HID headlights causing CEL??

salden77 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:42 pm **Posts:** 271

So I installed HID headlights the other day, and now everytime I turn them on it instantly throws a CEL, P0146 which is O2 sensor no read out or something, and then same code number but it says bad gateway, if I clear the codes the CEL stays off until I turn the lights back on. Could this be a possible interferance w ballasts causing it throw code for the O2 sensor? Iv never had this problem b4 w HID's and I had 6 ballasts on a different vehicle for 2 years.

toyota jeep man · **Joined:** Tue Aug 25, 2009 5:19 pm **Posts:** 110

i have hid and dose not do that... but i do have a god dam gate way lost communications code randomly pop up too with a skim (witch is the chip in the key) error so i replaced my keys and it came back on once after that and then it has not come on in a few weeks but this code only happens in the 05 because of the computers... in 06 they changed it so they do not have that problem but apprintly it is a hard one to track down :banghead:

salden77 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:42 pm **Posts:** 271

interesting, my one ballast thats under the fuse panel in the engine compartment could be causing some problems. it looks like there is some kind of ecu mounted under the fuse panel closer to the engine, maybe i have the ballast too close to that idk, ill have to mess with it more

toyota jeep man · **Joined:** Tue Aug 25, 2009 5:19 pm **Posts:** 110

that is your front control module and it is only lets the 2 different busses(computers) talk to each other and the ballast will not mess with that mines right there too \

spitfire36o · **Posted:** Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:54 pm

salden77 wrote:

So I installed HID headlights the other day, and now everytime I turn them on it instantly throws a CEL, P0146 which is O2 sensor no read out or something, and then same code number but it says bad gateway, if I clear the codes the CEL stays off until I turn the lights back on. Could this be a possible interferance w ballasts causing it throw code for the O2 sensor? Iv never had this problem b4 w HID's and I had 6 ballasts on a different vehicle for 2 years.

Any solution or update to this? The day i installed my HID's i got the same code. I cleared it, and as soon as i turn the lights on, the code returns instantly.

spitfire36o · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:05 am

I have searched all over google and it seems that this problem exists in many other manufacturers as well. I have tried wrapping the ballasts in electrical tape and a towel as well. Apparently this has worked on Hondas and Hyundais, but on the libby i have no luck. Im guessing that the electrical interference affecting the ecu is traveling through the stock wiring harness. My next try will be to supply a direct fused power source from the battery and a direct ground to the frame. I'll connect this to the HID ballast and the stock headlight connector with a relay.... Unless someone has already figured out a solution to this. Obviously i am not the first to encounter this problem.

secondechomatt · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:07 am

It's your jeep telling you that you did a bad thing by putting HID's into a reflector housing.

infernicus · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:36 am

secondechomatt wrote:

It's your jeep telling you that you did a bad thing by putting HID's into a reflector housing.

Haha, yeah, that's probably it.
Not many people use HIDs in the Liberty. And I think even fewer in the CRD.
I know of one person that does, but he has an '06.
Like one person said, maybe they fixed it for '06, and you're SOL.
If you've tried moving the ballast as far away from the truck as possible, it's not a relativity issue. Try getting direct power and a ground via a relay.

spitfire36o · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:50 am

secondechomatt wrote:

It's your jeep telling you that you did a bad thing by putting HID's into a reflector housing.

I knew it was only a matter of time before this came up. We can argue all day about putting HIDs in reflectors over projector, but i will go to my grave saying that 90% of people who blind you with HID's in reflectors are not adjusted/aimed after the install.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 11:03 am

spitfire36o wrote:

secondechomatt wrote:

It's your jeep telling you that you did a bad thing by putting HID's into a reflector housing.

I knew it was only a matter of time before this came up. We can argue all day about putting HIDs in reflectors over projector, but i will go to my grave saying that 90% of people who blind you with HID's in reflectors are not adjusted/aimed after the install.

Well here is a 100% fact why you are wrong..................

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Not mention they are illegal and do not carry a DOT stamp.

spitfire36o · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:30 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

spitfire36o wrote:

secondechomatt wrote:

It's your jeep telling you that you did a bad thing by putting HID's into a reflector housing.

I knew it was only a matter of time before this came up. We can argue all day about putting HIDs in reflectors over projector, but i will go to my grave saying that 90% of people who blind you with HID's in reflectors are not adjusted/aimed after the install.

Well here is a 100% fact why you are wrong..................

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Not mention they are illegal and do not carry a DOT stamp.

