# What to do about left headlight and fog light



## suprfastgelyfish (Jan 8, 2015)

I just bought my neighbor's wife's 2011 1LT -RS. IN less than 6 days the left side fog/headlights don't work. They are HID and he told me it's not under warranty because it's after market. Does anyone know how much this will cost to fix? 

He has the regular lights at his house and say he can install them, and also referred me to the dinky shop he bought the HID's at. I don't know who to trust or what to do. Should I start with the fuses? duh? help.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Since the Cruze fuse setup is NOT left side/right side such as found on a import, you can safely assume, since one side works, the problem is in the aftermarket lighting system.

Advice.....go back to stock if they are available to you.
Although interesting to look at, the aftermarket systems are fraught wih problems/failures.

Reduce your brain damage, get rid of them.

Rob


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## JerTM (Dec 12, 2014)

After looking up in SI, there is a separate fuse for the left and right headlamp high beam. The lowbeam power is supplied by the BCM without a fuse inline.  The foglights have their own fuse. I would suggest it being the aftermarket bulbs as the issue.


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## suprfastgelyfish (Jan 8, 2015)

Thank you both, it bothered me after owning a car 6 days. I'm taking it to the shop they were installed at tomorrow and will post the techs response and cost. I have no problem going back to factory. I'm not into customizing cars any more, but this is how the car was and I got it 25% off blue book with a 22k warranty left over. I'll post around 2pm EST.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Daytime running lights really made the headlamp circuits complex, and in the Cruze, controlled by the BCM.










HID's do not draw a steady pure DC current like incandescent bulbs do, but rather high frequency peak current that can cause EMI to interfere with other key low level microprocessor circuits. Causing other problems.

While some vehicles come equipped with HID's were designed with these in mind, the Cruze was not designed for HID's, taking a major risk. Even heard about some stock HID's costing the owner as much as $1,500.00 to replace that was mp longer covered under the BB warranty. 

If the fogs are stock, both bubs are in parallel. Not the easiest to change, have to drop that lower front panel to replace the bulb. Ha, a lot easier on my 88 Supra, bit more thought went into these fogs.


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## suprfastgelyfish (Jan 8, 2015)

The shop replaced both headlight ballasts for $25. I told them not to worry about the 1 fog light.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Lighting terminology, a ballast can either be a transformer, a resistor, or an inductor, why can't they call it what it is? More than likely, a cheap made in China inductor, poor insulating enamel, wire gauge way too small. Random wound, no interlayer insulation. And most aren't even vacuum varnished dipped. 

Purchased a bunch of florescent fixtures for my shop back in 1972, still good, most with the original tubes yet. Wanted a couple more a couple of years ago. Made in China crap, only lasted a little over a year, ballasts burnt out. But losing a light in my shop is not dangerous, driving on a dark road with crap like this is. 

Also purchased a Matco plastic pry bar for all these pop rivet fasteners. But sharpened the end of it with a grinder. Works great since the entire Cruze is held together with these fasteners. Carefully count each one and put in a container. Dealer wants around 5 bucks for just one of these. Get awfully upset when I loose five bucks.


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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

Moved to Service Issue for more exposure.


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## aldonorm (Dec 7, 2014)

Get the regular lights and install them. You have to take the front fascia off, but it is no big deal. It mostly has screws and pins to hold it in place. There is a youtube video to show you how. All in all it will take you 1 hour and 45 minutes to replace them. I was tempted to replace mine with the aftermarket brands, BUT I do not think they are as good as original. If your fog lights are original, a bulb may be the solution for that, or if not you can find them on ebay for much less than dealer costs.


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