HID and knocking troubles help!!
 

Hi, I have an 01 1.8tqm
I have recently developed a knock which sounds like a lifter after i changed my oil. I think this is probably because i replaced the filter with the factory sized one, which was smaller than the one it had on it recently.

and second of all I drove home from work tonight and realized that one of my HID's (factory) was red instead of the normal blue/white.
is this a bulb or ballast problem? I know that replacement lights are very expensive and am wondering if it would be more cost effective to replace them with an aftermarket set.

it seems like one thing after another keeps happening! this is my second audi so i'm used to the random things happening on these older vehicles
which is the sacrafice for having such an awesome vehicle.

thanks :)

KrautoParts.com - Your One Stop Shop For Premium LED & HID Kits - HOME is owned by one of our members. His HID and LED kits are loved by a lot of us on here, and it's WAY more economical. Talk to him about what you need. If you swap bulbs side to side and the red moves, you only need bulbs. Being factory HIDs, you'd want a pair of D2S bulbs. If the red stays in place, you likely have a bad ballast and would need that.

As for the ticking, it has nothing to do with the filter size. You either are a little low on oil or you dislodged a little oil crud during the change. Add 1/4 can of Seafoam to the oil and drive that way for awhile. That should unstick the lifter of that's the issue.

Do you know about how many hours are on the current bulbs? If you've never changed them, I bet it's a lot. While the capsules in HID bulbs will last almost indefinitely, they do lose intensity and change color as they age. If you go to The Retrofit Source, you can buy genuine bulbs at a more reasonable rate or use their Morimoto house brand. Since you have OEM HID's you'll want 35W D2S.