My HID bulb replacement on my 06 prius

I replaced my HID last night since my driver light kept winking out. Once I replaced the bulbs with new ones the passenger started to wink out with the new bulbs and then on the way to the grocery store both went out - luckily I had fog lights or I would have been in trouble. Any ideas what could be the problem? Is it the computer circuit you think? It is strange because I never had the passenger light/or both until I changed the bulbs......

 

My 07 has had the passenger side blinking for about 1000 miles. (I am in the middle of a 7k trip right now) Tonight in a blinding rainstorm,, both headlights quit! We have been in Northern Canada and haven't come across a dealer. I am doing a quick finish back to the west cost,, and now I can't drive at night! The come on when you first turn them on, but fail without me knowing it until I stop!

It's the week end and I won't find a dealer between Grand Forks ND and Great Falls MT. Question is at ~40k is the dealer going to make good on this,, or am I going to get into a fight? Going forward,, have they cured the problem with these hid lights or should I be looking into alternatives when the warrantee expires?

Thanks,

Icarus

 

Thank you for this wonderful thread. My right HID bulb went out on my 06 around 75k miles. I got the usual talk about the extended warranty not covering bulbs. So the dealer charged me about $400 saying they needed to take the bumper off. 3k miles later the other bulb started to go out as well. Because of this wonderful thread, I've ordered a set of 6k temp bulbs from ebay. I'm looking forward to replacing just the one I'll try and take a picture of the lights if all goes well...

 

If you are changing to a different color temperature then you should change both bulbs or else the car will look funny with one yellowish bulb and one white/blue bulb.

 

I have an '04 Prius and have the same problems: winking out that is temporarily remedied by turning the lights off and back on again.

 

FYI, there's a posting at Luscious Garage about HID bulb replacement.

Luscious Garage | Blog | Prius HID D4R D2R Headlights

I plan on getting cooler bulbs once the stock ones burn out (Onex Brand D4R 6000K). However, I haven't done due diligence on these bulbs yet, so I can't vouch for them.

 

This appears to be a common problem, so it may be relevant to make the thread a sticky.

 

** Please excuse my thread jacking, I previously posted a reply here on the wrong thread and am correcting it now with the above quote. I also tried the method in this thread, but gave up and tried this method to replace both my HIDs and am very happy with it. Also please see the bottom of this reply for an inexpensive HID alternative for 2004-2005 models. This originally came from a thread called "Driver side HID lamp replacement" **

Thank you Bear68 for your description of how to "move over" part of the bumper to be able to move and get to the headlight casing easily. For me, your description and method was MUCH EASIER than the "go from behind and use a mirror" method.

For novices like myself, two of the three bolts to remove the headlight from step 4 could use an additional description. The three bolts(per headlight) look exactly the same, so if you remove one that doesn't match and isn't required to move the bumper-like I did-just put it back. And both the bumper bolts and the headlight bolts are 10mm. The headlight bolts have a finer thread.

The easy one is that first bolt at the top of the headlight, can be taken out at any time.

The second is after moving the bumper over from the tire sidewell. There's a bolt/screw just between the bumper separation near the outside lower edge of the headlight that's easy to see - that ISN'T it. Separate the bumper a little more and using a flashlight you'll see another bolt just below and slightly recessed from the obvious one. THAT'S the one to remove.

The third is near the inside lower edge of the headlight underneath the topmost fender edge and in-between an obvious plastic "screw" and the rubber circle with screw that is also used as the rubber that the hood falls onto(one on each side). Fit a flathead in-between and remove the plastic "screw" which is really a plastic clip. IF YOU CAN, use a good phillips screwdriver to remove the rubber circle with screw. On one side I was able to remove that one as well, and it was a breeze to remove the entire headlight casing. On the other side, I wasn't able to. So instead, bend back the fender(really bend/fold it) between the removed plastic clip and the STUCK rubber circle with screw and you can get that third headlight bolt removed. It will require more attention and wiggling to both remove and replace the headlight casing, but it still goes back together just fine.

Good luck and have fun, it all really does go back together well.

BTW, I paid $18.99 USD on EBay with free shipping to alanyes888([email protected]) for 2 HID bulbs 4300K, I asked for D2R 4300K and received D2C 4300K. It looks like the D2C has an additional notch to be plug-compatible with both the D2R and the D2S, otherwise the bulbs appears the same. The light output is much better than the 6 year old D2R bulbs that I removed with the same color (the 4300K part). In my garage the new bulbs' brightness and color look exactly as I remember the original HID lights on my 2004 in this same garage back in November of 2003. I am very happy with my $18.99 D2C bulbs(as in under $10 each) and the 4 hour do-it-yourself job. In the future, this will now take 15 minutes each side for me as well. Hopefully, the above notes will help someone else do this much more quickly than I did.

 

Hello,

I am currently shopping for used Prius and came across multiple postings regarding issues with HIDs. Should this be a real concern before I buy? I have one particular car in mind - 2006 with package 4 and 30K miles on it.
Based on what you wrote on how to replace HIDs, I hope there is way to avoid disastrous spending on fixing potential HID issues.
What are your suggestions and overall experience with Prius (mileage, safety, etc.)?
Appreciate any feedback I can get!

 

I had the intermittent HID problem on the driver's side.
Got pulled over by the local PD so finally want to the dealer about it. They said it would be 2hrs labor, about $300 total to replace. (bumper removal, etc.) I didn't have 2hours or $300 to burn so I came home and found this thread. Armed with the excellent info I gathered here I called Toyota Customer Experience the next day. The CSR listened to my story and said I would get a response within 24hrs. They did call back the next day and the CSR assigned to the case asked a few more questions, said they would make a determination in 48 hours. Thet called me like clockwork 2 days later and said they would pay to have the dealer fix it. THE DEALER CALLED ME within the next hour and we made the appointment to have it taken care of the next day.

Its all done!, no mess, no stress, no $$. Thanks to Prius Chat and an excellent highly professional response from Toyota Customer Experience.

I still love my PRIUS!

 

Are they STILL claiming it takes 2 hours AND bumper removal to replace the HID bulbs? IT IS NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See my album, look at windstring's prior posts. It is a bit of a tight fit, especially on the driver's side, and you can't see what you are doing, but you can replace both bulbs in about 10 minutes each. Well, at least the second time you mess about in there It still took me WAY less than 2 hours when I did mine and that included taking the pictures.

 

In spite of the 2 hour quote, my car was in the shop for about 45 minutes total......

don't know if they took the bumper off or not.