 with less than 70k miles. This is crazy. A headlight that cost 25% of the cars current value. I am trying to see if they can replace the assembly with a halogen assembly. Clearly this part was not ready for prime time. This is the first car I’ve owned with...

buickforums.com

 

[Whit2012]

i just talked to buick about my drivers headlight not working because of condensation. Dealer cost for the package is 1300 dollars if they even have it. Cost of labor plus part is well over 2000 dollars. If more people called buick ,explains this problem ,maybe they would do a recall. It is happening to hundreds of people. I sure dont have that kind of money to spend on this.

I am having the same problem with my drivers side headlight as well and I don’t have that kind of money either. The cost is absolutely ridiculous. Not happy. I will be calling Buick.

 

[anon242]

i just talked to buick about my drivers headlight not working because of condensation. Dealer cost for the package is 1300 dollars if they even have it. Cost of labor plus part is well over 2000 dollars. If more people called buick ,explains this problem ,maybe they would do a recall. It is happening to hundreds of people. I sure dont have that kind of money to spend on this.

LMFAO. $700 to replace the headlight assembly. It's a 15 minute job and requires like 12 torx screws for the front bar on the side you need, then 4 10mm bolts.

Always heard horror stories about people being ripped off for auto work, never truly believed it until I've read a lot of the posts on this forum.

There are many threads on this. pls use search. I think a mod should sticky a mega-thread about it. Here is one with a lot more info on it.

2011 Regal Turbo HID xenon headlights, and ready to just throw the whole car out :(

So, my drivers side headlight has given me nothing but issues as long as I've owned the car. It's accumulated water, which I plan on pulling it out and attempting to reseal. Ballast is fine, I can get a good 6 months out of the HID bulb before it gets wet and I have to replace (those suckers are...

buickforums.com

OP, your headlight lens was sealed to the assembly with permaseal. Quality name for something that isn't permanent and fails constantly. The seal broke, usually near the corner (towards the middle of the car) and water seeps into the headlight assembly. The ballast that controls the headlight (low and high beam) fills up with water as it is at the bottom of the assembly and water literally drains directly into it.

The only way to fix this properly is to remove the lens from the assembly in an oven, painstakingly pick all of the permaseal out, and reseal with some (rather, a f$%k ton of) butyl rubber (retrorubber is one product) and hope and prayer that it doesnt leak again. Replace the ballast, obviously. Amazon has knock offs that work fine. Same ballast is on some BMW headlights apparently. Hope to god water doesn't get on your LED controller module.

 

[G-994247]

The most common cause for the ballast going bad is water getting in the headlight housing. There is difficultly getting a replacement headlight housing from GM, and they are very expensive. Even if you could find a replacement headlight assembly for your Regal made by GM, I would suggest you not buy it because clearly GM does not know how to make ones that don't leak. I am among the many who bought replacement new headlight assemblies from a third party. The headlight assemblies from third parties are less expensive - I believe I spent about $600-$700 for the pair to replace both of my front headlight assemblies with third party ones.

The most common cause for the ballast going bad is water getting in the headlight housing. There is difficultly getting a replacement headlight housing from GM, and they are very expensive. Even if you could find a replacement headlight assembly for your Regal made by GM, I would suggest you not buy it because clearly GM does not know how to make ones that don't leak. I am among the many who bought replacement new headlight assemblies from a third party. The headlight assemblies from third parties are less expensive - I believe I spent about $600-$700 for the pair to replace both of my front headlight assemblies with third party ones.

Thanks for the helpful info @carl3pedals. Looks like that’s exactly where I’m at right now. Just when I was really liking this car. Ridiculous problems like this don’t make me feel warm and fuzzy about seeing 100k miles on this ride worry about what other land mines await me.

 

[Dirt]

I am having the same problem with my drivers side headlight as well and I don’t have that kind of money either. The cost is absolutely ridiculous. Not happy. I will be calling Buick.

LMFAO. $700 to replace the headlight assembly. It's a 15 minute job and requires like 12 torx screws for the front bar on the side you need, then 4 10mm bolts.

Always heard horror stories about people being ripped off for auto work, never truly believed it until I've read a lot of the posts on this forum.

There are many threads on this. pls use search. I think a mod should sticky a mega-thread about it. Here is one with a lot more info on it.

