Bulb or Ballast? (also headlamp housing damage)

I'm thinking ballast, especially since every now and then the lamp kicks on. The problem is I popped the hood and saw that the headlamp housing itself is loose, there's a mounting clip that somehow broke and the whole assembly can wobble a good amount...

Its likely the ballast, but now I need to replace the housing too. It might be cheaper to just get a used housing + ballast then re-use my bulb?

Any advice? (apologies for the vertical video)

https://youtu.be/XnPDEK23zHE

If it's just the one bulb acting up swap it with the other side and see if the problem happens to the other one. If the other one starts doing it then you need a ballast or igniter, otherwise it is just the bulb.

As for the loose headlight assembly, you can buy a kit to replace the broken tabs. ECS has them for $40ea and VW sells them as well ($50ea I think).

https://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Golf_V--2.0T/ES252758/

Just remove the headlight assembly, shave off what remains of the original (broken) tabs, and screw the new tabs in with the provided screws (the holes are pre-drilled in the headlight assembly... VW foresaw this lol).

PS- I got mine from VW and I still had to shave off a bit of plastic under the slit on the headlight assembly where the top tab slides in... the new tab and the slit didn't line up perfectly and could've broken a piece off the assembly if I didn't shave off a bit of material.

Also, you don't have to remove the front bumper cover as some suggest to get the headlight assemblies out, just the front radiator grille and the little trim pieces that fit where the headlight washers should be (assuming you don't have headlight washers) to access the inner and outer bottom screws.

I am having the same problem. Changed out the bulbs, changed out the igniter and nothing. Next up is the ballast but my wires are dry rotted. I want to change them out but can't seem to find any place that sells replacements. Any ideas where I can find them?

Sorry for the late post back to this thread. Bought the tabs kit, could only get 2 out of the 3 on, but you basically have to take most of the bumper off to get to the entirety of the headlight. The other side of this was a bad bulb. Annoying repair but its good to go now.