I understand they do not carry a DOT stamp, but the test summary even stated that they failed because they were outside of the acceptable limit of white. Half the cars you drive by on a given night have illegal HID conversion kits, if you aim them properly, you should not blind the oncoming drivers. I am not going to argue if its better visibility than stock halogens because I have no proof. Its a preference, i love the way they look from the inside and outside.

infernicus · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:55 pm

spitfire36o wrote:

.... Half the cars you drive by on a given night have illegal HID conversion kits...

I'm not getting into either, because I do believe HIDs should not be used in halogen housings..

BUT, I do have to mention, here in NYC, there are a ridiculous amount of people with these aftermarket kits.. Law Enforcement here does not care much about lighting, unless you find that one cop that knows what he's doing, and you pissed him off pretty badly.
They don't ticket for HIDs, they don't ticket for uncovered auxilary lighting, they don't ticket for probably half of what officers may in a smaller town/city.

Since it isn't enforced, people continue to abuse them.
There are way too many Japanese vehicle vehicles, poser vehicles, 1982 Buicks, everybody and their mother, with these kits.
My close friend has the green HIDs, which are just a joke. But they "look good" on her blacked out Chrysler 300.

There's no getting away from them.

I understand that just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't make it right. I learned that at an early age.
But if its not one person using them, its the next.

(Oh, and I apologize, I didn't realize I went on for that long, just stating regional facts.)

spitfire36o · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 1:55 pm

infernicus wrote:

spitfire36o wrote:

.... Half the cars you drive by on a given night have illegal HID conversion kits...

I'm not getting into either, because I do believe HIDs should not be used in halogen housings..

BUT, I do have to mention, here in NYC, there are a ridiculous amount of people with these aftermarket kits.. Law Enforcement here does not care much about lighting, unless you find that one cop that knows what he's doing, and you pissed him off pretty badly.
They don't ticket for HIDs, they don't ticket for uncovered auxilary lighting, they don't ticket for probably half of what officers may in a smaller town/city.

Since it isn't enforced, people continue to abuse them.
There are way too many Japanese vehicle vehicles, poser vehicles, 1982 Buicks, everybody and their mother, with these kits.
My close friend has the green HIDs, which are just a joke. But they "look good" on her blacked out Chrysler 300.

There's no getting away from them.

I understand that just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't make it right. I learned that at an early age.
But if its not one person using them, its the next.

(Oh, and I apologize, I didn't realize I went on for that long, just stating regional facts.)

So we agree to disagree? :lol:

I didn't want to become the @$$hole new guy on the forum. This place is amazing. Everything that i have done to my crd was learned on this forum. Its nice to have a place like this when you buy a new vehicle. I had it for my zx-6 over on kawiforums.com and my GTI on vwvortex.com. Places like these save you hours of guess work and tons of $ in mechanic bills.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 2:27 pm

spitfire36o wrote:

I understand they do not carry a DOT stamp, but the test summary even stated that they failed because they were outside of the acceptable limit of white. Half the cars you drive by on a given night have illegal HID conversion kits, if you aim them properly, you should not blind the oncoming drivers. I am not going to argue if its better visibility than stock halogens because I have no proof. Its a preference, i love the way they look from the inside and outside.

That is the thing you can not properly aim HID's is a halogen housing,HID's scatter the light to much in a halogen housing.I have lowered honda's with those HID's retrofit kits in that blind me and I'm lifted 10" above stock,and yes they have there headlights aimed as low as they will go.

Plus HID retrofit kits are well known at causing electrical issues in newer vehicles from not working,causing the MIL to come on,or flickering all the way to causing fires.They also void any part of the electrical system warranty,even in the 3/36 BTB warranty.

secondechomatt · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 2:52 pm

this is what I'm going to be doing to my crd.

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthr ... -wanted-to

infernicus · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 3:46 pm

secondechomatt wrote:

this is what I'm going to be doing to my crd.
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthr ... -wanted-to

Thanks for the link. I've been wanting to do that for a long time. There's a post from a guy in Russia who actually did it. It looks great. He also painted the reflector black. I've been reading and reading and reading on it but thats time consuming, so, I obviously never got a chance to do anything about it.

infernicus · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 3:51 pm

spitfire36o wrote:

So we agree to disagree? :lol:

I didn't want to become the @$$hole new guy on the forum. This place is amazing. Everything that i have done to my crd was learned on this forum. Its nice to have a place like this when you buy a new vehicle. I had it for my zx-6 over on kawiforums.com and my GTI on vwvortex.com. Places like these save you hours of guess work and tons of $ in mechanic bills.