2011 Regal Turbo HID xenon headlights, and ready to just throw the whole car out :(

So, my drivers side headlight has given me nothing but issues as long as I've owned the car. It's accumulated water, which I plan on pulling it out and attempting to reseal. Ballast is fine, I can get a good 6 months out of the HID bulb before it gets wet and I have to replace (those suckers are...

buickforums.com

OP, your headlight lens was sealed to the assembly with permaseal. Quality name for something that isn't permanent and fails constantly. The seal broke, usually near the corner (towards the middle of the car) and water seeps into the headlight assembly. The ballast that controls the headlight (low and high beam) fills up with water as it is at the bottom of the assembly and water literally drains directly into it.

The only way to fix this properly is to remove the lens from the assembly in an oven, painstakingly pick all of the permaseal out, and reseal with some (rather, a f$%k ton of) butyl rubber (retrorubber is one product) and hope and prayer that it doesnt leak again. Replace the ballast, obviously. Amazon has knock offs that work fine. Same ballast is on some BMW headlights apparently. Hope to god water doesn't get on your LED controller module.

I believe they are 7mm but I digress. I recently replaced 2 of these after resealing my lights for a second time. I guess it will just be a yearly maintenance item . I would also suggest putting dielectric grease around the connections to keep the moisture from getting back into the ballast. Here is the ballast. I can attest to them working, not for longevity yet.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NYVDLBS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

 

[GMAC]

I was alerted to the fact that my drivers side headlight was out. After changing the bulb, it is still out. Anyone have a similar issue or know what the problem of this could be?


Thanks

Not a good deal, brought to an Auto shop, they replaced bulb ($100.00) Ballast Regulator ($80.00) and shop labor ($200.00) worked for a week, goodby $380.00 Light burnt out. I went and purchased my own headlight ($100.00) found ballast regulator on the the internet ($40.00) pulled head light assembly out of car myself, drilled three holes to drain water out, used my heat gun tor remove all moisture, resealed all holes and total joint around headlight with polyurethane goop, Two (2) weeks later headlight burnt out. Pulled head light assembly again, this time I carefully checked over assembly looked like no water, but what i did find was a control board one can hardly see that’s located in the bottom of the headlight assembly. It’s a Hella control circuit board that you can not get at unless remove the clear plastic lens off of the the headlight assembly, this is not possible so i cut the surrounding plastic housing around this circuit board and found the proper numbers for this board so i could possibly order, picture this board was sitting in water where the water accumulates in this headlight right below headlight in the bottom of the headlight assembly but hard to see unless you take a good look. Went on the internet for this $26.00 board could not find one available anywhere. Ordered new headlight assembly for $760.00 after two fix it tickets.

 

[bugspop1]

I was wondering if anyone has ever tried using a Silica Gel Desiccant Pack Moisture Absorber to try
and absorb any of the condensation in their headlights?
My headlights don't have standing water in them like some of the people posting here, but they do get
moisture buildup on the lenses occasionally.
I know when it's a hot day and I wash my car with cold water I see the moisture buildup right away.
On very Humid days I see the moisture build too!

 

[JohnD195six]

I think the issue there might be retrieving it once placed, and ensuring it is not laying on those other internal control boards inside the fixture.

 

[JohnD195six]

Recently it appears I have had some success resealing the light fuxture. I caution that this is early to report complete success but the car is outdoors all the time and has sat thru some heavy rains plus I drove through a 10 mile heavy rain on the Thruway at 65 mph and the fuxture is dry inside.

I removed what I could of previous attempts to reseal this unit, and swabbed the seam area liberally with rubbing alcohol . Then taped and covered the front and back so just the seam was exposed. I then sprayed on the Flex Rubber seal. Two coats. Letting it dry two days between coats. This however did not work. But what did happen is a rainstorm filled the bottom of the light with at least an inch of water. At that point I rolled the water around the seam slowly and found my leaks in the top area by the rear most point. Drained and let it dry in the sun a few more days and gobbed on another coat of the spray flex seal. But then I got the flex seal paste. This goes on with a putty knife. And I put a coat of that over the seam and over the top area on the black backing. I let that dry well and am at the point I reported at the beginning of this post. I will monitor the part and report back in a month to say if it has worked.