2008 Prius HID Headlight intermittent problem. Cheapest best bulb to buy?

Greg, did you buy the bulb quoted in your prior message? You need a D2R bulb since you have a 2004, such as Philips D2R 85126. You can switch sides with your bulbs to confirm/eliminate the ballast.

 

Oh no, I bought the wrong one . I didn't even think they would have changed the bulbs between years. I should have looked into more before ordering them. I guess I won't be able to return it since I have it installed.

It fits ok, you would think that they would have changed the connector between the 2 types.

I wonder how much it would cost to take the HID systems out and put in halogens based lights? These HID bulbs are so expensive and I don't even drive much at night.

Thanks, Greg

 

I think this bites a lot of people, the fact that D2R and D4R fit in the same base. The cost of new parts may be around $250-$300, as the lenses are different. Philips D2R are $45 each on Amazon right now, not so bad for the quality of light to drive with at night?

 

I had same problems with my bulbs. I was furious when they told me $1000 to replace two bulbs! I somehow got them to agree to reimburse me for it as a "free will" but i didn't have that kind of money to pay at that time and waiting for reimbursement three weeks was too much for me. Instead I just bought two Philips d2r on ebay for 80 and installed it myself. Took me at most half an hour. Since then I put another 100,000 miles on the car and they still work perfectly. And I drive a lot at night and keep them on for safety most of the time during the day. It's not worth to replace it with halogen. HID's last much longer and are much brighter and crisper. Why would anyone even think that? $40 for a bulb is not that much considering doing it once for a lifetime of the car, twice at most.

 

You can purchase replacement bulbs from DDM Tuning for $15/pr. (DR2). Well, once their shipping department is back on track.

 

That's a pretty good deal, even for generic HIDs. Shipping comes out to $12 for me.

 

The photo looks different, it shows 2 wires. I guess it's a generic photo
They have a 1 year warranty too. Are these of good quality? Why does the dealer and others charge so much more?

I stopped by our local Napa parts place and they want $75 for 1 D2R bulb made by Wagner. Only 30 day warranty.

I guess it would be best just to replace the bulbs vs the whole thing.

As a side note, our 2002 Highlander driver side light (halogen) went out, first time and over 80,000 miles. I just picked one up at Napa for $9 and it only took me 30 seconds to replace it vs about 1/2 hour for the Prius. Lots more room in the Highlander engine compartment.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Greg

 

It's a generic photo.

I installed a 5000k DR2 bulb on my passenger side and it was just as bright as the stock but it was more yellowish. I was told it should be bright white and not yellow but who knows. The 6000k bulbs I have in my foglights look and work fantastic. They are very bright white with no blue tint at all. I purchased them all from DDM. I have an extra set of 5000k bulbs I'd be willing to ship to a PC friend in need if they want to pay shipping. I accidentally purchased 2 sets because the price was so low.

 

Thanks, you should probably hold on to them. Lights don't last forever.

Thanks

 

True but my stock bulbs have never given me a problem in 128,000 miles so in some cases they last quite awhile. lol

 

I just called my dealer ,reminded them of the class action lawsuit, and they agreed to replace both my headlights for free. My Prius is an 06 and the 5 year mark is May 0f 11. I complained toToyota corporate after the dealer quoted 1000$ for labor, 2 lights, and a ballast. I said up yours and fixed them myself for 44$ and some labor. Big difference.

In my case after trying to remove the big covers and breaking the tabs off I decided to loosen the bumper. 4 screws on each fender well and 4 on the radiator filler panel and 3 on the headlights the headlight housings rotate up enough to change the lamps easily and the bumper needn't come off. You just pull out the top enough to get the headlight housing up. Loosening those 10 bolts or so took 30 minutes the first time. The second time I was rotating up the housings in under 10 minutes. IMHO the only way to go.