Don't worry you're not the a-s-s. (At least not in my eyes)
You are very close to a lot of Queens, LI people.
Check out the Northeast Section if you haven't already.

jinstall · **Posted:** Wed Nov 02, 2011 5:44 pm

AO since most HID retrofit kits are low beam only what are you doing for high beams?

rossignol292 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:31 pm

I just installed HIDs in my fog light housing, and they cause a check engine light. Mine throws U-146 (lost communication with gateway A) or P146 (something about an O2 sensor).

First I wired them up using the factory harnesses. I simply ran the stock connectors into the ballasts, then to the HID bulbs.
Result: check engine light

I figured the stock wiring wasn't large enough, so I wired them directly to the battery with a relay in between. I used the driver's side OEM fog light harness to trigger the relay so I didn't need an extra switch in the cab.
Result: check engine light

For my next attempt I wired a new switch in the cab to control the relay. This keeps the entire HID wiring setup completely separate from anything factory, except for the battery.
Result: check engine light

The gateway connector is located right under the driver's side fog light harness. I figured the goofy power cycles surging through the HID wires were causing problems. I added a foot to the harness and zip-tied it as far away from the connector as I could.
Result: check engine light

I think I finally have it figured out. The check engine light goes away after a few ignition cycles if you don't turn on the HIDs, so I new it was a harmless (although annoying) issue. I finally realized that you can avoid triggering the check engine light as long as your accelerating when you switch the HIDs on. Every time I've switched them on with engine RPMs above 2200 I haven't had a problem. HIDs draw a very large amount of power (up to 10 amps I'm told) when you first fire them up. This initial power drop was triggering the check engine light. As long as your alternator is cranking out enough juice when they're switched on, you shouldn't have a problem. This initial peak in power draw is very short.

I've ordered capacitors for both ballasts and they should be here soon. The capacitors should be able to cover the initial peak without triggering a check engine light under any circumstances. I'll let you know how it works out.

spitfire36o · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:59 pm

rossignol292 wrote:

I just installed HIDs in my fog light housing, and they cause a check engine light. Mine throws U-146 (lost communication with gateway A) or P146 (something about an O2 sensor).

First I wired them up using the factory harnesses. I simply ran the stock connectors into the ballasts, then to the HID bulbs.
Result: check engine light

I figured the stock wiring wasn't large enough, so I wired them directly to the battery with a relay in between. I used the driver's side OEM fog light harness to trigger the relay so I didn't need an extra switch in the cab.
Result: check engine light

For my next attempt I wired a new switch in the cab to control the relay. This keeps the entire HID wiring setup completely separate from anything factory, except for the battery.
Result: check engine light

The gateway connector is located right under the driver's side fog light harness. I figured the goofy power cycles surging through the HID wires were causing problems. I added a foot to the harness and zip-tied it as far away from the connector as I could.
Result: check engine light

I think I finally have it figured out. The check engine light goes away after a few ignition cycles if you don't turn on the HIDs, so I new it was a harmless (although annoying) issue. I finally realized that you can avoid triggering the check engine light as long as your accelerating when you switch the HIDs on. Every time I've switched them on with engine RPMs above 2200 I haven't had a problem. HIDs draw a very large amount of power (up to 10 amps I'm told) when you first fire them up. This initial power drop was triggering the check engine light. As long as your alternator is cranking out enough juice when they're switched on, you shouldn't have a problem. This initial peak in power draw is very short.

I've ordered capacitors for both ballasts and they should be here soon. The capacitors should be able to cover the initial peak without triggering a check engine light under any circumstances. I'll let you know how it works out.

And this is why i love forums with dedicated members. I was on track to going through the same exact steps. You just saved me a bunch of wasted time. I will be looking forward to the capacitor update.

secondechomatt wrote:

this is what I'm going to be doing to my crd.

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthr ... -wanted-to

I installed a set of these in my kawi ZX6
http://shop.hidcountry.com/Bi-Xenon-Evi ... jector.htm

i took off the angle eye ccfl and disassembled the entire unit and blacked them all out, then i blacked out the entire oem housing. Its a witch to take apart the oem housing and glue it all back but the projector housing will just slide through the stock bulb hole and is secured from behind with a nut. Its a great conversion system. There is also a flap inside that activates with the brights. It opens up and removes the cut off.

HID headlights causing CEL??

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