Headlight problem

[idiot post deleted]

 

We had a 2006 for 3 years ~ last Summer if it was WET out the right HID lamp would go out --- stop and "tap" the light-housing would make it come back on. SOLD the 2006 last month - - have for sale 2 HID bulbs that are yet new . . . never got around to install same. IF you
want same contact me emuprof AT yahoo DOT com
Cheers, PCV-III

 

Please register all defects so that a recall might be made! This is a serious problem!
safercar.gov website

Thank you!

 

It is customary for the dealer service dept to quote you 1/2 hour of labor time, because they don't want to waste their techs' time without receiving compensation if you bring your car in without a verifiable problem.

I suggest that you take a photo of the front of your car that shows one headlight on and the other off. This proves that you have a real problem.

The headlight aim issue may be related to the load sensor located at the rear axle rusting up.

As long as you can demonstrate a valid concern with the headlights, you should not have to worry about being out-of-pocket for the inspection charge.

 

I just can't believe Toyota. They KNOW there is a problem with these headlights and they make the consumers do all the work and hassle to get it resolved. I hated being behind someone and could see my headlights flickering and going on and off; or off and I had to turn the switch on and off... I am sure I ticked off a few drivers! Come on Toyota!!!!

 

I went to Toyota this past weekend and got them to look at my headlight and quote me for whatever they found.
They told me it was the bulb and quoted $168 for a new bulb and total with labor would be $267 because they
would have to take the bumper off. I'm now going to call back Toyota directly and give them quote and see what they say.

 

SAVE YOUR SELF HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS! I'm not joking! Our 2005 Prius (with over 180,000 miles), passenger side headlight went out over 2 years ago and we refused to pay the high price ($380 just for the bulb) of having it fixed. Toyota refused to work with us on the price saying 2006 and newer's bulbs were in the ballpark of $170, but 2005 and older were $380. Long story short, we had to buckle down and get it fixed (thankfully we never got a ticket!). I found this AMAZING website partsgeek this weekend and got the bulb for $53.00 (and delivered to our door in less than 24 hours after ordering)! No kidding! Thankfully my husband is handy and was able to install it (with some difficulty, but with the help of the owners manual and a small mirror). If you aren't handy, then buy the bulb anyway and take it to your mechanic to have it installed. It'll be WAY cheaper than going to the dealer where they're going to suck you dry for a gosh darn light bulb.

 

I performed the HID lamp replacement this evening. Purchased to D4R lamps from High Performance Bulbs. Fred was extremely helpful in getting me the right information for the 2007 touring model replacements.

6000K D4RHID lamps arrived tonight, four days after I placed the order. Took about 20 minutes to complete the two installs. Removed the fuse box cover on the drivers side. Undid one phillips pin on the plastic dam to get to the release for the pin holding the air intake nozzle in place. Removed the nozzle. Tight access on both sides, but doable without removing the bumper cover, entire dam, etc.

Thank you to everyone on this forum that posted directions and words of encouragement.

 

I will file the slot at the top of the bulb base assembly next time before the install. Too tight a fit that may have the bulb placement a little low in the headlamp assembly. I went back last night to make an adjustment and dropped the electrical connector inside the headlamp housing, out of reach. Ended up loosening and pushing back the bumper cover to get to 2 of the 3 screws that hold the assembly in place. Retreived the connector and put everything back together. Half hour process! Both lamps appear to be adjusted correctly now. Nice distribution of light ahead of the car without any focused concentrations of light. 6000K lamps put out a nice white light. :doh:

 

I have a 2006 Prius and had the problem at about 38,000 miles, so I changed the bulbs with Ebay bulbs and everything was fine. That was about 2 years ago and now I have the same problem. I ordered bulbs from Ebay as suggested by Windstring and one work and the other didn't, he sent a replacement and the new one worked but 2 days later the initial bulbs would flicker and go out. He sent another replacement and it arrived dead. I looked around Ebay and found someone selling German bulbs and bought a pair from him. It arrived yesterday, but packaged poorly and were rattling around in the plastic box. I installed them today and again flicker and go out after a couple of minutes.
So am I just getting bad/damaged bulbs or is there something else going on?

