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Problem with self-leveling HIDs

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Beacher, Jun 20, 2006.

  1. Beacher

    Beacher Member

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    It was a dark and stormy night.... It really was!

    Here's the story. The Prius is my wife's and she hardly lets me drive it. :angry: The other night, I did get to drive it and ran into a problem with HID's. I was in the country and it was very dark and raining. I was noticing that the HID were performing very well. I pulled into a parking spot that was on a sharp uphill incline. I stopped, set the emergency brake, and actuall observed the lights leveling - in other words I could see the sharp cutoff of the lights move down on the grassy slope in front of me - Cool! I got back in latter and drove off and immediately noticed that the lights were horrible, even on high beam. I could hardly see down the road at all. Since I was on a small rural road and it was about 1:30 a.m., I just stopped in the middle of the road and shut the car off. I immediately turned the car back on and wahlah!, I saw the headlights adjust back up into the appropriate position. I then continued on home with out further incident.

    Anybody else ever have a problem like this? We have the car scheduled to go in for the recall, so I'm going to have them check it out then. But, I'm wondering if they will believe me. Would there be any error codes that would show up? There weren't any trouble lights showing on the dash.
     
    #1 Beacher, Jun 20, 2006
  2. Beacher

    Beacher Member

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    Well, turns out I wasn't imaging this problem. The dealer checked it out and found a faulty sensor in the self-leveling module. All is well again now!
     
    #2 Beacher, Jun 25, 2006
  3. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    Thanks for the post, it's good to know the solution to that problem in case it happens. I really like the HIDs.
     
    #3 tumbleweed, Jun 25, 2006
  4. Beacher

    Beacher Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tumbleweed @ Jun 25 2006, 12:07 PM) [snapback]276477[/snapback]</div>
    Your Welcome! This thread didn't generate any discussion, but I figured I'd post the results in case anybody is doing a search in the future.
     
    #4 Beacher, Jun 26, 2006
  5. NoVaSnow

    NoVaSnow Member

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    I seem to recall someone reporting the same problem in another thread some time in the 2 months I've been here.
     
    #5 NoVaSnow, Jun 26, 2006
  6. naterprius

    naterprius Senior Member

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    Please add your location to your profile so that I can make an intelligent inference about the use of salt and its effect on the sensor.

    (Short version: Where does your car live?)

    Nate
     
    #6 naterprius, Jun 26, 2006
  7. DocVijay

    DocVijay Active Member

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    I've often wondered about this. I usually park in my garage, which is level, so no issue. But what about when I park in my driveway, which is sloped. I wondered if the HID's auto-aimed lower...
     
    #7 DocVijay, Jun 26, 2006
  8. Beacher

    Beacher Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ Jun 26 2006, 02:25 PM) [snapback]276871[/snapback]</div>
    Location added to profile - Southern Wisconsin, so salt could be an issue. However, I wasn't happy with the HID's when we first got the car. See this thread HID's all their cracked up to be?

    Now I'm wondering if this sensor wasn't bad from the beginning.
     
    #8 Beacher, Jun 26, 2006
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