Daytime running lights dim/flickering

Where are the part number labels in your picture? Yeh the part numbers are wrong, and both of yours are "H" version? BTW the "J" version LED headlights are available as early as my post here dated on 8/21/2017

On the back of the HL housing. It was fairly easy to find by looking in the engine bay.

They both state H on the housing sticker but I clearly have the dots now. The invoice shows the $1,049 J price too.
 
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Yes, my total out of pocket for parts and labor for both sides was only $300 when it should have been around $2,600 - I am very grateful to Mazda CEC which is why i'm not sure if I should be picky and ask for a third replacement.

I took pictures of both DRLs if anyone is interested.


Passenger's side (installed 11/2017):
HL Sticker states: KA0G-51-030H (Manufacture date 7/2017)
Invoice states: KA0G-51-031H

Driver's side (installed 03/2018):
HL Sticker states: KA0G-51-040H (Manufacture date 1/2018)
Invoice states: KA0G-51-041J

I'm not sure why the part numbers don't match up - but both look to have the dot matrix DRLs and around equal brightness and color. The only issue I seem to be having is the newer one looks to have a slightly more yellow tint on the headlamp.
Wife just got back and its raining. Here are the info of my replacement LED headlights:

Passenger's side (installed 3/17/2018):
HL Sticker states: KA0G-51-030H (Manufacture date 12/28/2017)
Invoice states: KA0G-51-031J Unit (R), Head Lamp

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A56EBBE4-5202-42BE-BAD9-03813981E37B.jpeg

Driver's side (installed 3/17/2018):
HL Sticker states: KA0G-51-040H (Manufacture date 12/13/2017)
Invoice states: KA0G-51-041J Unit (L), Head Lamp

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44A466F1-C0EC-448E-A598-E53BD7D7BA0B.jpeg

So your H version LED headlight seems to be the same as my J version after all. :)
 
So your H version LED headlight seems to be the same as my J version after all. :)

Interesting - good to know the numbers are the same. Thanks for taking the time!

I looked at mine at night and the DRL look balanced on both housings. However, I definitely notice a slight color difference between my driver and passenger side head lamps.

I shined them against my white garage door at night and I can see the Drivers side installed today has a more yellowish tint compared to the passenger side replaced a few months ago which is more crisp white.

Sucks - I guess Im not sure if I want to push my luck for a third housing that may or may not be different.

Honestly, I like the older passenger side (crisp white) better.
 
As I mentioned earlier, I had the same issue. They ended up replacing BOTH (eventually) with J lamps but the right side is oddly still more blue than the left side but not as bad as it was when one was J and one original. I also preferred the cooler blue color but I think they changed it a bit because of glare complaints from opposing traffic.

I would recommend that you change the passenger side if it's the original and if they will cover it out of warranty, it WILL fail if it's the first batch headlight and will also have a high chance of developing the white residue inside the housing due to a design flaw. (My J lamps have not developed the white residue after 6 months, the originals started showing the residue within 2 months of vehicle purchase)
 
As I mentioned earlier, I had the same issue. They ended up replacing BOTH (eventually) with J lamps but the right side is oddly still more blue than the left side but not as bad as it was when one was J and one original. I also preferred the cooler blue color but I think they changed it a bit because of glare complaints from opposing traffic.

I would recommend that you change the passenger side if it's the original and if they will cover it out of warranty, it WILL fail if it's the first batch headlight and will also have a high chance of developing the white residue inside the housing due to a design flaw. (My J lamps have not developed the white residue after 6 months, the originals started showing the residue within 2 months of vehicle purchase)
Do you mind to check part numbers on actual label on the back end of replacement headlights? My "J" version headlights still say "H" on the actual labels. See pictures in post #143 above.

And I agree, the LED DRLs on original LED headlights WILL fail!
 
i haven't really looked but does anyone know if the gen2 uses dot matrix leds or fiber optics? the LEDs look very nice at night or overcast but in sunlight conditions it's sometimes hard to tell if they're even on, especially since the always-on headlight washes them out too
 
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saw a cx5 with the "j" version today in the sunlight and could barely tell the car had DRLs. they looked really bad. in comparison, a few cars down the road was another cx5 with the original LED DRLs and the difference is incredible. even though the sunlight was hitting it, you could still see it clearly and had a nice blue tint. the new DRLs looked really washed out-- had to really look to see if it even had the LED DRLs.

even the 2017-18 cx5 has this issue although it's not as bad. in the sunlight it's hard to tell if the headlights are even on. at night they look incredible, but i wish they took the cx9's LED drls and put the min the cx5.
 
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Stealer replaced my entire headlight module last week. Problem resolved. Hope this doesn't happen again after warranty expires

Spoke too soon. My driver-side headlight module was replaced in Nov 2016 due to the DRL flickering issue. The passenger-side DRL has the exact same issue now and car is not under warranty. Have any of you guys had any success in replacing the headlight module for free outside of warranty? My CX-5 is still within the 3-year period, but past the 36k miles.
 
