New to forum, hope this gets to the right people.

Going "on and off", slow flickering, or ignition failure is the sign of a dead bulb. Let me repeat that, a bulb. Unlike halogens where the failure sign of the bulb is it just doesn't make light anymore because the filament has burned away, fell off, or other reasons like the gas is gone, HID lights fail slowly and you have the signs of failure.

Solution: Buy a new bulb.

Headlights are not covered under warranties.

The "poorly designed" replacement procedure is: Take out old bulb, put in new bulb. To do this, you either need small and dexterous hands (which we know the majority of american mechanics have ... not!) or to drop the bumper out of the way and shimmy the headlight house out to make more space.

I can get my hand in there and get the bulb in and out just fine. However I cannot see what I am doing, I have to feel what I am doing. Dropping the bumper takes 5-10 minutes.

Here is how to change it with skill:

Here is how to change it by removing the bumper:

Parts cost is normal for a HID bulb. $50 for a pair if you shop online, $100 to $300 a pair intown. And do replace them as a pair. If you pay the dealership to change a lightbulb, you will be charged a minimum of 1 hour at most places because "they don't do fractional hours worth of work".

Do not cheap out on bulbs if buying online. Know what you are doing and read here: http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...n/101472-not-all-hid-bulbs-created-equal.html

 

Also, in the future, try to post in the proper forum. This one is for the online store. For a question like yours you want to post in the Gen II main forum.

Welcome to PC!

Tom