How To: Change Headlamp / Headlight bulb

Great! Well in the meantime, I ordered up three pair of Silver Start Ultras. 2x 9006 (low beam for Rav4EV and Prius fogs) plus high beam of the Rav4EV. I'm looking forward to at least everything being better than stock! And this should make the color tint of the fogs match the HIDs a bit better than the yellow that the car comes with. Not that I'm a slave to fashion, but I want my kiddie room nightlights to match, dang it!

 

Help,

I own a 2002 Prius (bought in Nov 2002) still doing well at 90000+ miles but it has DRL and incredibly weak factory bulbs. We moved to Washington state (rain/fog long nights etc..) and I desperately need to increase the headlights light output (they are adjusted well - not out of alignment). 1. I cannot find the link for the: "how to change the headlight bulb" vidoes/photos. 2. anyone care to recommend a brighter bulb - I saw a Xenon HID combo headlight bulb on Overstock.com for $23 - would that give me 25% more light ? If recommended I will go fo the higher priced bulbs.

In my younger days I did a fair bit of work as a mechanic - any special tools needed to change the bulbs ?

deros68 - at - yahoo.com

 

Make sure you have HID and not Halogens?

Im not familiar with 2002, but I thought HID started in 2003, but I could be mistaken.

 

Good to know HTMLspinnr, So Deros68, you might try some of Tideland Prius's suggestions.... Me personally, I think the Silverstars would be nice if the budget is ok...

And Welcome to the Forum!

 

Re: How To: Change Halogen Headlamp / Headlight bulb

Thanks again usbseawolf for your great written instructions, photos and videos (and thanks again to Tideland who first wrote the written instructions).

I just wanted to point out that the video for removing the fuse box cover shows you releasing the two slots/tabs in the rear of the fuse box cover first. But I don't think that's necessary as those are retention tabs, not release tabs, so there is no need to release them first (in fact, you probably shouldn't release them first the way it's shown in the video because doing so unnecessarily risks breaking them):



Instead, just press hard on the square push-release tab at the front of the fuse box cover (as mentioned in the written instructions and as shown on the video), and then lift the cover up and off the two slots/tabs in the rear:





When it's time to put the cover back on, you reverse the procedure, i.e., first you hook those two slots in the rear of the fuse box cover around the two tabs in the rear of the fuse box, and then you press down on the front of the fuse box cover until the front release tab (clasp) clicks into place.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: This info is also useful for jump starting your Prius. If you ever have to jump start your Prius, you'll need to remove the fuse box cover in order to access the positive (+) connection point underneath that red flap door which you can see in the above picture.

 

No, my Philips X-Treme Power headlights are still good. But I only drive about 3000 miles a year. My total mileage last Saturday after more than 2 years of driving was only 6800 miles (which included a 1200 mile roadtrip).

Rather, I was preparing to lend my ex-wife the Prius for a month or two, so I wanted to be able to tell her exactly how to safely jump start the battery.

This of course led me to trying to find that positive connection point in the fuse box, which led me to trying to find out how to open the fuse box cover, which led me to your extremely helpful video.

Before finding your video and one poster's post about the front release tab, I had spent a couple of hours looking for info about and trying to figure out how to open that darned cover.

 

My right and left HID headlight would turn off by themselves, one at a time or both at the same time, however, if I turned the light switch off then on again the headlight would turn back on.

After getting stopped too many times by the State Police & NYC cops; I went to the Bronx Toyota Service and I was told it was going to cost me $400 to replace one bulbs, and $367 for the ballast, for a total of $1000 with labor. It also cost me $95 for his tech to tell me this.

If I was going to replace both headlights it was going to cost $2000. Gee, and just think I spent $95 plus tax to find this out. I told the service manager my bulbs work so why are they going to replace them. He said he was going to check with Toyota on Monday since I was spending my money for the repair.

It looks like I might be replacing my bulb myself. 2004 Silver, 136,000 miles.
I wasn't worried about getting a ticket because my insurance covers me for moving violations.

 

Well Alan, I never found anything about insurance on that link you left but if you have read this thread at all, there are many options besides getting screwed.
Maybe we all need insurance for that!

 

young frankenstine was on the other day . sliver streak on tonight and the Man from tx might haved save me several $, foung the post with pics and vids here now off to ebay and find the right bulb thanks frank

 

See if t his link works for you.
eBay Motors: NEW 4300K HID 35W Xenon OEM Replacement Bulbs D4R (item 270364426888 end time Apr-24-09 22:33:53 PDT)

If not, go here.

 

Hey ALL - be warned - on the 2002 model (classic model ?) the headlights are not at all like what I see in the posts to this thread. I originally was told ( by a Toyota dealer ) that I would have to remove (or mostly remove ) the front plastic skirt to change the headlight bulbs. Having spent 3 hours trying that I finally gave up and will be taking the car into a good local non-Toyota repair shop to get the bulbs changed. As it turns out you do have to remove the front plastic skirt to get to the 3rd of three bolts that let you gain access to change the headlight bulbs. I still like my little Prius but I must say that maintenance on it is very difficult when compared with non hybrid cars. Considering the complexity of the HYBRID powertrain it seems that packing all that into a light weight efficient car makes simple maintenance more difficult. Peering into tightly packed mechanical areas reminds me of the often convoluted efforts it took to maintain an F-4 Phantom ( in the late 1960s)

thanks