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Does '08 Prius require HID headlights? Dealer wanted $160 part/$21 install

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by jbirdawg, May 10, 2017.

  1. jbirdawg

    jbirdawg Junior Member

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    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Hope so. That's the most I ever paid for a headlight.

    Another thing I just red about today is the stretching bladder gas tank doesn't always allow the same amount of gas.....guess it isn't the biggest deal being in the south but it does get cold in Atlanta too. Just have to pay attention to the gas gauge and not what you expect mileage wise I assume.
     
  2. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Yes, there are some idiosyncrasies with these cars, but I love mine all the same. I've been told that letting it run out of gas is not something you ever want to do. I guess there is a temptation to try to make it to the gas station on battery power alone and that will do permanent damage to the traction battery. I always refill my tank when the gauge gets down to 2 blips. Also, overfilling the tank is not good. I believe it has something to do with gasoline leaking into the space between the bladder and the metal case and then damaging the components that are supposed to capture the fumes.
     
    jbirdawg and SFO like this.
  3. a_gray_prius

    a_gray_prius Rare Non-Old-Blowhard Priuschat Member

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    If you're comfortable with a 10mm socket, the bulb isn't hard to replace yourself. The instructions on how to remove the bumper are in a thread here and there are a few YouTube videos as well. You don't need to unscrew the undertray panel, but it might be good practice as it's kind of useful to know (because you have to do the same thing to replace fog light bulbs). It took me about 40 minutes to figure out the process the first time and now I can pull out the front bumper and the headlight in like 20 min. Philips D4R HID bulbs run about $50 from Amazon.

    Code:
    https://smile.amazon.com/Philips-Standard-Xenon-Headlight-Bulb/dp/B00480J4J6
    Funny story though - on a lark, I bought some HID bulbs off eBay and figured they were fake since I paid like $65 for a pair (there are a lot of fakes out there: Not all HID Bulbs are created equal | PriusChat). Had a bulb go out, and decided I was just going to buy a "real" Phillips replacement off Amazon (sold by Amazon!) instead of using the bulb I had since winter was coming on and I didn't want to have to pull the bumper in the cold in case the eBay one didn't last. That Amazon bulb died in like 5 months (IIRC, it was less than a year between install and dead bulb). Luckily, Phillips did warranty the bulb after a bit of arm twisting. However, by the time I got the warranty replacement, I had already installed the eBay bulb. That eBay bulb has been working perfectly for something like 3 years now (so it might have been a real one after all).

    tl;dr - bought some eBay HID bulbs (just in case), assumed they were fake. Had a bulb go bad, bought an authentic one off Amazon, had that go bad in months, used eBay bulb to replace and it has been good for the past 3-odd years.

    The fog light absolutely does not have to be done by the dealer - it is just light replacing any other automotive halogen light bulb. I have replaced mine twice already. It's just a pain to pull off the front bumper to do it (but it's the same procedure as the HIDs). The amount of time between light changes is highly dependent on how much time the car is in use and what fraction of time the headlights are in use. HIDs are basically arc lamps, which have typical run times of ~5000hr give or take (I wrote a long post on this a while ago and you can search for it) so 5-6 years given very roughly estimated average use is about reasonable.
     
    #23 a_gray_prius, May 11, 2017
    Last edited: May 11, 2017
    davecook89t likes this.
  4. jbirdawg

    jbirdawg Junior Member

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    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Thanks for taking the time to post that! Good info!