HID or Regular headlights?? I can't tell.....

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

My wife's 2002 VW Passat GLX V6 has a burnt out low beam headlight, and the other side is either going out or is just fogged over. Anyway, I can't tell by looking from the front if it has HID bulbs or regular ones. Will I just have to take the cover off the back and remove the bulb to tell, or is there a way to tell just by looking from the front? I've got this sinking feeling that it has HID's because the car is pretty loaded out with options. The front of the headlight it'self is rounded and sort of fish eye looking, and I can't see an actual bulb inside. Any help would be appreciated.

[Shockwav86]

HID headlights require ballasts to boost the voltage to create the bright light. Try and locate a ballast along the wire from the back of the headlight assembly, otherwise try checking for option codes on the door. I checked www.sylvania.com and that year passat has the optional HID's. Also another dead giveaway of an HID setup is that when you turn them on the start out dim and then get brighter and they come on immediately not like a normal incadescent or halogen filament bulb. Wish I could help more, good luck. One other thing is call a dealer and give them your vin number and they should be able to look up the options on your vehicle.

[Steel2686]

I have HID's in my Acura. Having the "fish eye" type headlight doesn't necessarily mean HID's. That means it's a projection beam type headlight assembly. Usually, HID's are projection beam anyway.

Best way to tell was stated pretty well above. When you turn them on, it should get brighter within a few seconds. The light has a slight blue tinge due to the color tempurature of HID's. They turn on almost light a florescent bulb would.

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

Thanks guys, I actually found a site last night that some guy had made with pictures showing how to get to the bulbs and went out and checked it out. They were conventional bulbs, they were just a royal pain to get to. Then, my dumb a$$ dropped one of the bulbs down inside the engine compartment and it landed at the bottom of the fender. Do you think there was anyway to get an arm down there or up from the bottom? Nope! The thing is practically hermetically sealed. So, one of my $20 Sylvania Silverstar bulbs is sitting on the plastic cover thing that goes along the bottom of the front of the car. At leaset the Camaros have access panels in that thing so you can get your arm in there. Dang German cars. I think they try to make them as difficult to work on as possible so that you have to take them to the dealer for the smallest job. It even says in the manual to take it to the dealer to have the bulbs changed, gives no info whatsoever as to how to change them. I had to replace the driver's side bulb on the Camaro last night too, took me all of 30 seconds. I love my car.

[Trans Am]

if you see a sticker that says something like 'caution high voltage' and 'do not touch ' they are hid s. every car i ve seen and has hid s , all had sticker near the headlights saying something like that

[FroSSty]

Dang German cars. I think they try to make them as difficult to work on as possible so that you have to take them to the dealer for the smallest job.

Precisely! VWs are some of the hardest cars to work on that I have encountered. I hate them with a passion.

[Trans Am]

Precisely! VWs are some of the hardest cars to work on that I have encountered. I hate them with a passion.

haha you obviously never worked on an alfa romeo , as am example , you can not just change a small bushing by itself, you have to change the whole spindle with the bearing and everything , and parts are really expensive too

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Precisely! VWs are some of the hardest cars to work on that I have encountered. I hate them with a passion.

I hated my wife's Beetle. The oil filter was a PITA to change. It was half way up the side of the engine and tilted at an angle. So when you broke it loose oil went all over everything. Stupid design. They couldn't get it to stop leaking oil either.