So, I just came back to my FD after 4 weeks of leaving it in my friends garage due to a work trip.

Everything is fine on it other than the left headlight is out! I have Cobra HID's, I'm not very experienced in HID or headlight troubleshooting.

Where do I start?

 

switch your good bulb to the side thats not working if it doesn't light up then your ballast is bad. You are going to have a lot of trouble with cheap kits.

 

What's a temporary fix if the ballast is bad, I can't drive around here with only 1 headlight.

I'll keep getting pulled over while waiting for new parts.

 

Put your stock lights back on

 

You most likely will have a higher chance of getting pulled over with an improper retrofit than a blown light. Help everyone else out on the road by tearing those out and switch back to stock or get a proper retrofit.

 

Cheap HID's are so nasty, freaking blinding.

 

They also hinder the ability for the driver to see as well since all that bright light is thrown in front of the car causing their pupils to close down.

 

A good place to start is removing them from the car . Just because it "says" HID doesn't mean its good. HID's in REAL setups use projectors... you've basically got a really bright bulb but are missing the rest of what makes the HID's have great lighting. Get proper projector HID's or use the stock lights... the reflector conversion kits put out garbage light and blind everyone else.

And no, there is absolutely no fix for a bad ballast besides replacing it with a good one. They bump the voltage up to 35,000+ volts , so you cant simply plug a HID bulb into a stock 12v car battery .