Have an odd electrical issue. Woke up this morning and tried to head to work, only to discover that the battery on my car was dead as a doornail, to the point that nothing worked (remote keyless, nothing on the inside turned on, etc). I connected up a battery tender/charger to the battery to try and get it going, also to no avail. I then disconnected the battery entirely, and let the battery tender/charger do it's thing for about 4 hours while i was at work (drove my other car to work).

Came back, reconnected the battery, car started fine, but noticed that the right lowbeam and highbeam headlights (both OEM xenons) didn't turn on, while the turn signals worked fine. I went straight to Autozone thinking I had a bad battery and that maybe the HID ballast just wasn't getting enough power from the battery, but they tested the battery (showed 12.7V) and the alternator (showed in excess of 13V), so both OK according to them.

Brought the car to the dealer thinking it was a fuse (the fuse for the headlights is in a tight location in the battery compartment which i couldn't get open), but after 30 minutes they said it was not any of the fuses or relays. The service advisor was guessing that it was the bulbs or the ballasts, but that seems weird to me (why would both go bad at the same time?). I get the impression that they are going to try and shaft me and tell me I need to replace the entire unit ($$$ I'm sure), or that the bulbs/ballasts are bad (which I highly doubt, and also guessing will be $$$).

Anyone have any suggestion on what else might cause both the low/high beam HIDs to be non-functional after my morning dead battery experience? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Was your vehicle purchased new or ever in a flood?

 

What year is your G? I had something similar to what happened to you! But knowing your Year will let me know if its the same Ballast..Infiniti used one type 08-10 and 11-14 now are Different and found out the hard way...

 

Lol. It doesn't sound like a weird electrical issue at all. It sounds like a really simple blown HID bulb. You have HID headlamps. The high and low beam are the same bulb, not different ones. Did you consider removing it to inspect it to see if it's something very simple like the bulb is blown?

 

Gotcha. I didn't realize the low/high beams were the same bulb, i assumed they were separate bulbs.

Dealer finally called me back today and said it was both a bad ballast and a blown bulb. Shockingly, they didn't try to recommend that I replace the entire assembly (which apparently would have been >$2K). Ordered a ballast off of ebay for $75 and a new bulb (just in case) for $45.

Must have been just a freak coincidence that it happened with my battery dying (still don't know what caused that, but whatever). And, fyi, i purchased it new, and it's an 07 G35 Sport sedan.

Thanks for the responses all.