Full headlight failure - corrected by 'power off'?

[SteelSully]

Hello,

I have a June 2016 MS75 and in late August 2019 I noticed that my driver's side headlight assembly wasn't turning on (this includes the LED DRL, blinker & HID). Since we were on a family roadtrip to Maine when this happened, I attempted every trick I could think of to fix it and found that if I selected 'Power Off' and let the car sit for over 5 minutes it eventually appeared to fix itself.

Tonight the issue came up again on my driver's side headlights on my commute home (it may have been off when I left work, but I didn't notice it until I attempted to make a left turn) and sure enough the same fix worked when I got home. Has anyone else experienced this? The headlights are only 1.5 years old since they were replaced under warranty when I had the dreaded 'brownout' DRL issues on both headlights.

Hoping I don't have to replace these yet again (as now I have 80k miles), but could this be just a software bug?

 

[drklain]

Doesn't sound like it. Sounds like an overtemp fuse or breaker is opening and then,after you kill power and it has a chance to cool off, it resets....Your car should still be under warranty, I'd get it in and let Tesla figure out the issue.

 

[SteelSully]

Yeah, I figured as such - and unfortunately unless headlights are covered by 'powertrain' issues - I don't think these are still under warranty at 80,000 miles? (not quite sure the warranty on replaced headlights)

 

[sorka]

Left and right lights are always on the same fuse. What's most likely is the ballast overheated on that side. They usually have a self resetting fuse.

 

[SteelSully]

Left and right lights are always on the same fuse. What's most likely is the ballast overheated on that side. They usually have a self resetting fuse.

Thank you, good to know about the fuse configuration. The only odd part is the first time it happened - it remained out for the whole day (even after being parked/unattended for hours). Only once I did the full 5 minute power off at night @ the hotel did it clear. Tonight, I tried pulling over briefly on the way home, but only let it power off for 1 minute and it didn't help. 10 minutes later when I was home, I kept it powered off for 5 uninterrupted minutes. Restarted and it worked like nothing had happened in the first place (same behavior as two months ago). Guess at least I have a workaround for now?

 

[NoMoGas]

Yeah, I figured as such - and unfortunately unless headlights are covered by 'powertrain' issues - I don't think these are still under warranty at 80,000 miles? (not quite sure the warranty on replaced headlights)

On the chance your ballast is going, I replaced mine for 30 bucks on ebay. In fact I upgraded the lights as well to 35w... total cost 150 installed by stereo shop.