Xenon issue...suggestions

[QuinnsterKID]

My xenon headlights on my A6 were not matching properly and I figured at one time the previous owner may have replaced a bulb on one side and not the pair like you are supposed to. One was a nice blue (passenger), while the other appeared to be more of a white (driver) and it drove me crazy. So last week I ordered up some 5000k D2S bulbs from HIDconcept and I put them in last night and to my surprise they still do not match. While they both have a little more blue to them now since they are 5000k, the driver side still appears to be less colored than the passenger. I did notice that when I opened the casing on the driver side light that there was light dust inside as compared to the passenger. I am thinking maybe moisture got into the housing and possibly tampered with the igniter? Sometimes the driver side light wont turn on and I am thinking the igniter may be the issue? Does anyone have any suggestions?

[SinCityA6]

My xenon headlights on my A6 were not matching properly and I figured at one time the previous owner may have replaced a bulb on one side and not the pair like you are supposed to. One was a nice blue (passenger), while the other appeared to be more of a white (driver) and it drove me crazy. So last week I ordered up some 5000k D2S bulbs from HIDconcept and I put them in last night and to my surprise they still do not match. While they both have a little more blue to them now since they are 5000k, the driver side still appears to be less colored than the passenger. I did notice that when I opened the casing on the driver side light that there was light dust inside as compared to the passenger. I am thinking maybe moisture got into the housing and possibly tampered with the igniter? Sometimes the driver side light wont turn on and I am thinking the igniter may be the issue? Does anyone have any suggestions?

IIRC, there is not an "ignitor" in the the xenon setup; just a ballast. I would hazard a guess that your ballast is failing and the light is not getting the required voltage hence the color difference.

[kocyk123]

I experienced same thing. I replaced both headlight bulbs to Morimoto 5500k and one had slightly more white in it. I noticed that one of the back headlight doors had broken clips and was not sitting there tightly. It allowed air and other stuff to get to the headlight. I noticed that this projector lens had bit more dust on it that the other one. This was the reason why I was seeing slight color difference.
You will experience the same thing when one of your headlight has that yellowish haze on the headlight lens and the other does not. I did that experiment when polishing headlights on my co-workers' audi A4.
First, make sure your headlights are equally clean. (turn on the headlights and take a close up look at both projector lenses and see if they have equal amount of dust on them)
Second, swap the bulb sides and see if it is the bulb that gives you a different color or a headlight.
If there is no difference than you need to look into the ballast or igniter.

[cal3thousand]

IIRC, there is not an "ignitor" in the the xenon setup; just a ballast. I would hazard a guess that your ballast is failing and the light is not getting the required voltage hence the color difference.

I know that my 2009 has D3S bulbs, so the igniter is built into the bulb base. For 2008, I assume it's D2S and would mean the igniter is inside the driver housing.