1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

broke off right side mirror; also right side headlight flickers

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Mike1127, Mar 31, 2024.

  1. Mike1127

    Mike1127 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2022
    2
    0
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Two things wrong with my 2009 Prius with about 250,000 miles.

    The right headlight turns on okay, then after a while of driving starts flickering, and finally goes out completely. After I park and come back to the car later, the process repeats. Any idea what's wrong?

    Also this is related... because the right side headlight was out, and I was driving on a narrow street in a steep area, I didn't see a plastic garbage can on the right side of the road and swiped it with my right mirror, which broke off and is now hanging by the wire.

    Looking at the broken area of the mirror, I see a bolt fragment and a bunch of torn up plastic, with another area of threaded plastic that looks like the bolt is gone.

    I'm located near several junkyards and I'm wondering if I need to get that exact year and model of Prius to replace the mirror, or if other years would be compatible with the mount on the car.
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    9,220
    1,618
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    An '04 to 9 mirror will fit your car if this is the USA and you have a generation 2 Prius. In other countries the '09 could be a 2010 in America and is the newer funny body style or the generation 3 parts are not compatible between the two The mirror brand new on eBay from various manufacturers is only about $40 junk yards well locally I pay about $20 or $25 for the heated remote controlled door mounted mirror either side of the car. That's in central North Carolina USA your prices will be different depending upon part of the country and economic status of that area you're in prices will be affected The headlight I'm guessing you have the HID headlights which this is a very common problem the bulb or the ballast is just very old has lots of miles and you're going to be doing something with that whether you replace both housings with factory halogens from a junkyard car for reasonable prices clean them up put some LEDs get them aimed correctly You won't look back or you'll buy an HID from a junkyard which may have the ballast and bulb problem in it also or you can suss out the ballast and bulb issue on what you have right now if your headlights are in good shape clear and all of that. It's just choices I don't fix the HID headlights I will either get rid of the ballast and directly plumb in LEDs which are made for this purpose or change the housings to halogen and use the LEDs in those so either way whatever makes you happy getting the LEDs and the HID housings can be tricky and you may need to remove the business if you've never done it before.
     
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
    11,106
    4,520
    0
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Lots of different Toyotas use same side mirror as Prius... You can figure out which ones by studying what's available online and cross referencing with what's availble at your Junk yards. Very easy to remove and replace.

    As for the headlight, you probably have HID lights and they have bad ballast. Many of us switch to standard Halogen with different headlight cases to not have to deal with how unreliable they are.
     
  4. Mike1127

    Mike1127 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2022
    2
    0
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Would this be the correct part description to repair the headlight: "Xenon HID Headlight Ballast Control Module for 2006 2007 2008 2009 Toyota Prius". It appears to come with two ballasts and two bulbs. It's around $80 on EBay.
     
  5. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
    11,106
    4,520
    0
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Yeah... If you want to stick with the same system, that's the way to go... But in a few years or so you'll have one of them going bad again. Whereas if you convert to Halogen, it will no longer be a maintenance concern.

    A decade ago that $80 kit you're looking at was up around $400 and it made more sense to convert to Halogen 9003 style bulb. But now that prices are way lower you can keep kicking the bad HID design can down the road in a more affordable way. :)
     
  6. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    9,220
    1,618
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Buy the alla LED.conversion. It's almost the same price You can wire it two ways I believe and everything is good It plugs right up and twists in and clamps down fits in your housings that you have now and if your shutters are working you're high and low beams will be very decent
     
    PriusCamper likes this.
  7. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    9,220
    1,618
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    I have this In a '07 right now and it works wonderfully the old lady likes it and I put in the same color spectrum lamps and the fog lights and boy that thing lights up tonight now quite well for $87 total