I finally completed accumulating parts that I need for the upgrade to bi-xenons. Thanks to a member here, I was able to secure a used set at a reasonable price. This is the original xenon headlamps for RHD cars. It came all the way from UK too. Thanks Jamie, you know who you are!
This upgrade uses the original equipment for the xenons as well. They are the Hella Gen 4 Xenon system consisting of ballast and ignitor. You can use any bulb with D2S fitting but I chose the Philips D2S 4300K which will give the highest light intensity and not as white as those 6000K or higher color temp ones. Anything higher than 4500K is useless since the light output becomes so low that the throw becomes rather short and useless. This upgrade also does not cover the AHL (automatic headlamp levelling) because the 9-3 Linear does not have the wire harness for this from the factory. I don't think its difficult to install AHL if I want to but I just don't care about it at this point.
Here are the parts I got for the upgrade;
1 pair of original Saab 9-3SS bi-xenon headlamps made by Hella
1 pair of Hella Gen 4 ballast
1 pair of Hella Gen 4 ignitor
1 pair of Philips D2S 4300K HID bulb
6 self tapping screw for securing the ballast to the headlamp
Before proceeding with the installation, I installed all the bulbs and the xenon parts onto the headlamp and tested them to ensure all the bulbs and connections are secure. The next step is to remove the halogen headlamps and swap the xenon headlamps in. To do this, you need to remove the battery cover, the windshield washer filler neck and the bumper. To access one of the screws that secures the headlamp to the car body, you need to remove the bumper to access this screw. Yeah, I know it's a pain but the bumper isn't difficult to remove, only took about 15 minutes to do it all by myself. It took less time to replace after I knew how it came out.
After the swap was complete, I proceeded to do some testing to check that everything works. Turn on the car (without starting engine) and waited for the check to complete. The dreaded "Left/right dipped beam failure" message came up on the SID. I expected this to happen but I was prepared to ignore it. I proceeded to turn on the lights and, "Whoa! They are bright!", the xenons fired up without any problems. As I was admiring them, the lights went out by themselves. I thought, "Oh no! what now?". I turned light switch off and back on again but all I got was a flicker. "Doh!". Turned the car off and took the key out, then put it back in and turn the car on again. Turn the lights on and the HIDs fired up again. Few minutes later same thing happened. Took out my multimeter and made some measurements. As I suspected, the BCM (body control module) was limiting the current to the headlamps which caused the HIDs to shutdown. This was because the BCM thought that a short circuit has occurred. The HIDs draw over 2 times the amount of power upon startup that the BCM must have thought that a short circuit had occurred. The HIDs power draw will eventually go down to less than what the halogens use but that takes about a minute. I found that if I started the car with the lights switch on the HIDs stay lit without any problems. That was still unacceptable if I had to turn on the lights while driving and it wouldn't.
So, I thought to myself, what if I can fool the BCM? I thought about the problem a bit and came up with an idea to fool the BCM. I proceeded to hook up a circuit and attached the circuit to the left headlamp. Turn the car on and I didn't get a the dipped beam failure message for the left headlamp. "Great! It worked", I thought. Turn on the lights but the failure message came on and the lights went out again. It was getting late so I put everything back on and went back into the house. Had a shower and thought about the problem a bit more.
Days later, I decided to try out another circuit which I came up with. I tested the circuit at the bench and it seemed to work as intended. However, this circuit requires cutting the wire at the headlamp harness. I took the circuit to the car and hooked it up without cutting the wire using crocodile clips and wires. Fired up the lights and watch. Minutes later, the HIDs remained lit and no error message! Waited for a while more and it still stayed lit. Started the car. Still stayed on. Tried a few other combinations. Stayed on. It seems to work. However, I didn't like this solution as it required cutting the wire at the headlamp harness. The idea of cutting the wire just didn't appeal to me. Tapping is fine but cutting is just bad. So I thought about the problem for a few days more. The conclusion, looks like there is no other way to solve this problem except.......... TECH2.........
A few days later I went to the dealer and spoke to the tech about the problem. According to him, my findings on the BCM is correct but he wasn't sure that if he added the xenon module in the BCM that it would work without the AHL. He was willing to give it a try though. He hooked up the TECH2 and did some stuff with it. I wasn't looking as I was talking to some other people I know there. Later, he came up to me and said, "Fixed! No errors!". Indeed, the lights was working properly as it should and no longer shuts down. No error message at the SID on the dipped beam failure or AHL failures. Success! Woo hoo!
I hope my story has inspired you to get those HIDs especially for those of you wanting to fit HIDs for the longest time and were afraid to do it due to the problems reported. The circuit I built should work with aftermarket HIDs. I think the problem with the startup power may only be specific with the Hella Gen 4 HID system. Some others who have had HIDs installed did not seem to report problems with xenons shutting down. So the circuit is not required for those without such problems. I have not tested it with aftermarket xenons so there is no guarrantee. I am sure I will have a chance to test this once other 93SS owners over here decide to fit aftermarket xenons.
