I'm new to this forum. I'm having problems changing the interior lights for my prius. In particular the 3 personal lights at the front. Can anybody help me with a guide on how to change the light bulbs and what light bulbs they are? Thanks Andy
The clear covers pop off with a small flat screwdriver. Below is the list to lights. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-modifications/44630-new-2008-prius-mods-best-7.html 168 bulb I believe. Replace them with led. I used these. Waaay brighter. In replacing be sure you don't short out anything. The dome fuse controls most of the car electronics and you will not be able to start you car if it blows. FYI there is another fuse under the hood as a spare as well as where the dome fuse and fuse puller are. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TY21XY/ref=oss_product
Remember LED's are polar sensitive, meaning if you put it in and it doesn't work try taking it out and putting it in the other way. I used 168 LED bulbs for the 2 map lights 2 personal mirror lights and 2 door courtesy lights. The two back ones meaning the rear and trunk lights are festoon ballon style, The sizes for the two in the back are different. I Don't remember the sizes off bat. I used V-Leds, they shipped fast and haven't failed me yet.
The above amazon link led panel comes with protection and an assortment of plug in "modules" to adapt to all the types of lights in the prius. 168 plug in or bullet type. I replaced all mine map, personal, back, rear, doors with this type. 2 in the back on the hatch door. 2 under the hood with a switch and plastic water proof cover.
Thanks for that. But I've removed the front cover already. What I'm having problems with is the 3 front personal lights. I'm having problems taking the bulbs out. I think you have to remove the cover or something because when you twist the bulbs out of the lock, they don't fit through the holes.
ok so you can see the 3 individual bulbs? Just pull them straight out. Don't twist. Sometimes, they can be quite difficult (you don't have much realestate for your fingers to grasp on and some have tight bases).. but you just pull straight out.
Dope! I twisted it and it fell out of the socket. Sigh. Thanks for that tip. Does anybody have an image of what the bulb connector looks like? Sorry this is my first car.
#168 MINIATURE BULB GLASS WEDGE BASE, T3 1/4 WEDGE 14V .35A 3CP, 168, #168, #168 BULB, #168 MINIATURE, #168 LAMP, 168 MINIATURE LAMP, #168 INDICATOR, EIKO# 40317,2FME1,BIRNE,AMPOULE,BULB,BOMBILLA,#2FME1
Alright. So the light bulb fell out of the socket when I twisted. I'm having troubles getting it back. Anybody have any hints or ideas?
Since I made this same blunder and no one answered this question, I will in case someone finds themselves here looking for an answer. Open the eyeglass case cover. There are two phillips head screws central to the housing. Remove them. The panel will still be very tight. There are four white plastic press fit fasteners, one in each corner. You could probably open it with something like a wood spatula prying under the aft edge without doing damage. I used about a six inch blade screwdriver with a narrow blade to reach in from one side behind the circuit board the bulbs mount on and pry under the housing behind where the white fasteners go through. That popped one and then the other quite easily. The two fasteners in the front of the cover are inaccessible so I just pulled the back down and they popped off. I could then easily remove the little adapter and bulb. I removed the bulb, then twisted the adapter back into its home. I then pushed the new (LED) bulb in as though I had never removed the adapter. Press the housing back in place. Replace the two screws. Put the lens back on. Done. hope this helps
Hi there, I recently bought an '05 Prius and it runs like a dream. A friend who has a Subaru turned me on to the idea of replacing the interior lights with LEDs. I got all the right ones (thanks to this post) and was able to replace them all successfully except the map lights on either side of the center one. Let me say that these didn't work beforehand with the old incandescents in there. Naturally I assumed they were just burnt out. I have eliminated all the causes I can and I'm baffled as to why they don't work. 1. For one, they all run through the same fuse, so since the center light works, that can't be the problem. 2. I actually got two different brands of high quality 168 sized LEDs (Phillips and Sylvania) and I've tried each type of bulb in all sockets and even swapped housings. I can still only get the center light to work regardless of bulb type. So basically, it isn't a fuse, bulb or bulb fitting in socket issue. I guess at this point it would have to be something with the wiring or circuit board itself? Any thoughts or quick tests I might do on this? Many thanks in advance.
I know this thread is old, but are you talking about the 2 lights above the visors (vanity lights)? I can tell you that those lights will not turn on unless the mirror cover on the top side of the visor is fully opened.
