headlight replacement

2007 prius
touring package
50k miles

left hid bulb starting to act up. a couple times had to turn the headlights off and on again
to get them working. complained to nthsb website. called toyota. they didnt seem to want to budge on the headlight. haven't taken car to dealer yet. feel its a waste of time for me to drop the car off and go through the hassle if they cannot repeat it.

maybe the cold weather (37-45) is affecting the lights.

does not seem to happen when turning lights on with switch.

seems to happen when you turn on / start the car, with the headlight switch already on.
( leaving the light switch on, turning the car off, exiting through drivers door automatically turns off headlights)

 

That might be a real clue. Maybe a special relay in the door close circuit, is not resetting.

 

Our HID's have been working great for 108K miles. We have a 2005 prius package 6. Driving our 2000 Camry and or my 95 Dakota pick up at night is like driving blind. The HID's rule the night. I will always order them (if available) in new vehicles. (Wish us luck on ours as they approach 4 years and about 50 thousand miles of perfect operation. I figure half of my commute is in the early morning, so the lights are on.)

The car was built in June of 2005. Gen 2:rockon::mod:

 

yeah my post was probably confusing.

what i mean is that if you leave the lights on and then turn the car off and then exit through the drivers door, the lights will turn off. the very next time you power on the car, the car will automatically turn the headlights on. this is a feature.

the problem came up a couple times at 2am and 6am

when i walked up to the car, turned it on, and the headlight misfired.

if i walk up to the car, do not insert any keys or turn the car on in any way, and turn on the headlights, they fire fine.

 

I always "almost always" turn off my lights when I park because I don't want them to come on automatically the next day when its daylight and then have to turn them off.

I feel like restarts shorten thier life, so I avoid them.

I said that to say, I always turn on my lights manually with the switch and I had the problem.

The ballast either fires or it doesn't, I can't imagine that going through a switch or this relay verses another would have any bearing since the ballast controls the high voltage was well as stabilizing the low voltage.

I suppose its possible that the input voltage to the ballast could be low when routing a certain way.. causing the output voltage of the ballast to suffer, but I would be surprised.

 

If the HIDs fire before the inverter comes on line, they will be driven by a lower voltage from the 12V battery, instead of the nominal 14V bus, especially if the 12V battery is getting a little weak. I can envision a scenario where this could lead to HID striking problems. I don't know that it happens, but it is possible when the HIDs are left in the ON position.

Tom

 

INteresting.... although the bulbs usually don't go out till they have been on a while, that could explain why they need a second fireup to continue, then they are usually ok... repeated events such as this, may shorten their life...

I suppose new bulbs would survive the punishment for a continued time until they too finally started showing symptoms....

It would indeed be funny if the problem all along was how toyota rigged up the input voltage, rather than a fault of the bulb or ballast!

Seems that cars before 06 didn't seem to have this problem.. but I believe they used the D2R bulbs instead of the D4R... I don't know if thats the issue or not... but I heard the D4R bulbs were new starting 06 too.

 

Does any have a photo or a drawing that shows the location of a 2006 HID ECU?

 

There is one headlight light control ECU per lamp, and it's bolted to the bottom of the headlight assembly. There is also a headlight levelling ECU which is behind the glovebox, beyond the Engine Control Module and HV ECU.

You did not see this link.

 

Mike -

Thank you very much for the link. That is exactly what I was looking for!

 

I would be extremely interested to know if "anyone" simply replaces the ECU if that fixes the problem.
As some Toyota techs have claimed this to be the prob "headlights going out" based on releases from Toyota, I have been very skeptical since simply replacing the bulb seems to get things working again.

If its the ECU... why does replacing a bulb do anything at all?

The only logic I can see is if a bad ECU promotes premature failure in the bulb.. otherwise it makes no sense.
And if thats the case.. somehow I don't have much faith that they could actually definitively trace things well enough to determine that to be fact.

Gee.. I wonder why I don't have much faith you may ask?......

Put it this way.. this is the shortest thread on headlights I know about.. all the others are much longer that I"ve been following, and there is still confusion from Toyota as to how, or who, or what the cost should be to fix it.

Somehow I expect much more from Toyota who has accomplished the amazing feat of making the Prius hybrid and have all the serious components work so flawlessly to simply be taken down and frustrated now by a mere headlight problem.

 

I can see a failure mode where replacing the bulb or controller could "fix" the problem. I'm not saying this is the problem that people are having, but it is a possible failure mode:

Let's say the controller is a little weak in the voltage department, and barely supplies enough to keep the bulb working. As the bulb ages, it needs a little more voltage to maintain an arc. Lacking that, it goes out. Cycling the light switch causes the controller to strike again, a process where high voltage is applied to get the bulb going. This causes the bulb to light again, at least for awhile.