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Spoke too soon. My driver-side headlight module was replaced in Nov 2016 due to the DRL flickering issue. The passenger-side DRL has the exact same issue now and car is not under warranty. Have any of you guys had any success in replacing the headlight module for free outside of warranty? My CX-5 is still within the 3-year period, but past the 36k miles.
My dealer replaced my driver's side when my warranty was gone. Still in 3 year period, but way over 36k. They asked their local manager or whatever, they did a 'good faith' deal where she agreed to cover the part if I covered the labor, ended up costing me about 60 something. So doesn't hurt to ask
 
Spoke too soon. My driver-side headlight module was replaced in Nov 2016 due to the DRL flickering issue. The passenger-side DRL has the exact same issue now and car is not under warranty. Have any of you guys had any success in replacing the headlight module for free outside of warranty? My CX-5 is still within the 3-year period, but past the 36k miles.
See post #136 above. Mazda North American Operations covered 75% on the passenger side and now 100% on driver side when both times adgjqetuo had no new-car warranty currently at 65K miles. It won't hurt to call MNAO and ask for help.

The other thing you should bring up to the Customer Experience rep is DRL style and color temperature matching issues. Your driver-side LED headlight was replaced a year and a half ago which definitely is not the latest "J" version as there has been 6 revisions on our LED headlights. J version LED headlight now features dot-matrix LED DRLs with lesser light output which definitely will look different than your older driver side replacement. Read older posts in your thread at least 3 pages prior and see more details.
 
See post #136 above. Mazda North American Operations covered 75% on the passenger side and now 100% on driver side when both times adgjqetuo had no new-car warranty currently at 65K miles. It won't hurt to call MNAO and ask for help.

The other thing you should bring up to the Customer Experience rep is DRL style and color temperature matching issues. Your driver-side LED headlight was replaced a year and a half ago which definitely is not the latest "J" version as there has been 6 revisions on our LED headlights. J version LED headlight now features dot-matrix LED DRLs with lesser light output which definitely will look different than your older driver side replacement. Read older posts in your thread at least 3 pages prior and see more details.

Thanks for this! I took it to the dealer today. They quoted $1750 and said they'll talk to MNAO and let me know in 2 days. Assuming they cover this fully, how do I take care of the mismatch between the driver-side and passenger-side modules? Will they cover the replacement of both? This is really frustrating
 
Thanks for this! I took it to the dealer today. They quoted $1750 and said they'll talk to MNAO and let me know in 2 days. Assuming they cover this fully, how do I take care of the mismatch between the driver-side and passenger-side modules? Will they cover the replacement of both? This is really frustrating
You should contact Customer Experience Center of Mazda North American Operations directly. Mention that you have purxhased 2 CX-5's and, since adgjqetuo got free LED headlight replacement authorized by MNAO recently even though his CX-5 has 65K miles, use that as an example asking for free replacement. Also ask the rep about replacement LED headlights mismatching issues as the only way to match 2 replacement LED headlights is making sure 2 headlights are the same latest "J" version - meaning to get both LED headlights replaced with the same "J" version.

Yeah if the cost of replacement on these LED DRLs is similar to incandescent or halogen bulbs, nobody would complain! But now you're talking about $1,250 list for a single replacement unit of LED headlight for flickering DRLs! With labor Mazda dealer often charges $1,500 for a single LED headlight replacement on something which is supposed to last a lot longer than 2 years!

The only good news out of this is the list prices on latest "J" version of these LED headlights are cheaper now:

UNIT(R) HEAD LAMP - MAZDA CX-5 Right with LED
KA0G-51-031J (Replaces: KA0G-51-031C, KA0G-51-031D, KA0G-51-031G, KA0G-51-031H, KA0G-51-031)
List Price: $1,059.36

UNIT(L) HEAD LAMP - MAZDA CX-5 Left with LED
KA0G-51-041J (Replaces: KA0G-51-041C, KA0G-51-041D, KA0G-51-041G, KA0G-51-041H, KA0G-51-041)
List Price: $1,048.88

Hopefully the problems on LED headlights have been truely fixed after that many revisions during these 2 years ⋯ (nailbyt)
 
You should contact Customer Experience Center of Mazda North American Operations directly. Mention that you have purxhased 2 CX-5's and, since adgjqetuo got free LED headlight replacement authorized by MNAO recently even though his CX-5 has 65K miles, use that as an example asking for free replacement. Also ask the rep about replacement LED headlights mismatching issues as the only way to match 2 replacement LED headlights is making sure 2 headlights are the same latest "J" version - meaning to get both LED headlights replaced with the same "J" version.

The dealer checked with MNAO and called me back. They are offering to replace it for $25 with a 2 year warranty on the replaced part. Only problem is they're replacing the passenger-side with J-version and my driver-side has H-version.

They were very clear that they won't replace driver-side with a J-version as that would mean both modules have to be replaced. I asked them to check whether they can find a H-version for the passenger side and they said they don't have it. I called MNAO today and was told they have a G-version if I prefer that.

How different are G, H and J versions? Are these noticeably different (can you glance and tell a difference) or only very slightly different (have to look back and forth few times to notice)? I looked at the pictures from previous posts here and didn't notice much difference. Maybe it is more obvious in real life.

