I am looking for a mechanic who can replace my 06 HID headlights inexpensively. I saw a YouTube video of a woman mechanic in San Francisco who replaced the HID headlights in about 5 minutes. I live in the Santa Cruz, CA area and Toyota of Santa Cruz quoted me about $200 for labor for 2 lights (I guess they take the front bumper off or at least charge for that). Santa Cruz, CA or Silicon Valley, CA mechanics would be fine. Can anyone recommend one who can do this work inexpensively? I already have the replacement HID bulbs. Thanks Dave
in s.f. you say? that might have been Luscious Garage. their webpage is their name. they do a lot of stuff there. it's a hybrid mechanic. i hope i have the name right....
I don't believe anybody could replace the lamps in 5 minutes on a 2006 Prius. I just did this yesterday. On the passenger side you can remove the WW tank and get to the lamp. On the driver side I couldn't figure out how to remove the fuse/relay box. And there are a lot of cables in the way. After working on the bumper for about 2 hours I figured out how everything comes apart. The bumper needs to be loose to access the lamps - no doubt about it. Next time should only take me 45 min or so as not everything I took apart actually needed to come off to access the lamps. Maybe if I have the time I can record the process and put it on youtube.
I just did this for the first time today. Ordered the lights on ebay -got the 4300's as I wanted a brighter bulb. Wow this was difficult, but not impossible (just seemed like it at the time) . I am a 50 yr old woman with medium hands. Husband just shook his head and went in the house. My problem areas: really hard to take off the black housing - that seal was super tight on both sides, and OMG- those wire clips. the passenger side at least kept in place while I figured out how to clip it back on, but the drivers side sprung off and I spent about 1 hour trying to get it back on and the bulb clipped tight. I removed the fuse box cover and the bottom blue and green fuses for better access. Total time - about 2 hours - bulbs cost about $6O for both, Toyota Dealer in Rancho Santa Margarita wanted about $650 to do both lights - they said the only way was to take off the bumper. HAH!! Next time I could do the passenger side in 15 minutes, and probably 30 mins for the drivers. I also was quoted $1300 by same dealer for a windshield replacement, I paid $240 including tax from Safelight and they came to my office and did the repair. Tired of being taken advantage of by Toyota.
Hi RobH- Have you used Luscious Garage in the past? Just curious who you used to replace your HID lamps - if you have had this service yet. I imagine Toyota of Sunnyvale is also asking around $200 for labor, but this is just a guess. Thanks Dave
Still on my first set. But I did just order some bulbs to have on hand. While I've never been to Luscious Garage, I have heard lots of good things about them. If you can manage the scheduling, you'd probably be money ahead to travel to SF to get the bulbs changed. Spend a few hundred dollars of the money you save by playing tourist while you're there... As for Toyota of Sunnyvale, they seem to be competent. I've bought stuff from their parts department, and the prices were about 25% over parts.com's list price. When I challenged the price, they quickly agreed to meet "the internet price". Barter is alive and well at the parts department.
It's interesting to contemplate how Toyota RSM might make more profit on Prius HID headlight replacement service, than on the sale of a new car. Now that you know how to do this, there may be a profit opportunity for you to help other Prius owners in south OC!
I also live in SOC and use RSM Toyota allot, but not for this or any major repairs they charge to much over all compared to other dealers too.. Thanks for the inspiration...
OP: Seriously - you can pull the bumper off yourself. It's not that hard - my mother can do it. I can get it off and back on in 40 minutes now (I've done it 3 times).
