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Headlights Burn Out

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by angelajf07, Dec 20, 2011.

  1. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    I don't know about prior years, but my 2013 has LED DRLs...and they look sweet (less power and long-life compared to running the main lights).
     
  2. PRIUS STAR SHIP

    PRIUS STAR SHIP Junior Member

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    Had the same issue, fixed problem by switching to LEDs.
     
  3. mike6721

    mike6721 Junior Member

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    Every since my OEM headlights burned out I am lucky to get 3 months out of my replacement headlights. I am very careful not to touch the bulbs and the wiring harness is not burned. I have a 2010 Prius.
    It is a tech problem. Has Toyota addressed this problem?
    Sincerely,
    Mike in Louisiana
     
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  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Yes, there is a service bulletin about it, referenced in the first post in this thread.

    There has been some study of the fix presented in the TSB, in another thread starting at this post.

    The gist of the fix is to slightly reduce the voltage that the car supplies to the headlight bulbs, which is too high and shortens the life of the bulbs. The voltage is reduced by splicing in extra wire to lengthen the run and drop the voltage by around half a volt. This has to be done carefully because the original wire may be aluminum, and careless splicing to aluminum wire can create worse problems.

    If you do not apply the fix, you may get some relief if you make a point of buying longer-life replacement bulbs, look for bulbs with a rated voltage higher than 12, even higher than 12.8 if you can find them.

    -Chap
     
    #44 ChapmanF, May 31, 2016
    Last edited: May 31, 2016
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  5. mmunroe

    mmunroe New Member

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    I replace one of the headlights every month. I have tried the most expensive H11 and the mid price H11 and it does not seem to make a difference. I have never had a car like this. This was not a problem with our 2005 Prius.
     
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  6. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    If you take a look at the post just before yours, you'll see the issue is known and there is a fix for it.

    -Chap
     
  7. DavidA

    DavidA Prius owner since July 2009

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    The 2010 level V you mention in your user data is spec'd with LED headlights. How is it that your car is equipped with H11 bulbs?
     
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  8. wrydere

    wrydere Junior Member

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    I have a 2010 Prius II and my bulbs burn out every couple months. Actually, sometimes I'll get lucky and go a year, but more and more often I'll end up with a "bad streak" where I have to replace both bulbs within days of each other, and they'll only last a couple weeks or 6 months tops, and then I have to start over.

    I'm far, far over any warranty and don't feel like having a dealership replace the wires in the TSB for lots of $$$.

    From what I understand, using LED bulbs might be a fix - for anyone who has replaced their H11 low-beams with LED bulbs - which bulbs did you get, and have you had good luck with them? I am looking at getting PIAA bulbs (part 17202 - H11) but would love to know if there's a specific bulb that works well for a 2010 Prius II. The voltage is rated up to 16v which I figure may help.
     
  9. wrydere

    wrydere Junior Member

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    Which LED's did you install? And since you posted this 1.5 years ago - are they still working well?
     
  10. Montgomery

    Montgomery Senior Member

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    You live close to the magnetic biosphereric electronic radiation space/time continuem.............. : )
     
  11. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    Actually, the problem with your light is the inefficient current transfer thought the Prius wiring and connector terminals.
    I went through the same problem in our 4 Prii since 2005. My solution was to replace the illumination with HID's kits from the " retrofit source "
     
  12. Montgomery

    Montgomery Senior Member

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    That would also explain how one side seems to burn out first. Closest side to the power line!!
     
  13. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    +1 on an HID kit. Been running a 35w AC ballast kit for over a year now with no issues. FYI, a dual relay HID harness was also used to get power from the fuse box auxiliary terminal, the oem factory headlight circuit is only being used to trigger the HID harness relays (very low current required, in the milliamp range).
     
  14. wrydere

    wrydere Junior Member

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    Thanks for the recommendations. I will look into an HID kit.

    I wasn't aware of The Retrofit Source, looks like a good supplier. They have these LED H11 replacements (can't post links yet but just google "H11: MORIMOTO 2STROKE") that seem pretty easy. Easier than HID maybe? I don't really want to bother with the aux terminal in the fuse box and all that, I like the idea of just plugging in a new bulb.

