Headlights Burn Out

Folks,

I'm a newbie and need help on where I can find instructions on how to replace the headlights on my 2010 Prius. The drivers side low beam headlight is out after 70k miles. I got the stock equivalent (the one that has longer lifetime and less luminosity). I want to replace both sides so one doesn't seem brighter than the other. I looked online and on YouTube for videos but they are all for the 2nd gen models.

Any links or info is appreciated

BTW, this is my first post so HELLO EVERYONE

 

It is very important to make sure the bulbs are not installed at an angle, which is possible and they are firmly grounded in the twist mount. On the 2010+ if the bulb is mounted at an angle it can cause the plastic projector housing to over heat and warp. This is an expensive and time consuming mishap. I am speaking of the low beams in particular. Briefly turn on the lights after installing the bulbs and look into the projector lens to make sure the bulbs are pointed straight foreward.

 

Just to add my experience, my RIGHT bulb went out at about 38K miles. I replaced with Phillips (brighter than stock - from Advance auto parts store).

I had problems seating the right bulb since I had to remove the overflow tank and adjust the wiring harness to allow me to twist the bulb far enough counter-clockwise to get it into the seat before I could twist it clockwise into place. The left bulb did not burn out, but I always replace them in pairs (and since they were a brighter set.)

I am now at 40K.

 

My bulbs seem to go out every 6,000 miles or six months. I am on my fourth set (I have 25,000 miles on the car). I always replace them in pairs. I know not to touch the quartz bulbs and I clean them with a spray cleaner like 409 and then wipe it down with rubbing alcohol before installing them into the housing. The bulbs I have used are Philips and Sylvanias. I do drive to work in the night but come home in the day.

I calculate I have the lights on about 10-12 hours per month before they burn out. My prior 2003 VW Passat burned out one set of bulbs during the 100,000 miles I had the car.

 

That can not be normal. Have you had the electronics checked out?

 

To update, I have now lost the left headlight again. I guess the Phillips aren't going to give me additional bulb life... lessee, that's about 4,000 miles on a $50 pair of bulbs. I am just going to buy a couple pairs of cheap ones and keep them in the car. So tomorrow I am on to my 3rd set of headlight bulbs after 42K miles.

 

Our 2006 Prius has always consumed bulbs at an unusual rate. I think I've put in about 11 headlight bulbs and 5 other bulbs in 93Kmiles. This is about three times what I've found in any of our other cars in the last 20 years.

I thought about converting to HID's. Now that we have a 2012 with separate low and high beam bulbs, I will definitely do an HID conversion if it starts eating bulbs like the 2006 has.

 

I remember Acuras and Honda Accords of the late 90s used to eat up bulbs. Maybe the Prius caught that disease. lol

This is my first Prius with halogens and I hope I don't have the same issue. I lucked out in my 2005 and didn't have the HID issue of the 2006-2009 models.

 

I would hazard a guess that the wiring harness run to the left is measurably shorter than the right so that the left operates at a slightly higher voltage. Wikipedia article says that lifetime vs voltage relationship for a filament bulb is something like:

V(actual)/V(rated) to a negative power ranging from 12 to 16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamp_rerating

This might explain the lifetime difference.

I know that cars with dedicated DRL's drop the voltage during daytime use (headlight switch off). When the switch is turned on the dashboard illuminates and the lights got to full power.

 

Both my lights went out at the same time on my 2010 Prius. It has 49K miles on it and I keep the lights on all the time. I took it to the dealership and they replaced both lights. Two days later both lights are out again. Now I wonder if my original bulbs were fine and there is some kind of electrical problem.

Any thoughts??? How much might this cost me??

 

Maybe it's an electrical issue still under warranty. I would think if both new bulbs went out after 2 days from the dealership, they should look into it for free.

 

I have replaced both my left and right headlights 3 times each since January of this year. Prior to that I never had to touch them. 67,000 miles on the first bulbs (Iknow its hours that count but that still equates to a lot of hours.) Then 6 bulbs in 20,000 miles.

 

This happened to me. I was at the dealer for the recall service and asked them to fix the burned out headlight. They called me saying the bulb was put in incorrectly and the plastic had melted with no way to insert another bulb. They recommended a new headlight assembly, of course at a ridiculous price. Is it necessary to replace the whole assembly or can you just replace the harness?

 

You can actually buy the Toyota headlight assemblies on Amazon for much cheaper than ordering from the dealership:

81170-47520 Left Amazon.com: Genuine Toyota (81170-47520) Headlamp Assembly: Automotive
81130-47520 Right http://amzn.to/1qeBuqX

I had mine installed at an independent shop and it only took 30 minutes and $60. installation.

Let this be a warning to others, when replacing the bulbs, be sure the bulb is aligned properly as the plastic housing sits very close to the bulb base. If it's skewed at all, it can burn the inside of the housing. This happened to me also.

 

It's probably not the harness but the back of the headlight housing that melted, near or at the bulb socket itself.

The light output from an improperly mounted bulb would have been noticeably bad. Always confirm the beam pattern of the lights after removing and replacing bulbs.

You can try sourcing a replacement headlight assembly from a junkyard or ebay.

 

When mine burned, the light output was fine, but there was just a ground shadow. It was actually still usable but I decided to replace it anyway. Perhaps mine wasn't melted very much.

 

This occurred on our new 2011 when we had the car for only 2 days. The first time it was driven at night I was taking my granddaughter back to school, about 100 mi. round trip, on a very dark night being on the road with idiots driving 90 mph with blinding illegal lights. One of my low beams was dimmer than the other. The bulb was turned off axis, overheated and warped the plastic projector housing. The service manager replaced everything at no charge. I think this is a "risky" design asking for light failure. Also my wife was driving at night and both lights went out with 2 burned out bulbs. I wouldn't drive this car on the Pa. turnpike at night in bad weather etc. We mostly drive this car for local errands in which it serves its purpose.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

I think the problem is prius has no DRL or auto lights in USA. Thus , many people drive with light on all the time.
The "long life" halogen bulbs are good for 1,000 hrs and that translates to 20,000 miles city or 60,000 miles of hwy driving.
But if one uses a "performance" aftermarket bulb, the life could be as short as 200 hrs or 4,000 miles city or 12,000 miles of hwy driving.

 

Another contributing factor, which hasn't been brought up yet, is the Prius operates at a relatively high voltage level when in Ready mode.

Based on Scangauge readings, my Camry typically operates in the 13.4 to 13.8 volt range when running (conventional non-hybrid, alternator based electrical system). The Prius operates at 14.4v in Ready mode.

The higher voltage to the bulbs in the Prius has the advantage of burning noticeably brighter compared to the Camry, but should also result in shorter bulb life as well.