Also, my understanding is G is probably an older version (older than H and J). If I have a choice between G and J for the passenger-side module, which one should I choose (considering driver-side is H)?
 
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⋯ How different are G, H and J versions? Are these noticeably different (can you glance and tell a difference) or only very slightly different (have to look back and forth few times to notice)? I looked at the pictures from previous posts here and didn't notice much difference. Maybe it is more obvious in real life.

Also, my understanding is G is probably an older version (older than H and J). If I have a choice between G and J for the passenger-side module, which one should I choose (considering driver-side is H)?
Check the part# and manufacture date sticker on the back side of both LED headlight housings and see what are they first. You want the latest version if possible, which is the "J" version, and the revision is the last character of part # in alphabetic order (none->C->D->G->H->J) as there must be something wrong in any of the previous versions hence Mazda has to modified it again and again.

Those LED headlights sometimes look different in color temperature even if they're the same version. So if the sticker of your driver side replacement says "H" and manufactured in 2017, I guess it would look very close to new "J" version LED headlight as it comes with dot-matrix LED DRL instead of original fiber optic LED accent light.

Wife just got back and its raining. Here are the info of my replacement LED headlights:

Passenger's side (installed 3/17/2018):
HL Sticker states: KA0G-51-030H (Manufacture date 12/28/2017)
Invoice states: KA0G-51-031J Unit (R), Head Lamp

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View attachment 218909

Driver's side (installed 3/17/2018):
HL Sticker states: KA0G-51-040H (Manufacture date 12/13/2017)
Invoice states: KA0G-51-041J Unit (L), Head Lamp

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View attachment 218910

So your H version LED headlight seems to be the same as my J version after all. :)
 
Check the part# and manufacture date sticker on the back side of both LED headlight housings and see what are they first. You want the latest version if possible, which is the "J" version, and the revision is the last character of part # in alphabetic order (none->C->D->G->H->J) as there must be something wrong in any of the previous versions hence Mazda has to modified it again and again.

Those LED headlights sometimes look different in color temperature even if they're the same version. So if the sticker of your driver side replacement says "H" and manufactured in 2017, I guess it would look very close to new "J" version LED headlight as it comes with dot-matrix LED DRL instead of original fiber optic LED accent light.

Got it replaced today. The driver-side was replaced in Nov 2016 and part number is KA0G-51-041H. The passenger-side was replaced today with KA0G-51-031J. I didn't notice any difference at the dealership; probably because it was very sunny. Was stuck behind a black Tundra on my drive back home and noticed the J-version is slightly dimmer. When i saw those together, the H looked little blue-ish and the J looked more like white. Never felt H was blue-ish until now. Yet to test both at night.

Interestingly, both H and J seem to have the same dot matrix LEDs. I can clearly see a line of LEDs in both.
 
Do you mind to check part numbers on actual label on the back end of replacement headlights? My "J" version headlights still say "H" on the actual labels. See pictures in post #143 above.

And I agree, the LED DRLs on original LED headlights WILL fail!

Checked and both lamps are H (even though J on invoice) one was manufactured in 07/17 and the other 11/17, main LED colour difference apparent, DRLs are fine.
 
Got it replaced today. The driver-side was replaced in Nov 2016 and part number is KA0G-51-041H. The passenger-side was replaced today with KA0G-51-031J. I didn't notice any difference at the dealership; probably because it was very sunny. Was stuck behind a black Tundra on my drive back home and noticed the J-version is slightly dimmer. When i saw those together, the H looked little blue-ish and the J looked more like white. Never felt H was blue-ish until now. Yet to test both at night.

Interestingly, both H and J seem to have the same dot matrix LEDs. I can clearly see a line of LEDs in both.
So you'd never noticed the difference when you still had original passenger-side LED headlight and "H" version driver-side ? Actually adgjqetuo has verify this in his case similar to yours that both "H" and "J" are using dot matrix LEDs for DRL accent strips in post #139. If you check the actual parts sticker on the back of LED headlight assembly, both of yours should say "H" with different manufacture date even though the box and invoice may say "J". Can you verify this?
 
Checked and both lamps are H (even though J on invoice) one was manufactured in 07/17 and the other 11/17, main LED colour difference apparent, DRLs are fine.
Thanks for verifying. It seems the actual content of "J" version LED headlight is still "H" version for some reason. There must be something different so that Mazda is using different part number between the two. Only Mazda knows why.
 
My driver-side lamp was module was replaced in Nov 2016. The invoice lists part number as H, but when I checked it today, the part installed is KA0G-51-040D. This probably explains why I didn't notice any difference after that replacement. Is D the faulty version? asking because, I am now worried, this module might fail again soon.

The passenger-side module was replaced last week. Invoice has part number as J, but the part installed is KA0G-51-030H.

There is a noticeable difference between the brightness and color temperature of the DRLs between H and D versions - H being less brighter and warmer than D. However, I did not notice much difference between the headlight brightness/temperature while driving at night or while looking at reflection of headlight on storefronts.

Any point in asking MNAO to replace the already-replaced driver-side module to match the passenger-side module, considering car is out of warranty?
 
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