    If I end up trying them out I will post an update here. In the meantime I'm driving around with a spare set of bulbs and a socket wrench for the air intake bolt. :'(
     
  15. KeinoDoggy

    KeinoDoggy Member

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  16. wrydere

    wrydere Junior Member

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    @KeinoDoggy - well that certainly lays it out in simple terms. Annoying that it has come to a lawsuit, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who's been swapping out bulbs more frequently than I change the kitchen trash bags. :rolleyes:

    Also: I replaced the stock bulbs with that Morimoto LED kit, so far so good. It was easy to install. I feel like the new LED bulbs don't project as far down road as the stock halogens, but it could be my imagination or I'm just not used to the cooler color temperature yet... In any case I'd rather have two working headlights even if they are a tiny bit dimmer.

    I will try to remember to post updates every so often on how they are faring.
     
  17. hlunde

    hlunde Member

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    Variability in lifetime is interesting. I've only replace two headlight bulbs in 80,000 miles on my Gen3. One on each side as I recall.

    My complaint is not having the bulb-failure indicator work for the headlamps. I've been in a situation where I've turned my headlights on in the evening to drive home only to find one of the headlamps out. The bulb might have failed just as I turned the headlights on, but it also could have failed earlier, perhaps in the daylight when I was driving in the rain with headlamps on. An early warning would have been most helpful.
     
  18. hlunde

    hlunde Member

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    Clip below is from wiki, so consider it accordingly. But, the relationship between voltage and bulb life is rather remarkable. Implication is that the output voltage of the Prius DC/DC converter varies from vehicle to vehicle. I assume some conventional vehicles (alternator-supplied charging current) would also have this variability issue. But, perhaps, the large cranking battery provides some stabilization.

    upload_2017-1-7_12-16-49.png
     
  19. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The reference I had cited was Don Klipstein's light bulb page, where the exponent on voltage was 12 to 13, compared to the 16 figure in your Wikipedia citation, which seems to come from Fink and Beaty. Whether it's closer to the 12th power or the 16th, yes, overvoltage shortens lamp lifetime a lot.

    I don't follow your inference here. The TSB suggests certain vehicles will have the problem and others not, and as they correct it with a wire harness modification, there's at least some implication that vehicle-to-vehicle inconsistency in the construction of the wire harness may have been involved.

    The voltage in a single Prius can also vary from moment to moment, based on conditions such as the aux battery temperature sensor. These changes aren't at all as frequent or wide as those in conventional vehicles.

    In general, the 12-volt regulation (though it's more like 13.8 to 14.7) in a Prius is a lot more stable than in a conventional car (where you could often watch the lights dim at idle and brighten as you picked up RPM). The Prius DC/DC converter is an electronic regulator just like in your computers and consumer electronics (if bigger). When its output voltage does change, it is on purpose, such as reacting to battery temperature. Otherwise it tends to be rock-steady.

    The shelves at the Friendly Local Auto Parts Store are crowded with different variants of H11 headlights, many of which are advertised as much brighter than stock.

    That might explain some of the car-to-car (or even incident-to-incident) variation in lifetime. When I bought my Gen 3, both low beams were out. I pointed that out to the seller, and he acted totally surprised—then, later that day, started a PriusChat thread asking why they burn out so often, which someone answered with a link to the TSB, which was how I found out about it. :) So I had good reason to believe my car was going to have the problem, and I went ahead and ordered the wire harness extensions, and they've been sitting here next to my desk for several months waiting to be put in, and in all of that time I haven't lost a light yet.

    So I wonder whether the previous owner had been trying to use 'premium', extra-bright H11s, which make a much more aggressive tradeoff between output and longevity to start with, and combined with slight overvolting in the Prius, ending up with really short lifetimes. I've got just the Sylvania "BASIC" ones, and those have lasted the better part of a year now. Depending on how long they do last, I might not even bother doing the harness mods.

    -Chap
     
    #59 ChapmanF, Jan 7, 2017
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2017
  20. hlunde

    hlunde Member

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