2007 Touring HID Flicker

So I've had my new to me 2007 Touring a few hours and I'm already concerned.

On the ~150 mile drive home, I noticed a flickering in the HID headlights and then that the RH light was out. Turning it off and on seemed to fix it, but only temporarily. I considered returning to the dealer, but they were already closed. Now I'm reading of the issues with the HID lamps and the staggering costs of replacement parts and I'm wondering if I should return it Monday.

I'm still wading through the posts on this, but it seems like no one knows if the problem is the bulb or the controller for sure. There is some consensus that if the bulb relights when the switch is cycled on and off, it's likely the bulb. I'm fine with DIY and I can probably stomach $50.

Here's the kicker - the service records at the Toyota owner's site indicate the RH headlight was replaced last December, about 8K miles ago. That it's out again already makes me a bit concerned that it is more than just the bulb.

Thoughts?

 

I hope so, but the fact that the dealer replaced it less than a year ago has me concerned that it may be a bigger problem.

If it's the HID controller, is that a DIY fix? I've done everything from timing belts to a full suspension rebuild on my T'bird so I'm not afraid of hard stuff.

 

OK, I looked at that dealer repair order more closely. There was a note that the right headlight was out and a 'bulb' was replaced. I Googled the bulb P/N (0023400192) and found it was a marker light, not the HID bulb. The text of the repair order was confusing, made it sound like the headlight was replaced.

I'm ordering the bulb from Amazon this afternoon. I did look up the Toyota P/N for the HID bulb. It was $100 instead of $45, but indicated it was 'self leveling'. I assume the Philips bulb is too, right?

 

That makes more sense.

I did find HID replacements in the maintenance records back in March of '10 at about 52K. Both sides were done by the dealer at that time. So, 60K and 3.5 years on this one, not awful.

 

That's what I ordered.

 

I changed the RH over the weekend. Interestingly, records indicate that the local Toyota dealer changed both HID bulbs back in 2010 at 53K and the bulb I removed was a no name HID, not the factory installed Phillips.

Oh, and of course, now I see that the LH is flickering too. Back to Amazon ...

 

Yeah, I had read that it was best to replace in pairs, but at $45 each I thought I'd just do the one for now since I thought it was the only one flickering. I was wrong, they were both going bad. No harm done as the Phillips aren't available discounted in a two pack that I could see.

We're going to try not to leave them on all the time, but our previous vehicle had automatic lights so I bet they get left on a fair bit.