BTW, the xenons fired up too when I flashed the high beam
I'll post some pics later once I get a chance to do it.
eps
This upgrade uses the original equipment for the xenons as well. They are the Hella Gen 4 Xenon system consisting of ballast and ignitor. You can use any bulb with D2S fitting but I chose the Philips D2S 4300K which will give the highest light intensity and not as white as those 6000K or higher color temp ones. Anything higher than 4500K is useless since the light output becomes so low that the throw becomes rather short and useless. This upgrade also does not cover the AHL (automatic headlamp levelling) because the 9-3 Linear does not have the wire harness for this from the factory. I don't think its difficult to install AHL if I want to but I just don't care about it at this point.
Here are the parts I got for the upgrade;
1 pair of original Saab 9-3SS bi-xenon headlamps made by Hella
1 pair of Hella Gen 4 ballast
1 pair of Hella Gen 4 ignitor
1 pair of Philips D2S 4300K HID bulb
6 self tapping screw for securing the ballast to the headlamp
Before proceeding with the installation, I installed all the bulbs and the xenon parts onto the headlamp and tested them to ensure all the bulbs and connections are secure. The next step is to remove the halogen headlamps and swap the xenon headlamps in. To do this, you need to remove the battery cover, the windshield washer filler neck and the bumper. To access one of the screws that secures the headlamp to the car body, you need to remove the bumper to access this screw. Yeah, I know it's a pain but the bumper isn't difficult to remove, only took about 15 minutes to do it all by myself. It took less time to replace after I knew how it came out.
After the swap was complete, I proceeded to do some testing to check that everything works. Turn on the car (without starting engine) and waited for the check to complete. The dreaded "Left/right dipped beam failure" message came up on the SID. I expected this to happen but I was prepared to ignore it. I proceeded to turn on the lights and, "Whoa! They are bright!", the xenons fired up without any problems. As I was admiring them, the lights went out by themselves. I thought, "Oh no! what now?". I turned light switch off and back on again but all I got was a flicker. "Doh!". Turned the car off and took the key out, then put it back in and turn the car on again. Turn the lights on and the HIDs fired up again. Few minutes later same thing happened. Took out my multimeter and made some measurements. As I suspected, the BCM (body control module) was limiting the current to the headlamps which caused the HIDs to shutdown. This was because the BCM thought that a short circuit has occurred. The HIDs draw over 2 times the amount of power upon startup that the BCM must have thought that a short circuit had occurred. The HIDs power draw will eventually go down to less than what the halogens use but that takes about a minute. I found that if I started the car with the lights switch on the HIDs stay lit without any problems. That was still unacceptable if I had to turn on the lights while driving and it wouldn't.
So, I thought to myself, what if I can fool the BCM? I thought about the problem a bit and came up with an idea to fool the BCM. I proceeded to hook up a circuit and attached the circuit to the left headlamp. Turn the car on and I didn't get a the dipped beam failure message for the left headlamp. "Great! It worked", I thought. Turn on the lights but the failure message came on and the lights went out again. It was getting late so I put everything back on and went back into the house. Had a shower and thought about the problem a bit more.
Days later, I decided to try out another circuit which I came up with. I tested the circuit at the bench and it seemed to work as intended. However, this circuit requires cutting the wire at the headlamp harness. I took the circuit to the car and hooked it up without cutting the wire using crocodile clips and wires. Fired up the lights and watch. Minutes later, the HIDs remained lit and no error message! Waited for a while more and it still stayed lit. Started the car. Still stayed on. Tried a few other combinations. Stayed on. It seems to work. However, I didn't like this solution as it required cutting the wire at the headlamp harness. The idea of cutting the wire just didn't appeal to me. Tapping is fine but cutting is just bad. So I thought about the problem for a few days more. The conclusion, looks like there is no other way to solve this problem except.......... TECH2.........
A few days later I went to the dealer and spoke to the tech about the problem. According to him, my findings on the BCM is correct but he wasn't sure that if he added the xenon module in the BCM that it would work without the AHL. He was willing to give it a try though. He hooked up the TECH2 and did some stuff with it. I wasn't looking as I was talking to some other people I know there. Later, he came up to me and said, "Fixed! No errors!". Indeed, the lights was working properly as it should and no longer shuts down. No error message at the SID on the dipped beam failure or AHL failures. Success! Woo hoo!
I hope my story has inspired you to get those HIDs especially for those of you wanting to fit HIDs for the longest time and were afraid to do it due to the problems reported. The circuit I built should work with aftermarket HIDs. I think the problem with the startup power may only be specific with the Hella Gen 4 HID system. Some others who have had HIDs installed did not seem to report problems with xenons shutting down. So the circuit is not required for those without such problems. I have not tested it with aftermarket xenons so there is no guarrantee. I am sure I will have a chance to test this once other 93SS owners over here decide to fit aftermarket xenons.
BTW, the xenons fired up too when I flashed the high beam
I'll post some pics later once I get a chance to do it.
eps