I would appreciate any input because this is going one for almost 2 months now. I've been stopped twice and gotten 1 ticket.

Thanks

 

So we go to our local Toyota Dealership in Enterprise, AL. to have the recall done on our 2008 Prius and to have the headlight that was out repaired at 7:15am today. At 4:45pm the recall was done but the headlight was not repaired, we do not believe that the repair was not even attempted. They stated that it would cost $183.00 for the headlight (bulb), $215.00 for the labor (2.5 hours), with tax of $45.75 (Enterprise sale tax is 8.5% [183.00+215.00x8.5%=33.83]????) for a total of $443.75 and that’s if it did not need computer sub-assembly for addition $304.35 plus tax! That at least $748.10 and whatever tax they feel like applying! Plus the dealership did not even have the part in stock!

 

Most people in large simply have a bad "or prematurely wore out" bulb.

For you to go through 3 bulbs from different sources seems to indicate you ballast may be giving you issues.

Are you having bulb issues on both sides or just one side?

My first guess is Toyota would recommend a ECU replacement... just guessing.

Another thought...... make sure you aren't touching the glass on the bulb at all... any oil will cause the light to not transmit pure and will cause the bulb to heat and die very quickly.

 

It's primarily the passenger side, but if I don't turn off and then on, the driver's side will eventually go out as well.

It was actually just 2 suppliers and the second one the bulbs were banging around in the mail. How fragile are the bulbs?

I try not to touch the bulbs at all and wipe them with a clean cotton cloth before installing them. I don't think that is the issue.

Is changing the ballast difficult or should I just give up and take it to Toyota?

Thanks for the help

 

There have also been discussions about neither being bad per se, but rather a mismatch between ballast and bulb.
What I mean is... if the ebay bulbs require less voltage, it makes sense they are happier with ballast toyota supplied if those ballast really put out marginal voltage for the current thirsty German bulbs and so those bulbs go out prematurely.

There was speculation that as a bulb ages it takes more voltage to fire it and to sustain the burn... meaning a ballast that marginally has the voltage needed for the given bulb will start to show failures of the bulb prematurely as the ballast just doesn't have the punch to sustain it once that bulb has aged.

I just said alot of mumbo jumbo that doesn't help you too much.. but what I"m saying is they could test the ballast and it show to be ok... test the bulb and it show to be ok.. put them together and they are not ok... "at least with the aged bulb".

Replacing a ballast is simple as many people do it, but on the other hand, its according to how comfortable you are doing such things.......
Since you've tried bulbs you may have toyota put things on their tests and see if the ECU is bad.

Since your symptoms are so atypical, you could go to all the trouble to replace ballasts and it still not work is what i'm saying.

I hate to see you grasping at straws when the straws are so expensive.

You were lucky to get "Two" replacements from Stillenmaxim... but then you tried another and still had problems.. so all bets are off as far as saying its a bulb issue.

But in most cases.. thats exactly the easy fix for most folks.. but your issue may be deeper.

I think all things considered.. if it were me.. I would see how much Toyota wanted to run some tests just to see what they say and how much it would cost....
For all we know you have a bad ground somewhere.

If the cost is ridiculous... buy a set of "matched" ballast and bulbs from a reputable company.... I myself would entertain the idea of going with a 50W setup if I"m gonna go to all the trouble to replace it myself anyway.

You could also ask around and see if there are any custom shops that do it in your area if that sounds like too much trouble.

 

I have exactly the same problem as described in the original post. My Prius is 2008, and I'm pretty upset that even with extended warranty this is not covered. If the quality is so poor, I'd rather have a conventional light system that costs me a fraction of this to replace!

Any idea if this has been raised thru the proper channels as a quality/safety issue?

I recently received a letter from Toyota that only explained the cost of the bulb has been reduced (from about $300 to about $150), but it was not accepting anything on the fact that there is any quality issues.Neither was there any comment on reducing or waving the labor on replacing the bulb.

