Gen III headlight replacement

It's fairly easy (relatively speaking) on a Gen III and the cost is not that bad - comparable to any other halogen headlamp.

Tom

 

Well, there's replacing the headlight housings, which probably DO cost $750, and then there's replacing the actual lamps that go inside.

Our 2010 with 41,000 miles just had a low beam (H11) lamp fail. The Sylvania "Silverlight" replacements are under $30 ($50 if you want the crazy xenon lamps) for the pair and can be replaced yourself, but...

Nothing is ever as easy as it seems. The owner's manual is less than perfectly clear on the procedure. As usual, there isn't much room for reaching under the lip of the fender.

DRIVER'S SIDE: pretty much as shown in the manual. Identify the failed lamp, twist counterclockwise and out it comes. The lamp just unplugs from the wire socket, but you have to press the locking tab. Replace the lamp (don't touch the glass part!) and reinstall in the housing socket. It only goes in one way, from one position, so just gently turn it back and forth until you feel it seat. Turn about a quarter turn clockwise to tighten.

PASSENGER SIDE: THIS is the tricky one. Follow the manual instructions to remove the bolt that holds the air intake nozzle and pull it up out of the way. ALSO, I found it was a lot easier to make room by also removing the hose from the coolant overflow bottle, releasing the plastic clip that holds that hose against the front bulkhead, and pulling it out of the way. That makes a lot more room and only adds five minutes to the process. THEN: visually identify the lamp you want and carefully reach among all the steel brackets - they're kind of sharp. Twist counterclockwise and remove the lamp from the housing. Remove the lamp from the wire socket, but DON'T PUT THE NEW LAMP IN THE WIRE SOCKET. Instead, install the new lamp in the headlight housing AND THEN clip the wire onto the back of the lamp. The reason for this: installing the lamp requires that the wire connector be pointed toward the outboard side of the fender. The wire is not long enough to reach that far, and you won't be able to insert the tabs on the lamp into the socket.

Like most car makers, Toyota designed the Prius to be easily assembled - not necessarily easily maintained! Good luck!

 

Thank you! Once I realized that the cable was too short and that I should install the bulb before attaching it, everything was easy!

 

here's a video of removing the headlight bulbs.

 

Glad I ran across this thread as I was just reading that the HID headlights on the 06-10 models used to be 300 bucks each but since Toyota had so many failures they now go for 150.00 a piece. Good to know I can replace only the bulb now and each doesn't have its own ECU. With all my OCD googling I've been doing about the cost of repairs I was beginning to wonder if this purchase was a mistake. So much so that I have been researching third party hybrid specialty shops for repairs when the drive train warranty is up. Lucky for me my commute to work is less than 15 miles both ways so I may actually get the full 6 years out of it before the diminishing return on trade kicks in for the next generation if I buy another.

 

Thanks for the tip on installing and then connecting on the passenger side. I installed the bulb but apparently didn't secure it. Water got into the assembly. After it dried out I reinstalled it using your top.