How To: Change Headlamp / Headlight bulb

[darelldd]

Great! Well in the meantime, I ordered up three pair of Silver Start Ultras. 2x 9006 (low beam for Rav4EV and Prius fogs) plus high beam of the Rav4EV. I'm looking forward to at least everything being better than stock! And this should make the color tint of the fogs match the HIDs a bit better than the yellow that the car comes with. Not that I'm a slave to fashion, but I want my kiddie room nightlights to match, dang it!

[Tideland Prius]

Good. Let us know how they turn out! I've yet to hear back from an owner of SS Ultras.

[deros68]

Help,

I own a 2002 Prius (bought in Nov 2002) still doing well at 90000+ miles but it has DRL and incredibly weak factory bulbs. We moved to Washington state (rain/fog long nights etc..) and I desperately need to increase the headlights light output (they are adjusted well - not out of alignment). 1. I cannot find the link for the: "how to change the headlight bulb" vidoes/photos. 2. anyone care to recommend a brighter bulb - I saw a Xenon HID combo headlight bulb on Overstock.com for $23 - would that give me 25% more light ? If recommended I will go fo the higher priced bulbs.

In my younger days I did a fair bit of work as a mechanic - any special tools needed to change the bulbs ?

deros68 - at - yahoo.com

[windstrings]

Make sure you have HID and not Halogens?

Im not familiar with 2002, but I thought HID started in 2003, but I could be mistaken.

[Tideland Prius]

The bulbs are easy to change without tools. We've used Phillips X-Treme Power bulbs, Sylvania Silverstars and Phillips Vision Plus (they're all in this thread).

Summary:

Xtreme-Power: Very bright and uniform light and great value. Slightly whiter but not noticeable

Silverstars: Look extremely white, almost HID-like. Poor wet road illumination. Whiter light. Most expensive of the lot.

Vision Plus: Whiter than stock but less than Silverstars. Brighter than Silverstars but less. Seem like a good compromise


Just note that they all will have shorter lifespans than stock bulbs.

Also, check your 12V battery first. It might be the battery that's producing the poor light output.

[HTMLSpinnr]

Originally Posted by windstrings

Im not familiar with 2002, but I thought HID started in 2003, but I could be mistaken.

HID's started w/ the 2004 MY. 2001-2003 were Halogen only, w/ optional DRL (70% brightness on low beam).

[windstrings]

Good to know HTMLspinnr, So Deros68, you might try some of Tideland Prius's suggestions.... Me personally, I think the Silverstars would be nice if the budget is ok...

And Welcome to the Forum!

[Boo]

Originally Posted by usbseawolf2000

....17. Do the same for the driver's side. This one is a bit harder because access is tight. You can remove the fuse box cover if you wish. The top part of the cover comes off easily. The bottom part with a single clip needs a bit of force.

Video installation guide by usbseawolf2000 for the driver side:

1 - Remove the Relay/Fuse box cover. Disconnect the headlamp wire. Twist counter-clockwise (unscrew motion) to remove the rubber boot.

....

Thanks again usbseawolf for your great written instructions, photos and videos (and thanks again to Tideland who first wrote the written instructions).

I just wanted to point out that the video for removing the fuse box cover shows you releasing the two slots/tabs in the rear of the fuse box cover first. But I don't think that's necessary as those are retention tabs, not release tabs, so there is no need to release them first (in fact, you probably shouldn't release them first the way it's shown in the video because doing so unnecessarily risks breaking them):



Instead, just press hard on the square push-release tab at the front of the fuse box cover (as mentioned in the written instructions and as shown on the video), and then lift the cover up and off the two slots/tabs in the rear:





When it's time to put the cover back on, you reverse the procedure, i.e., first you hook those two slots in the rear of the fuse box cover around the two tabs in the rear of the fuse box, and then you press down on the front of the fuse box cover until the front release tab (clasp) clicks into place.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: This info is also useful for jump starting your Prius. If you ever have to jump start your Prius, you'll need to remove the fuse box cover in order to access the positive (+) connection point underneath that red flap door which you can see in the above picture.

[Tideland Prius]

Now I just have to figure out how to link your post or move your post to the first page.

Edit: Done. It's now linked from USB's post.

[usbseawolf2000]

Thanks Boo and TP for the kaizen contribution.

Boo, did you headlight go out? Just wondering if just happened to be playing around with the fuse box or if you had to change the bulb.

My Vision Plus are still going and it has been a year. I put on about 30k miles a year.