I bought a pair of 5000 K lamps off ebay for 44$ and so far all is good, but with the free replacement offer, I made an appointment and had them put back in the OEM new lamps and give me back my old ones off ebay.
-Paul R. Haller-

 

Is my 2004 covered under the lawsuit?

Thanks, Greg

 

ace, you are in a bit of a tough spot. A dealer probably will not automatically replace them for free. But the lawyers are encouraging people to submit repair bills even if they were over 50,000 miles. See http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-update-settlement-reached-6.html#post1325164. Perhaps your best bet is to either DIY with Amazon-bought bulbs or try one of the hybrid shops in Pasadena, and submit your receipts with a claim form.

 

I was only at 50.8K miles and about 2 months past the 5 year mark when my passenger side HID started winking out. My dealer wasn't willing to even bother trying to get it claimed w/Toyota. I ended up replacing that one myself.

I have one more bulb on hand as a spare to replace the driver's side HID when it starts winking out.

I'm going send it in that class action paperwork soon and see if I get anything.

 

Good news! re 2008 Prius HID Headlight problem - bulbs replaced at dealer

Just an FYI that my local Toyota dealer here in Scottsdale replaced both HID bulbs for free this morning. The paperwork showed a figure of $408(!), but they didn't charge me anything. Yesterday I did have to convince the Service Manager about the problem. At first he seemed to be unaware of the problem with the HID bulbs. He asked if I had been notified by Toyota or seen a recall on the Toyota website. Of course, there isn't one. But I did mention the paperwork I got from the court in California about the class action settlement. When I went in to the dealer today, I could tell they were not thrilled about it, but after some prompting the service tech admitted that they were not happy when parts don't work as they should. Everyone was actually very nice and I am so relieved that it has been fixed. I just got home and wanted to post this so that it may help another Gen2 Prius owner facing the same problem.
Additionally, the service tech said that the new bulbs are supposed to be better, but that leaving them on all the time could possibly make them wear out sooner. He didn't say that I couldn't turn them on during the day. He said he wouldn't really advise one way or the other.
'Hope this helps someone else. :cheer2:

 

Re: Good news! re 2008 Prius HID Headlight problem - bulbs replaced at dealer

Yep, if they failed or were flaky prior to the 5 year/50K mile mark per the class action lawsuit settlement, they should replace them for free for you. I was outside both of those marks when my passenger side HID started winking out.

If you want the bulbs to last longer, you absolutely shouldn't drive w/them on in the day. All bulbs have a limited power on lifespan in hours.

 

No. The 2004-2005 models used a different and more reliable bulb (D2R). A high mileage 2004-2005 should probably change theirs out anyway as you will lose lumens after 2000+hrs of use. Keep in mind that most Prius HIDs exhibit color shift after a few hundred hours of use so new bulbs may appear much more yellow at first but will shift to the whiter light after some use.

 

I had exactly the same issue, but both sides are winking sporadically. I've let this go for about 5 months. Finally deciding to do something about it... Ended up buying OEM replacements from Ebay - search for "2 NEW PHILIPS OEM D4R XenEco HID XENON BULBS 42406 PAIR (230448964784)" from akinaboy. Cheapest ones I could find whom I trusted.

Followed instructions from vids posted by lusciousgarage and jnet1.

Drivers side needed to pull bumper off (slightly) - search youtube "Pulling Prius Headlight Assembly in under 5 minutes". She makes is look easier than it is. She omitted showing removal of the 4 bumper screws at the bottom to allow the bumper more free play.

Passenger side, was able to just removed the air vent and squeeze my hand in to change without removing bumper or light assembly. - search youtube "How to change your Prius HID bulb in 10 minutes (part 1)"

Changing both took about an hour together. Add in time for putting it all back together!

Dealer quoted 150 for the lights. about $250 extra for labor. So I saved about $275.

Good luck.

 

My headlight just went out. I have 46 or 47K miles on my car. I noticed your post was over a year ago. How does this play out today? I appreciate your advice.

Janice