OEM Xenon Conversion 2008-2010 Mazda5?

[mspbros]

I have a 2009 Mazda5 Touring model with halogens and i found there are quite a few oem xenon head light units on ebay these days:

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I've searched on HID conversion threads in this forum with no definitive answer but how is the retrofitting of these xenon lights from Grand Touring trim down to Touring trim like?

Can I forgo the need for the steering wheel level controls? It looks like the oem ballast is separate and I'll have to splice in/out a few things

-C

 

[icspots]

Comments only based on experience of watching people do this on the Mazda 3, not personally.

You can skip the leveling controls if you want, just bear in mind that if you weigh down the back of the car the lights are going to point upwards and give some glare to oncoming drivers. If the 5 is similar to the 3 then little of the wiring for the leveling system is in the not GT model. You do need to wire the ballast into the system. You should be able to trigger it off of the wiring for the low beams, but may need to run a relay to the fuse box to actually draw power from the battery.

 

[mspbros]

Comments only based on experience of watching people do this on the Mazda 3, not personally.

You can skip the leveling controls if you want, just bear in mind that if you weigh down the back of the car the lights are going to point upwards and give some glare to oncoming drivers. If the 5 is similar to the 3 then little of the wiring for the leveling system is in the not GT model. You do need to wire the ballast into the system. You should be able to trigger it off of the wiring for the low beams, but may need to run a relay to the fuse box to actually draw power from the battery.

Thanks for the info. I'll prowl the Mazda3 forums a bit more since its similar. The best solution is to look for a Mazda5 GT model in the junkyard for all the required parts. But I'm willing to wire things up myself.

Thanks for the tips

 

[icspots]

Also you can buy non-OEM HID lamps and ballasts from an online store. I’ve had great luck with theretrofitsource over the years as they sell both OEM and aftermarket components. May even have adapters to wire directly up to your H9 plugs (pretty sure the 1st gen had H9 harness plugs with an adapter to H7). Would still need to confirm the power draw of the ballasts and the power delivery capabilities of the low beam harness. The ballasts pull a bunch of power when they turn on, but otherwise have a lower power draw during use.

Side note, if the Mz5 is like the Mz3 the ballast is actually installed inside the headlamp housing... or maybe it’s attached to the bottom. Can’t remember.

 

[mspbros]

I just bought a cheap nearly brand new service manual/wiring diagram on eBay for my Mazda5 since I like adding something physical to reference when working on cars. Here is what I learned about the requirements to convert to oem xenons from halogen:

• "Discharge" type combination headlights is the factory term for xenon
• the oem ballast is factory mounted directly under and attached to headlight assemblies
• headlight assembly has black trim inside (neat!)
• black standard connector for halogen is different than grey connector for discharge type (duh)
• manual leveling switch is shared amongst other mazda vehicles (also duh)
• manual leveling switch fits neatly into switch blank to the left of steering wheel
• manual leveling switch is simply a potentiometer

The wiring is much less of a worry now that I can see that there isn't too much to it. I just hope the factory put in harness provisions for these vehicle options/trim. At worst, I'll just have to snip some connectors off at the junkyard. I'll post my results when the units come in.

 

[mspbros]

I guess I should update:

1) Lights are installed! Easy to make a bridge connector from halogen plug to ballast plug:

2) You can see the connection here. I'm glad the seller had a pig tail included:

3) Headlight Leveling switch harness is tucked behind the switch blank confirmed!

4) Puchased a new switch on ebay (P/N GJ6A-66-6F0) which apparently belongs to a Mazda6

5) Don't make the mistake I did and purchase the first used and cheap mazda leveling switch you see on ebay because the connectors are different:

6) The switch's five wires are B+ and GND for the interior illumination (which work). The important 3 wires are Reference voltage, signal and GND (potentiometer) to the firewall connector and into the engine bay headlight levelers. The problem is the engine bay harness portion isn't there, so there isn't anything connected to the potentiometer. I de-pined the HID's 3 leveler connector pins and added them to the 3 blanks on the turn signal connector (which they shared on HIDs):

7) The final step is getting a pair of 3 wires to meet in the engine bay, tap into the headlight relay power & ground then extend it to the firewall where the leveler switch harness terminates. I'm currently waiting for my package of correct gauge wires to come in to start soldering.


Overall? This is very doable and much better than hacking together an HID kit for the halogen housing. I'll post when I actually finish. Thoughts? Comments?

 

[mspbros]

Forgot to add the last bit of this install, the final wiring job. I happened upon a wrecked 2009 Mazda 5 touring in the junkyard, same model as mine. Engine and front end was gone so I was able to get a better idea how the wiring is laid out and grab a bit of wiring to study and use.

Main body harness connector behind the glove box:

You can see two wires (Gr/R & Gr) representing reference voltage and signal for the potentiometer (headlight level switch). This is the body interior side:

On the other side of the connector, notice there aren't any wires on the engine side that complete the Gr/R & Gr wires. It terminates here, and it is here, where you will decide if you will de-pin and continue the connection like OEM, or snip and solder them to extend wiring into the engine bay:

I decided to de-pin the junkyard connector and add those into my 5's body harness connector into the missing terminals:

The two missing wires are added in and extended into the engine bay to work it's way against the firewall, around the battery, and towards the fusebox. next to the airbox. You'll connect the the pair of 3 (total of 6 wires) from the HID headlights in fron into 3 leads: (Gr/R: reference voltage, Gr: Signal, B: ground).

• B black will go directly to a ground point, which is easy since the battery negative on the fender is handy.
• Gr Grey, the signal, is simply connected from the pair of HIDs to the extended wire from the body harness connector.
• Gr/R: Grey/Red A reference voltage is needed to flow from the fuse box to the highlights AND headlight level switch at the same time as designed by the factory.

Reference voltage can be tapped into easily with an Add-A-Fuse into the headlight relay 15A slot. Making two 15A slots just like a Grand Touring model has:

I've found the low profile Add-A-Fuse doesn't fit very well (these Mazdas use low profile mini fuses annoyingly), a standard taller mini fuse version fits perfectly.

And thats it! Headlights can now pivot with factory precision and you can avoid blinding folks when you over load the rear.

Enjoy

 

[frankencois]

I realize this is a old and dead(maybe) post but i was wondering if you had any comparison photos with the Xenon lights in? I'm curious how well the halogen projectors work for a xenon bulb