Aftermarket HID lighting

[96Rover]

My question is this, I own a 1996 Range Rover 4.0 and i purchased a while back an aftermarket HID kit to put in my truck. I installed the kit on the truck no problem, but upon doing so you have to change the fuse for the headlights to a bigger one. Now Rovers dont have fuses for the lights the only thing i could find was a relay. ANyways when i turn on the light they would flicker then come on and my interior lights would turn on and the truck would beep again just like when u start it, after about a month when i turned my lights on my message box read alternator fault and my lights wouldnt turn off. I took my HID's out and unplugged the battery for 10 min, then everything went back to normal. Is there any way i can put the lights in my truck and not have problems, maybe someone with some experience in this field could help me out? Thank you

 

[SteveA]

I'm not surprised you are having those symptoms. Range Rovers use incredibly complicated monitoring systems to keep track of many different systems. All of the light bulbs in the car (parking lamps, brake lamps, etc) are monitored. I'm sure that by replacing the headlamp bulbs with HID units, it really confused the car's BeCM (main computer). The BeCM checks for resistance in all these circuits to monitor bulb status. I have seen instances where a non-Land Rover bulb was used for a brake lamp caused all kinds of wierd symtoms. If you changed any wiring (which would be needed to install a true HID lamp) I can't imagine the confusion that the BeCM would have.

My advice to you is remove everything you added to the car for the HID lamps and consider yourself lucky the car seems to be back to normal. Remember EVERYTHING electrical on your car is controlled by the BeCM, and the BeCM is very EXPENSIVE and very easy to damage. I don't think it's worth the risk to try modifications like this.

Stephen