My left hand xenon has stopped working ☹️ Put a new bulb in and still doesn’t work. So next up is change the ballast. 

A bit of research leads me to believe the bumper has to come off to get the headlight out to get to the ballast!! WTF?! 

So.... im looking for tips or guides please for the whole process. 

Any help would be massively appreciated. 

Have you checked the fuses ? May have a fuse for each side lamp,

I've not seen the newer foresters but it's a possibility that the whole bumper or wheel arch liner need to come out to gain access

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Will check fuses in the morning, worth a look. Thing is the same headlight failed a few months back but fixed itself after a couple of days!

I had this issue. I bet your headlight is leaking and the water is flooding the ballast. Total pain! I had my headlight off a total of 6 times before i fully sealed it. When you do manage to get it off fill up your bath and submerge it in the bath, (with the front facing the ceiling) water will leak in from any gaps in the seals and bubbles will come up. Put some good quality bathroom sealant over the holes and let it dry and dunk it back in again until you are certain it is totally watertight.

You can dry the ballast out if you catch it early enough, but they take a fair bit of drying out. Best bet is getting a used one off eBay and using the dodgy one for the above sealing job. 

Yes it is a bumper off job (or at least drop the side that needs the headlight removing from. Plenty of guides on the internet. I got mine down to about 15-20 minutes. Once you know where the clips are it pretty easy. 

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f85/how-remove-06-headlights-dissasembly-paint-clear-corners-11516/#/topics/11516

So just one side of the bumper can be dropped to get to the headlight? Does that still involve disconnecting the headlight washers and fog lights?

The headlight washer cover needs removing. Fog lights can stay attached. If you manually pull the washer cover away from the bumper you will see it’s only held on to the washer jet assembly by two tabs. Takes less than a minute! Flat blade screwdriver and a wiggle and it will be off.

And yes you can just work on one side, while the other side is fully attached. I just left mine hanging, it’s all rather flexible plastic. Hardest part of it is popping off all the little black clips. And there are quite a few.

Many thanks for your advice, its very much appreciated. 

So is it all just black clips holding the bumper on to reveal the headlight or is there some sneaky screws too?? 

 

There’s some screws on the bracket just below the headlight and a couple on the sides. When they are all out just pull it out, there is a ball type fitting behind the indicator that will feel like a screw but just give it a tug and it will come away

Job done! Got the headlight out, there was silicone all over the ballast electrical connection so it has been a problem before. 

I took the headlight assembly apart to wipe away all the moisture and put it back together with sealant the best i could. 

Time will tell if it is moisture tight! 

Only disaster was  i broke/snapped my led sidelight bulb in the headlight seperation process, another one on order from autobulbs direct! £8 plus postage i didnt want to spend.