I want to 'upgrade' the factory-level headlamps on my 2003 Prius. Went to the local garage, they claim they have to remove the front bumper wrapper to get to the headlamps...want to charge me over $150 to do it. Nothing I've found on the 'net says that is the case, but I haven't asked the experts until now. Are they just trying to get out of doing it? Thanks!
It’s a little painful but I was able to get to them under the hood. You have to remove a few things and it will help to have small hands, which I don’t. If you start with the passenger side one and pay close attention to how it fits in the headlight bucket before you take it out you should be able to do both. If you are putting the high power ones with their own little fans on them you will have to leave off the rubber grommets. Btw the rubber grommets and the electrical plugs will be a pain to get off the first time, especially with the limited room you will have. And that’s why they want to do it the way that allows them to charge you for an hour and a half of labor!
Are you attempting to change the entire light assembly or just replace the bulbs with improved brilliance. The assembly can be removed by just slightly lowering the bumper on each side. I replaced the original bulbs with some higher output units and also used rubbing compound and cleaners to improve the lens quality. If you need and produce names etc just post and I will pass on info. Good Luck.
Thanks for the reply, and sorry it took so long to answer...the notification got dumped into my spam folder. I'm just trying to replace the bulbs themselves...do I need to mess with the bumper for that? Thanks!
Replaced ours with bulbs #9004-HB4. Helped quite a bit. You should be able to complete the exchange w/o lowering bumper. Although there is little area, you should be able to remove the rear cover, release clips and change bulbs. Good luck. Peace.
Changing the bulbs in the headlight is easy. And you don't need to remove the bumper at all. To find out how, just follow this elegant and finely crafted link. http://priuschat.com/wiki/gen-1-headlight-bulb-replacement-for-dummies/
