I was wondering if somebody with some expertise knew if it was possible for an HID kit to cause enough of a problem with the TIPM/Fusebox to where it has to be replaced? Seems there are some others with this problem on the net worried the HID's caused it. It's at the dealership being fixed right now, but I don't want it to break again and am thinking of taking out my HIDs when I get the truck back.

 

Let me qualify my answer. I'm no expert on HIDs, I've never had them but I am a retired electrical engineer with lots of experience troubleshooting failures of complex electrical equipment. I briefly looked at the wiring diagram of the TIPM, and it is the module that interfaces to the lights and other functions that you described as not working on your other post. In my opinion, if the HIDs ballast (which I think is a coil with a big capacitor and a rectifier diode) was to go bad it could do several things but the two most likely are a short or a voltage spike. Either of those things would (should) blow the fuse and protect the rest of the TIPM. One thing I've learned in my over 30 years in the industry, is that never say it's not possible with electronics but I doubt the HIDS caused the failure to the TIPM. Another thing about the modern electronics, is that they have a "self test" function that will test the "brains" by isolating the outputs and looping in a test signal to the microprocessor or whatever chip is used in the TIPM. A certain combination of these codes point to the root source of the problem, in this case probably a chip that needs to be changed out. The dealer will only change out the whole module. Some electronic houses will take these modules and fix them and then resell them. The failure codes that are being spit out are likely due to some latent defect in manufacture, usually a static discharge that weakened a component until it gave out .

I believe that some of the phenomena that others are attributing to the HIDs are caused by the magnetic field that the ballast coil generates. A magnetic field will couple to nearby wires and generate a current on those wires that disrupts normal signals which in turn cause malfunction codes. These kind of issues can be mitigated by isolating the ballast from the other signals. If possible, move the ballast as far away from other wiring. Another cheap way, is to wrap the ballast with aluminum foil. Good luck. Keep the TIPM and have it verified to be bad because, a re-seating of the connector may have been the original problem. I think there are electronic houses out there that test the TIPM for a fee.

 

I can tell you with my experience of installing my HIDs and having messed up my TIPM, it is possible. However, in my case, I caused the problem myself and it wasn't necessarily because of the HIDs. Being that it's an electrical system, it could potentially happen though, in my opinion. What I ended up doing was shorting two wires inside the headlamp connector while I was trying to take a voltage reading. This was of course with the battery hooked up. The symptoms I had were nothing near as severe as what you have described though. The only thing that happened to my truck was the headlight on that side stopped working. That was the only thing I noticed. So my answer is yes, it can cause damage to your TIPM, but I don't see the HIDs causing everything to fail like what happened in your case. Even with that one small issue, my whole TIPM was replaced. There isn't a certain section that can be replaced. It's all or nothing.

 

ive never had a tipm issue and ive ran hids for over a year now

 

That is a weak design if a short on the headlamp connector can damage the TIPM and it turns into a $800 repair job. The fuse should have blown, it sucks that it didn't. On Buccs2233s truck the HIDS where on the truck for 2 years with no problem, and then suddenly lots of codes, the cause most likely was a factory latent defect. I guess if the HIDS did blow the TIPM (which I doubt) and the problem is still there, the dealer is in for a big surprise if it happens again when they put on a new module and it blows!! Keep us posted as we will soon find out.

 

As far as what I was understanding was that there are two separate parts to the headlights. They have a control and power side, this is in the 4th gens. I know on the 3rd gens it was just power. So what I mean by that is on the 4th gens the headlights are run through a "relay" per say. Basically the tipm gets a "control" signal from either the headlight switch or the sensor if you have it. It then closes another output that controls the actual voltage and current to headlamp.

This explains why some people are using harnesses and some people are not to run their HIDs in the 4th gen. In the 3rd gen you could not run HIDs without a relay harness because there was no "control" portion. You could say that the headlight switches in those are "in line" with headlight. In the 3rd gen the risk of blowing something was very high because it was all one "circuit" per say. Anyone who knows what PLC is can kinda understand where I am coming from...From my understanding, I COULD BE WRONG! but this is how the newer vehicles are starting to work. They are going to more of a PLC setup then separate circuits. Anyone who deals with them knows that many things are possible by just using a computer controlled device to monitor inputs and outputs.

Having said that, it MIGHT be possible that they did cause an issue. I believe one user stated that because they have been working for so long that is most likely not the issue. As a user stated, all a ballast is generally a coil (or inductor) and a large capacitor. All it does is boost that 12V to something extremely high. Don't know the exact value but its thousands of volts, it varies but needs to be high enough to ignite the gas in the bulb. So having said that the chances of a short circuit in the ballasts are very low, and IF there is a short circuit the ballast would not work anymore. With the 4th gens TPIM working how I stated above even if there is a short circuit, IT should not only be protected by the fuse, but should not even harm any other part of that module. This is the nice thing about a "PLC" setup is everything is generally separate from each other. You could spike one thing, but it would only be that one thing that will be harmed.

I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone, but being an electrician and knowing KINDA how things work my guess is thats not the issue...

 

If I was to guess something I would have to go along with this. Electronics I know are very touchy, they are made of resistors, diodes, capacitors, which all will create heat. Things can heat up in any electronic device and suddenly your continuity will drop across a resistor potentially blowing the whole device. This is why sometimes there are no explanations as to why ipods, mp3 players etc fail.

As far as those ballast creating induction currents, if they are newer ballasts those currents are very low. The housings are starting to be built with insulation made of whatever material to prevent that high induction. (It varies so much) I took my clip on ammeter and held it towards my ballasts for this exact reason. I measured .1 amps, which in my option is not much, considering I have measured induction currents off large transformers measuring 15-20 amps...


I don't know if any of this help you, but I would not be worried if you put your HIDs back in. I have been running mine for 5 months with no issues

 

thank you guys so much for the responses. I'm gonna make sure the dealer gives me the old "broken" part, and maybe have it tested to make sure it's broke. any ideas on how i would find a place to do that? because I seriously think it was a loose connector somewhere, but I think i said this in my other thread that my dad was also on the contact list and gave them the go ahead to fix it.lol so hopefully i'm not right.