2007 Prius: $2,215 to replace the headlights

Toyota calls the power supply a "ballast".

 

Well there you go You had it in the budget so it's done deal and you've got $2,000 worth of new lights tada not around here but Lawdy.

 

Comes to mind.

 

Believe me, the majority of repairs on a Prius have nothing to do with the hybrid system. Finding a reasonable local mechanic is the only way it makes sense to keep an 18 year old car of any kind or drivetrain.

Earthling (Lucious) is a hybrid specialist and they get dealer rates. The only plus with them is they "might'" consider installing aftermarket parts.

There is a strong (overwhelming?) bias to diy on this forum. Some don't understand there are people who can afford to pay a mechanic and they may well make far more doing what they know rather than playing mechanic.

 

You just look at reviews and ask neighbors. An effective strategy is start with oil changes and simple things like head and tail lights. See if their shop is clean and organized and if you can talk to and understand the mechanic.

If the shop has a backlog that is a good sign for expertise and value.

Any normal shop "improvises" alternate solutions to be cost effective and to serve their customer.

There are a lot of decent shops. If we were talking hybrid battery, inverter or brake by wire on a Prius, yes, the dealer or Earthling or recommended others.

 

If you don't have a good, local mechanic, get the NextDoor app on your phone and then do a search for good car mechanic or start a new post asking who's the best to bring your Prius to.
I've done this looking for good electricians and for appliance repair and have had great results.

 

at least she got a 2k blaster on a Prius (a nice feature).. for 2k I could find a used high mileage Prius on MarketPlace

 

My personal opinion only..............The dealership is charging so much because they are tired of dealing with you. You don't listen. We keep telling you the HID headlight system on a Gen 2 Prius has only a bulb and a ballast assembly that is attached to the headlight body. No additional high voltage power supply. Each piece can be purchased separately or as a complete assembly. I'd be willing to bet you don't listen to the dealer either. The price they gave you is the "I don't want to deal with you any more price, but if you're dumb enough to pay this much, we'll do it". It happens in Industry all the time when someone is asked to bid a job they really don't want to do because of the job, or because of the person wanting the job to be done.

If you still insist there are additional parts, please look up a ballast for fluorescent shop light. It will look amazingly similar to the ballast on this headlight.

These headlight assemblies are available from ToyotaPartsDeal.com for ~$310 each.
For example, the driverside is Toyota #81185-47170 and passenger is 81145-47170
If you look at the 5 photos shown on the website for the driverside part number, it clearly shows the ballast module mounted on it.

 

Not sure that makes the point you think it does. My first thought on reading it was to wonder why an EE wouldn't have changed these items themself. (Not that there are not plenty of good reasons to explain that. The first three reasons that came to mind were: disability, no space to work on the vehicle, and too busy.) Coincidentally, my next door neighbor also has a BSEE from Cal Poly, and it would be a very cold day in hell before he paid $2K for somebody to change small electrical components on one of his cars.

This "hid blaster" business made me curious, so after some searching, a few uses like that were found in India, Pakistan, and China. In those uses it appears to be misuse of a similar sounding English word for "ballast", which is likely what happened at the dealer. Odd that it made it all the way back to the customer though, through the service manager, since there won't be any "blaster" in the parts catalog and presumably the work order would have said "replace ballast".

 

Thank you for the post. Now we all know exactly why they're giving you the high price. You're a self important know it all and they don't want to deal with you! Perfect. Believe what you want, but you proved my post through your own writing.