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Both headlights out, not HID

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by seanazul, Aug 9, 2011.

  1. seanazul

    seanazul New Member

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    Hi guys.

    My wife has a 2006 with about 60K. She came home the other night saying that her low beams were out and she had to drive home with the high beams on.

    The next day I pulled the driver side headlight out and discovered the filaments were all okay. I put the light back in the fixture and turned the lights on and voila - everything was working. Put everything back together and checked again, everything was still okay.

    Last night she came home and said the same thing happened - no low beams. I went out and checked and sure enough, low beams are not working, high beams are okay.

    Any ideas?
     
    #1 seanazul, Aug 9, 2011
  2. gwalia

    gwalia New Member

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    I would start by doing a visual inspection and look for any loose wires. Check the fuse box and replace the fuse.( You have some extra in the box). It might be a relay issue.
     
    #2 gwalia, Aug 9, 2011
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Find the headlight dim (high beams/low beams) relay within the main relay/fuse box near the inverter, and tap it with the handle of a screwdriver when you find that the low beams are not working. If that causes the low beams to come on, then you'll know that you need to replace the relay.

    An alternate possibility is that the headlight dimmer switch on the steering column needs to be replaced.

    Each headlight filament has its own fuse (hence, four fuses total) so I doubt that a fuse is the problem if both low beams failed simultaneously.
     
    #3 Patrick Wong, Aug 9, 2011
  4. seanazul

    seanazul New Member

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    Thanks everyone.

    I borrowed a friend's relay for a few minutes to see if that was the problem and the lights still did not work. I can hear and feel the relay going on and off when I turn the switch inside so I know that's not the problem. I guess I'm going to break down and go see the dealer sometime this week.

    If you guys think of anything else, please let me know!

    Thanks again!

    Sean
     
    #4 seanazul, Aug 15, 2011
  5. seanazul

    seanazul New Member

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    Thanks everyone.

    I borrowed a friend's relay for a few minutes to see if that was the problem and the lights still did not work. I can hear and feel the relay going on and off when I turn the switch inside so I know that's not the problem. I guess I'm going to break down and go see the dealer sometime this week.

    If you guys think of anything else, please let me know!

    Thanks again!

    Sean
     
    #5 seanazul, Aug 15, 2011
  6. seanazul

    seanazul New Member

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    SOLVED!

    I decided to try one more thing before taking it to the dealer, so I stopped by Pep Boys last night and picked up 2 brand new bulbs and some dilectric grease. I removed the old bulbed and installed the new ones with plenty of grease on the contacts.

    Both lights are working again!

    Thanks again!

    Sean
     
    #6 seanazul, Aug 16, 2011
    Sezy likes this.
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