Regal GS headlight assembly w/ HID Discontinued?

[BigBlackBeaSSt]

Very lucky lol I spent a few months, went to 2 dealers, dealt with GM cust service and their supervisors etc., and finally had to file a law suit in small claims court.. it was a headache for something that should have been done how your situation was handled

What a hassle and frankly a bunch of crap that you had to put up with. I would have been livid!! Sorry you had to go through it.

I read your post before I went to the dealer and was expecting a fight. I was amazed when they rented me a 2017 Suburban as a loaner, fixed my king pins and with ZERO question ordered a replacement. I am growing to really like this dealer.

 

[jwmuscat]

What a hassle and frankly a bunch of crap that you had to put up with. I would have been livid!! Sorry you had to go through it.

I read your post before I went to the dealer and was expecting a fight. I was amazed when they rented me a 2017 Suburban as a loaner, fixed my king pins and with ZERO question ordered a replacement. I am growing to really like this dealer.

I think a good dealer is the key, unfortunately you never know (unless you have bought a previous car from them) because they are all great when selling you the car. It is the after-sale treatment that is what counts.

 

[BigBlackBeaSSt]

Finally got the headlight replaced. Now the lousy bumper cover does not fit!! I hate dealers!!

 

[dbruce]

Finally got the headlight replaced. Now the lousy bumper cover does not fit!! I hate dealers!!

Need to post a picture of that. If they didn't put bumper cover back on properly.........that's bad. Plus side, bumper covers are mostly idiot proof....so getting it back on right is not hard.

 

[BigBlackBeaSSt]

I am going to loosen the screw up under the hood tonight and see if I can straighten it up a bit. I was amazed that the headlight was over $1000 if I had to pay for it. And NO they would not give me the old light. Not really very much water intrusion, I am just high maintenance.




The dealer also left a huge mud print in the mats UNDER the paper. Really?

 

[dbruce]

On the above, have to admit I don't sweat the small stuff much these days. The Buick dealer left my car the same or worse. Caddy....fully cleaned and loads better....but paid in service costs.

Fix on the alignment....loosen screws, adjust as needed.

 

[BigBlackBeaSSt]

So the drama continues. I was contracted by the dealer that they want another shot at fixing it. They ordered yet another light as the felt there might be something wrong with the first. Why they even let me pick it up without saying anything is beyond me! So I went in today and they replaced the light, again, and this one seemed to fit some better but the bumper cover STILL not not line up. I had the tech loosen the screws and I pushed the bumper cover back a bit. I took the car and went to a buddies garage and worked on it to get it to where it should be.

 

[dbruce]

jwmuscat, ever try to fix the bad light you had. Curios if it is possible on the chance I run into this some day.

 

[pkgmsu2000]

does GM offer a HID headlight assembly with black inside instead of the chrome?

 

[jwmuscat]

No luck on fixing it. I still have my old one. Was able to drain out water, I think if you ran a bead of silicone around it and then pulled the ballast and associated cords and replace you might get it to go. But the associated cords are tough to reach even with the light out.

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No on the black, you could bake headlight pull apart and paint black

 

[MitchMeister03]

No luck on fixing it. I still have my old one. Was able to drain out water, I think if you ran a bead of silicone around it and then pulled the ballast and associated cords and replace you might get it to go. But the associated cords are tough to reach even with the light out.

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No on the black, you could bake headlight pull apart and paint black

No luck on this. I replaced my ballast, put a bead of window waterproof silicone around the whole outside, including the ballast itself. Made it till the next time it rained here, and now the LED's and the HID is dead. At least the turn signal works... sigh.

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So I'm debating between a used junkyard light assembly or paying the ~$800 I've seen GM 19351949 for... Thoughts?

 

[Teflonjeff]

Update: Came to settlement with GM through legal means (confidential) but anyways I got a new headlight assembly. I picked this one up as a "oem surplus" it was being sold for $750 and I was able to negotiate down to $500 so a pretty good deal. It has the ballast and bulb included.

New light
View attachment 10333

Here is the ballast in case anyone needs #s and part # (driver side HID)
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View attachment 10335

It was pretty easy to replace, remove the bumper cover, disconnect the one plug to headlamp, unbolt it (also unclip this plastic part retaining it) then just pull it out and put new one in and do the reverse. Don't forget to aim it as well.
View attachment 10336
View attachment 10337

Here is the old one with the water issues I was having.
View attachment 10338
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When I get some time I am going to completely tear apart the old one and see what I can on the inside (not to mention dry it out and put back together and reseal) and try to get it to work again so I can have a back-up. I know there was a previous discussion about whether or not it was ultrasonically welded/if you could bake the headlamp to pull off the lens.

