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headlight globes

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by kire naumovski, Oct 18, 2022.

  1. kire naumovski

    kire naumovski Junior Member

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    hi all, first time poster from australia. last year i bought a 2012 prius. in the 1 year i have owned it, 3 sets of headlight globes (H11) always seem to pop. the weird thing thing is they randomly pop the moment i turn on the lights with the headlight/turn signal switch. they have never popped while in motion. the high beams always work. its always the low beams that pop. has there been or is there a successful solution to this?
     
  2. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    What type of bulbs are you using? Within any common brand, standard ones last longer than the pricier extra-bright ones.

    There was a solution discussed several years ago on this forum in detail. For afflicted cars, Toyota offered a wiring modification that amounted to adding resistance to the low-beam circuit.
     
  3. kire naumovski

    kire naumovski Junior Member

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    philips is the brand
     
  4. kire naumovski

    kire naumovski Junior Member

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    i rang my local toyota, they said they use a brand called kenzo or kenso? i also rang a local auto electrician and he said that i may be getting overcharge. never knew that was a thing. he also said that if i still pop those globes then i should try an led upgrade
     
  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    In the US, there were around 390,000 2010s and 2011s that would quickly eat low beam bulbs, because of a wiring harness that does not drop the system voltage quite enough before delivering it to the bulbs.

    I don't know how or whether that connects at all to a 2012 in Australia, but more information about it is here, anyway, including about the fix Toyota offered for the affected cars.
     
  6. tak1313

    tak1313 Member

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    The TSB referred above was TSB 0204-12, but as also stated, was only intended to cover certain 2010-2011 models. The fix, at least for those, was pretty straight forward and basically equated to adding a length of wire to SLIGHTLY increase the total resistance inline with the bulb, thereby SLIGHTLY reducing the voltage delivered to the bulb. The slight reduction in voltage was apparently just enough to stop the bulbs from blowing.

    If this is your problem, you can get short "extension" cables that may have enough resistance to drop the voltage enough to reduce/eliminate the problem. It's not a drastic drop, since the TSB uses a wire of only a few feet. A short extension would likely give as much resistance since it would be going through two additional connectors (plus the short wire). YMMV though if it's enough added resistance.

    Another alternative would be to add a length of wire. The TSB has the tech removing the pin from the connector, using the wire, then splicing the original wire to the added wire via butt splice. I suppose you could accomplish the same without having to remove the pin from the connector, by splicing the additional wire length via butt splice on both ends into the original wire.
     
  7. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The wire harness you install (part number given in the TSB) is only a few feet long, but has the wire folded up inside to many times its length. It drops the supply at the bulb by around 0.55 volt.

    Although the warranty coverage has gone away to cover the cost, you can still pay a dealer to apply the fix, or still buy the prebuilt extension harness at the parts window and install it yourself (one each side). It's not very expensive, and it's well made; no need to fuss with trying to make up your own substitute.

    Installing it does require splicing a copper wire to an aluminum one. That can be a fire hazard (as many owners of homes in the 1970s found out) if the exact specified splicing materials and methods aren't used.

    More information here.