Changing passenger side low beam problem

Did you first move the air intake out of the way as the repair manual shows? Access is difficult on that side otherwise.

-Chap

 

I find it's easier to install lamp first, then connect wiring.

 

This. Use a 10mm socket and remove the bolt holding the air intake hose, slide out the clip holding onto the bracket at the front, and bend the air intake hose out of the way. This will give you a lot more clearance.

Make sure that the bulb is seated properly, and it is straight. Check the beam pattern, if it's seated improperly, the beam will be very poor and the heat from the bulb can melt the plastic headlight housing.

 

Maybe too try a little silicon lube on the bayonet mount. Assuming you have a spray can, be real careful not to get on the bulb; maybe just spray a little in the cap, then apply with a tooth pick or q-tip.

 

Just a heads up. I changed both low beams with a higher intensity ones and they burned out quickly. I asked my mechanic about it because I thought I must have had a short in the wiring. Turns out the voltage has surging from the elec/gas motor switching back and forth and the solution is to use genuine OEM Toyota bulbs. That sucks! No wonder people were complaining these new bulbs were burning out so fast. We went with OEM and the problem went away.

 

Sounds like a load of bulltish (a nicer way of describing male bovine excrement) to me! If there were surges as your mechanic describes then lots of other parts would be failing or having strange issues. Sounds like cheap globes were bought and your mechanic wants to make $$$ from you. The OEM globes are good quality but no better than a reputable aftermarket brand

Simon

 

That explanation is indeed bulltish, but there is one grain of truth in it.

Prius voltages do not "surge" from "the elec/gas motor switching back and forth" or for any other reason. The Prius 12 volt supply comes from an electronically regulated DC/DC converter and is more stable than in conventional cars with engine-driven alternators.

However, certain 2010s and 2011s had some misengineered wiring that just delivered overly high voltage to the headlights (not surging, just high all the time). Headlight bulbs are designed for a voltage that really is right around 12 to 12.8, and on the tradeoff between 'bright' and 'long-lasting', headlights are already designed way out on the side of 'bright'. Overvolting them even slightly shortens their life drastically. Most cars (including Prius) have a system voltage closer to 14 when running, so part of the engineer's job when sizing the headlight wiring is to make sure it drops a good fraction of a volt so the bulbs run within spec.

Some 2010s and 2011s did not get that quite right, and there is a service bulletin about it, with a fix available. There's a part number orderable from Toyota that is simply an extra length of wire to splice into the headlight circuit on each side, dropping the voltage to spec.

A caution for anyone thinking of improvising: where the headlight wiring is aluminum, very specific procedures and materials are needed to safely splice it to copper. (Those who remember house electrical safety issues from the 1970s or so will remember this well.)

More about the TSB and fix in this post.

-Chap

 

Nope. It's legit because I used a high quality replacement that burned out and replaced it only to have another burn out so now it's working fine AND I have one of the highest rated indie mechanics around...a 30 min drive JUST to use this guy and he's as honest (more so) as they come. Nice try though ( =

 

I must have have misquoted him then. Mine is a 2011. Anyway the fix he found when he researched it was using Toyota bulbs. It worked. Now he has no affiliation with Toyota either. Thanks for the info ( =