Mine looks exactly like yours with moisture. Discussed at the dealer price $1,100 and discount pricing I'm finding on websites for around $750. Need a driver side headlamp assembly. Any hints on where you found the oem surplus unit? Thanks.

 

[jwmuscat]

Mine looks exactly like yours with moisture. Discussed at the dealer price $1,100 and discount pricing I'm finding on websites for around $750. Need a driver side headlamp assembly. Any hints on where you found the oem surplus unit? Thanks.

I forget the exact place it took a lot of searching to find. I'm talking like way past the 1st page of Google. I believe it was a place in Michigan that basically supplies auto repair shops and such, they deal b2b so I had to buy it through my work.

Another option would be to try and find one of a scrapped car, a lot of places will pull the part and ship it. Might be something to consider (chances are your local junkyard won't have a regal GS) but I remember seeing those for around $500

 

[g_684813]

I bought my 2013 GS brand new in Jan 2014 and purchased an extended warranty at time of purchase. My car is supposed to be covered bumper to bumper up to 72 months or 100k miles. Neither has happened BUT they wont cover the replacement of my driver side HID headlight assembly that has a leak and water has caused the headlight to fail. Daytime running and turn signal still work. Like some of you, I was quoted $1100 plus another $600 for labor to replace the assembly at the dealership where I bought my car. I'm a single mom. I cant pay $1700 to replace a light assembly on my car. I have been looking online for weeks to find an affordable replacement to no avail. Any suggestions. I'm so frustrated!

 

[DPB]

I have a 2012 GS with the same issue everyone is reporting (HID leaked and headlight failed). the bulb is good because I tested it in the right side. It must be the ballast.

The left side is also starting to leak, so I'm sure it will go next. Has anyone tried to change the whole assemble to the halogen assemble? The plugs look the same. If I go to a parts store, they don't show the HID for this year Regal. They only show the halogens, and argue that I have the wrong headlights in the car. The halogens are also a ton cheaper.

 

[pigsnzen]

I swapped the HID assemblies on my GS for Halogens - it's a direct Plug and Play. I mainly did it for temporary lighting until I could find a driver's side assembly for less than a grand. But now I'm planning on LED upgrades to the Halogen assemblies.

 

[DPB]

Thanks for that note. I can do both sides for a fraction of the cost that 1 HID costs

 

[carl3pedals]

On my 2012 GS driver's side the light bulb for the low beam and high beam has stopped working. The turn signal still works, and I found out the problem is not a burned out bulb, because the replacement bulb I purchased did not fix the problem, and then I discovered that the bulb which had been been on the drivers side works if I place it in the passenger side assembly.

There is some condensation in the driver's side headlight assembly. Would replacing the ballast on the driver's side headlight assembly be likely to fix this problem?

 

[DPB]

I had the same issue, and I found that the fuse kept blowing. I didn't try replacing the ballast because there was so much condensation, and I didn't want to put more money into the light. The passenger side was also starting to show condensation, I'm sure I was going to have to deal with it soon.

Instead I swapped out the HID with halogens light assemblies. I ordered the assemblies from Amazon. They work great. The only thing you don't get is the cool day-time running light the HID assemblies has.

I was going to order the halogen lights from the local dealership, but they all said I could not install the halogens. They advised that i needed to also change the wiring harness. 1 dealership quoted a price for the halogens and some adapter, but they never showed me the adapter. I'm not sure what it even did. When I installed the new assemblies, I just had to turn the plug 180 degrees because the pins are on the opposite from the HID.

 

[G-642497]

Also I work in quality at the Oshawa plant that builds the Regals, and I can tell you we have many fewer quality issues with the Buick lamps than the other cars that are produced here. All of the current OE lamps come from Europe, although China does produce the Regal too, so maybe the replacement parts come from there? Either way, the quality of most of the China / Mexico / European parts that we receive is better than a lot of the North American parts. Also every material that is used is specified and sourced by GM, so no matter where it's assembled, the types of glue / plastic, amounts, etc. are all set by GM engineering.

lol if this is true, that’s terrifying for the other cars you are / were producing. This seems like something that fails on any and all regals with hid lamp.. .. any ideas for a fix. Will some silicone around the housing and some fresh bulbs and ballasts do the trick?