My HID bulb replacement on my 06 prius

Hello everyone,

I had the infamous intermitent problem with my right HID on my '06 Prius, the dealer changed the left one about a year ago under warranty but they don't want to cover the right one now.

I bought two bulbs on eBay (about $70 total) and followed Windstrings' tutorial and everything went fine ... well until I turned them on !

For some strange reasons both headlights come on as soon as turn the switch, but they go out within about 3-5 minutes, both sides! If I just flash the high beams or turn them off then back on, they're back on for another five minutes.

Any ideas what the problem is? What's weird is that the left headlight was working fine before the swap, since the dealer changed it. I decided to change both sides to ensure HID temperature match, I got 6Ks.

Thanks !

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I have a 2006, Package #6 with OEM HID. The bulbs I bought on eBay were advertised as "Xenon HID D4C D4R 6K Headlights Bulbs 06-09 07 08 Prius". They shipped me D4C instead of the D4R, which they claim is the same thing.

I just put back my OEM bulbs and it seems to be ok now, both sides. I guess I maybe got faulty bulbs. I emailed the seller, waiting for a reply.

 

I thought this was a decent overview of one way to do this job.

 

Thanks for the details on how to replace the bulbs.

I cheated and had the school auto shop where my wife teaches replace the bulbs. sadly the new bulb is acting the same as the old bulb on the passenger side. The warmer the day the more likely it is to fail. I am suspecting the ballast. So I have purchased a new ballast. Has anyone posted a how to on how to replace the ballast?

Thanks.

(Oh detail 2005, 141,000 miles, bulb/ballast went at ~135,000 miles)

 

Philips D2R 85126 HID Xenon off of ebay (genuinexenon).

Time to go figure out how the ballast install works.

 

Motion sickness from the video!!! Ohhhhhh

 

Ok i ordered Philips Diamond Vision H4 5000K Xenon/HID effect - and it seems these are NOT the correct bulbs i need ... come to think of it i should have added pics of the standard bulb and the bulb i finally got in the mail .. i forgot the post i saw these on thats why i got these ... am i the only jackass who f'd up???

 

my bulb looks at the end very round and has two wire clips holding the bulb in place i had a pic somewhere i found online somewhere .. im discussing with powerbulbs how to get the correct bulbs HOLY doody ... i just googled the bulbs first website said $229 a pair .... WOW is that right????

 

windstrings you my friend are a GOD !!!! i followed your directions to the "T" .. and now i can say my headlights are ROCKIN a set of 8000k tinted blue headlights !!!!

thank YOU

 

After reading the wonderful directions here, I attempted to change the bulbs without removing the bumper fascia. Alas, my hands are simply too large to make it practical, so I was left with paying someone, or removing the fascia. A local mechanic wanted about $300 in labor, and the dealer quoted me $570 in labor. Highway robbery! Also, Kragen wanted $87 per bulb, and Winchester auto had only a single bulb at $79.

I went on-line to IntenseHID.com and bought a pair of 6K D2S/D2R bulbs from them for $50 for a PAIR, shipping included! Initially I ordered the wrong bulbs, but my comment that they were for a 2005 Prius HID replacement allowed Steve in their sales department to correct the error pre-shipment. I had the bulbs in three days. I can't recommend the guys highly enough. Note that the D4C/D4R bulbs used in the 2006 and later Prius models go for $90 a pair on Intense HID.

The 6k bulbs are much brighter than my factory HIDs and give off a very slightly blue hued white light. The lights are so bright my fog lamps are pretty much superfluous. These bulbs are rated at 35W. The factory bulbs appear to be rated at 40W. I'll post here again should the bulbs fail at any time in the next few years. They come with a 1 year warranty from Intense HID.

There are a few directions about on how to remove the bumper fascia, but none for the 2005 model, and it's apparently slightly different from the 2006. In addition to the 8 obvious screw/clip combos under the front bumper, there are two more, one on each side, that require pushing back the liner on the forward part of the front wheel wells to unscrew them. There are also 5 screws behind the plastic "pan" which is about 8" back of the first set of screws, and these are angled forward and out of sight. You actually have to feel for them. An extended 10mm socket wrench head took care of all of the underside screws. The 7 clips, 2 screws, and 2 bumpers on the liner and fascia at the front under the hood are fairly obvious. Once all are removed, you need to gently disengage the fascia by wriggling it out of the hooks just in front of the front tires, where the seam between the fascia and the body molding is visible.

Once removed, the headlight assemblies can be removed with the 10mm socket by removing the screws at the 3 corners of the assemblies. At that point, following the above instructions (from the OP) is very easy, as it's not hard to get enough torque to remove the cover once you have some room to get a good grip.

Putting the plastic pieces under the fascia back into their proper clips and getting the screws all back in the right holes was the most challenging part of the whole operation and took about 50% of the total 90 minutes I spent. Actually changing the bulbs took less than 5 minutes, including removing and replacing the headlight assemblies.

Many thanks for all the comments here. They were VERY helpful.

 

szaijan, I had a similar experience with my 2007. I found the D4 bulbs on Ebay for about $60 a pair. I found I had to remove the bumber which took quite a while to do. The buld replacement was relatively easy after that. Getting the bumber back on took two people and almost put my marriage in jeapordy. However, all appears to be fine.

Just a word of warning, I ordered 6K color temp bulbs but the company shipped me 8K ones. They are OK but really too blue for my taste. It really makes a big difference.

This is a 3 beer job and a second helper is very useful.

Steve