Any help on how to escalate this as a quality issue would be appreciated.

Does this newsgroup provide any mechanism for initiating a campaign on quality/safety issues by leveraging its broad membership?

Thanks,
Riaz

 

I'm in the same boat as you, I replaced my first set after about 3 years what came out were the Phillips 4300 D4R. I replaced them with a set from EBay (Stillenmaxim) they lasted about a month, then 1 bulb started failing, so I hoped that it was just 1 bad bulb, so I reordered another set from Stillenmaxim, while waiting on delivery the other bulb started to fail, so when the set came in I replaced both. Its been a week and I have another failure of 1 bulb. However, this bulb looked like it had some lint on it, so I used a cloth to try and wipe it clean before installing it. The "lint" was apparently excess glue that was to hold the metallic strip that runs vertically along the glass part of the bulb, it didn't come off so I installed it.
So maybe even touching the glass with a cloth damages it.
I don't know but, I still can't see paying $150/bulb from Toyota or replacing it with a Phillips if all I am going to get for service life is 3 years.
I went to the "Stealership" to see what brand of bulb they are using now and where before it said Phillips D4R it now says Toyota with their part number. So if they changed manufacturer's, they are hiding that information.
I wonder if it would be possible to retro-grade back to standard halogen headlights.
While I explore this option, I guess I will be changing bulbs every time I change the oil.
Jez

 

The bulbs I got on ebay didn't work either.

 

Not sure.. I haven't investigated that.... you could always trade it in for a Gen III !.... I do love my Halogens on my Gen III, they are stinkin bright!

But anyway.... It should be a piece of cake to return the bulb for replacement if it has some glue stuff on it.

But wiping a bulb is ok as long as there is absolutely "no"
oil on it when done.

Acetone or even alcohol should suffice... not sure about windex etc.. that may be ok too. I think I may have used acetone and tissue paper on one I touched a bit.

This bulb issue has been going on since 2006 when the HID's came out... there may have been a handful of 05's too.. but there seems to be a marked percentage of failure issues.

Sorry if ebay bulbs aren't working... its been so long now, I have no idea if the lot has changed with stillenmaxum's bulbs or if its the same old issues of poor QA across the board.

There have been many who have done great with the ebay bulbs, but Its possible other issues are cropping up now.

I have a GenIII, but I do still have both of my GenII's and both of them are still going strong since my initial fix....

I obviously can't offer any guarantees, but only offer my experience of success along with others.

 

My right headlight would do exactly what yours is doing. I went to my personal mechanic and the Toyota dealership. Long story short: it does that when it is going out. The dealership had me pay $250 to replace an HID bulb that they referred to as "going out prematurely." I have a 2007 that I bought in Aug of that year. It hasnt even been 3 years and I replaced that bulb in Feb/Mar. Tonight, I found out the left bulb is doing the same thing. I am sick of paying for Toyota's faults. I have had other bad experiences with them. This is one Toyota owner that will NOT be a REPEAT owner.

 

Windstrings,
Thanks for all your help in the past, I will return my old bulbs back to stillenmaxum and maybe get some free replacements.

I am noticing that on the burned out bulbs where the vertical metallic strip runs along the glass, in the middle, where the heat is probably the greatest, it turns to an orange color as if the strip can not handle the heat generated at that point.
Right now I have made a complaint to the NHTSA about Toyota and ordered a original Phillips D4R replacement bulb. Hopefully, this and any replacements "stillenmaxum" sends me will get me by until Toyota is forced to admit to this problem.
I will be calling Toyota's Customer Care Number also. Our local TV News Channel likes to do stories about bad business practices so I am building ammunition for them to use if they care to run it.

October 2010 Update:
Well back in June I put a Phillips D4R on the driver's side and a ebay bulb on passenger's side. The passenger's side just died. So I'm guessing that the ebay bulb lasted around 5 months. The Phillips should last 2 years, at least thats what the originals did from the factory. If I can find this post again, I will report back when the Driver's side dies again.