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Bizarre headlight issue

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by accordingly, Nov 26, 2013.

  1. accordingly

    accordingly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2009
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    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Late last night as I was puling up to park in front of a dark restaurant, I turned off my headlights so I would not blind the people inside. This is a 2010 Prius III.

    When I left and tried to turn them back on, only the drivers side parking light (the small white one above the headlight) and side marker light worked. Passenger side nothing works, however on both sides the high beams do work.

    I just checked a bunch of fuses, and nothing seems blown. I also replaced the drives side headlight, but it remained dead. (Both headlights were replaced about 10k ago on a 45k mile car without incident- I used nitrile gloves etc.)

    It seems odd that both headlights, and the passenger side parking and side marker all would fail at the exact same time. It also seems odd a brand new headlight would not work on the passenger side.

    I'm all out of ideas, and of course I was going to drive for several hours tomorrow night for Thanksgiving. Hopefully I won't have to rent a car. Any insight or further troubleshooting advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
     
    #1 accordingly, Nov 26, 2013
  2. accordingly

    accordingly Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2009
    268
    63
    0
    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Well, I took it to the dealer and they apparently took the bumper off to change the headlights and charged me $300. I don't see how it is possible that 4 bulbs burned out simultaneously, and 2 of them being headlights less than 6 months old, but they all work now so there you go. I'm pretty mad about the labor charge, the correct 2 second procedure is in the owners manual.
     
    #2 accordingly, Dec 4, 2013
  3. -1-

    -1- Don

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2013
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    434
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    Location:
    Chester, Virginia
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Advanced
    :confused:No way. Not to say the dealer didn't remove the front bumper cover and replace the lights you mentioned, and then found a common sense solution and were too embarrassed to admit.
     
    #3 -1-, Dec 4, 2013
  4. lizardskin

    lizardskin Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2013
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    Location:
    Northeast USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II

    Whaaaat? I am a total newbie with auto maintenance and with a youtube vdo, I replaced my headlight in about 2 minutes (literally). OK I searched (hours) and watched about 10 vdos to learn how to do this. I couldn't believe how easy this was. So if your dealer didn't know how to do this properly without removing the bumper (???!!!??), I'd say, "find another dealer" (or learn how to do this yourself ;). )
     
    #4 lizardskin, Dec 24, 2013
  5. lizardskin

    lizardskin Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2013
    26
    5
    0
    Location:
    Northeast USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    oh and BTW, I'd dispute the $300 labor charge. Show them the vdo and then ask them how they can justify asking $300 for literally, 2 minutes of labor. (Ok - more for the passenger side light but still....)
     
    #5 lizardskin, Dec 24, 2013
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