No we get to replacing the controller or bulb. Staying with the premise that the controller is a little weak, if we replace the controller with an improved model, this one may have enough voltage to keep the now older bulb working.

Taking the other approach, if we replace the bulb, the new bulb may be able to function with the weak voltage of the original controller.

It could work either way, or both ways.

Tom

 

Thats also been my suspicion Tom....
another is that the Chinese bulbs "off ebay" may actually function better or at least have a wider voltage tolerance causing them to be an excellent remedy.. at lease short term as we haven't tested them long enough yet to know the long haul story.

Also, a lower wattage bulb may accept given low voltages better and "appear" just as bright because its getting hit harder than the real voltage it was rated for... but as you know, the life expectancy is shortened as the price for such brightness.

At any rate, it may not be a matter of defective parts, as much as it is a matter of "parts that don't marriage together well"
If this is the case, it would explain why the manufacturers may argue that there is nothing wrong with their part and refuse to do a wholesale replacement or recall.
But that would force Toyota to admit an error and do a recall based on a miscalculation of compatible parts risking bad press to an audience thats only now warming up to the idea of this new technology of hybrid automobiles as being trustworthy.

I personally think its worse to avoid compensation to existing customers as they are most likely to be the repeat buyers and turn many others onto buying.

Whatever the case, its quite embarrassing to brag about how flawless the Prius works to a potential buyer, but then in the spirit of having to be honest say, "but there is a problem with the headlights!"

Simply driving the Prius is a banner that causes many to ask questions.
I try to avoid mentioning this headlight issue or oversight, but would be forced to if asked.
Especially in light of "me" being the one who had to fix it.

 

What are magnetic oil plugs? I see this on Windstrings' signature.

 

Oil plugs that have a magnet in them. The idea is to pick up filings that don't get caught by the filter. However, since the Prius has an aluminium engine block and head, there's not much magnetic material to wear in there. The connecting rods are steel.

Couldn't hurt to have magnetic oil plugs, but I don't think they're going to pick a great deal up.

 

I just filed a complaint with the NHTSA. I spend all day Friday at the dealer haggling with them over the price of just one of my headlights.

I have a 2005 Toyota Prius (Pkg 6) with appr. 18,000 miles. About a month ago, by driver's side headlight started to go out (going off and on) until it finally went out completely. I took the vehicle into the dealer on Friday, who told me I would have to spend $358 (parts and labor) for just the one headlight. After an all day haggling with the service rep at the dealer and the Toyota sales rep, Toyota agreed to pay for the replacement of both headlights with me paying for the labor of the replacement. The total cost to me for the labor was $201.76. If Toyota hadn't agreed to pay for the replacement of the bulbs, I would have been out of pocket $716.14 (parts and labor). As it was, I still had to pay $201.76 for the labor. I can't believe these lights cost this much and I also don't think a vehicle with just 18K miles on it should have to have it's headlights replaced. I also understand from talking to the service rep that this happens in even much younger Prius'. Thanks for the tip on a complaint with the NHTSA, maybe if enough of us complain they will do a recall and others won't have to shell out a dime.

 

It doesn't take much to be a great deal.... its almost like its particles too small for the filter.. but every time I change my oil, I can wipe the magnet off with my finger and its like grey metallic car paint is removed to my finger. Its not even the same color as the oil.. which is more black.
Definitely a tad bit of sludge to it.. and for as cheap as they are... I will always have them....
anyway.... :focus:

 

Hi Java,

As much as I am disturbed that your headlights went out on your car and you had to pay money to have them replaced, please take something into consideration in the future. You have a 2005 Prius. It is and will always be one of the best values for your money. I understand your frustration about it going out with your vehicle only having 18k miles on it. When judging vehicles, please understand that the age of the vehicle has just as much if not more to do with things going wrong than the mileage that is on it. There is a reason that your oil change intervals for example are 5k miles or 6 months. It is just as harsh to drive too little in a car than it is to drive too much. Parts on the car deteriorate regardless of whether they are driven or not. I hope in the future you take this into consideration and get out there and enjoy your prius on some road trips You will end up enjoying it and your car will love you for it.

 

it's only on the Touring models basic and basic with package's is cheaper about $30 each

 

This post doesn't make any sense to me. Are you trying to say that some models have halogen headlamps, which are about $30 each? Please be advised that HID headlamps came with many Prius models, not just the Touring model.

Tom