2008 Headlights - Condensation & assembly replacement directions

have someone turn on the headlights while you look at them. Do they come on instantly (halogen) or do they take about 5 seconds to fire and warm up (HID). If they are halogen you can swap the entire housing for the one on eBay quite easily, I think its only 3 bolts holding the housing in, two are under the hood and one is behind the fender liner iirc. New bulbs will make your lights brighter regardless if they are HID or Halogen, but you will need to pull the bulb out to confirm.

 

Here's OEM, for reference:

Headlamp Components for 2008 Toyota Prius | McGeorge Toyota Parts

McGeorge options were "base" and "touring", Not seeing "4", so I picked "touring", not sure if it matters, check both.

 

If you have the Xenon or HID (high intensity discharge) headlights you can tell because there will be two bright yellow HIGH VOLTAGE warning labels in the engine compartment. (The system won't let me upload pictures.) There is one on each side. I would let an expert work on those because my manual* has several very specific warnings, and some specific procedures to follow.

If you have Halogen lights you can probably replace those yourself, but it does require removing the assembly from the vehicle.

* The manual I have is "Toyota Prius Repair and Maintenance 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008". Copyright 2008, Bentley Publishers. I believe I bought this on Amazon, but it was several years ago. This book is based on official Toyota documentation.



-Graeme-
2004 Prius with >190,000 miles.
Sent ?.

 

Once you have the headlight assembly out of the car you can see where the lens (the clear part) meet the body of the assembly. I had to replace my ballast because of water and condensation so I used my hot glue gun and ran a bead around the outside of the lens sealing the headlight assembly again. Once it is reinstalled you can't see the hot glue.

 

Probably, or skip the mega mumbo and get the Sylvania replacements. Had to replace my passenger side in late December -- or I should say a "nice man" replaced it for me (nephew). But if the mega are really two bulbs, that's not a bad price. I prefer local when I can. That company appears to be in the UK>
kris

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/LMOBP9003NVCN

 

I believe there are 3 bulbs, the parking light, the turn signal and the headlight. It is really not that difficult to take the housing out, you can do it in about 15 minutes. With the halogen you can actually reach and change both bulbs without taking the housing off, but I wouldn't really recommend it for a first timer because its a blind reach and if you don't seat the bulb correctly it will not light up the road.