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Driver's visor/vanity light issue

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Prius904, Sep 6, 2013.

  1. Prius904

    Prius904 Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
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    I thought I had a bad bulb in my vanity light for my sun visor on the drivers side, so to test it, I tried the passenger's bulb in the driver side and it still wouldn't work. So I made the assumption that the wiring is bad. Well the other day I was putting up a sunscreen to cover the front windshield and that requires using the visors to hold it in place. I discovered that the driver's visor is really tight when trying to push it forward and the light came on. So at this point it feels like a wire has been wound up inside the visor somewhere, restricting its movement forward, and is a direct relations to the light bulb that wont come on. Id like to try to fix this myself, but don't want to complicate issues any further. After looking at the diagrams for the visor, I guess the only thing I can do is unscrew the screws that holds it to the roof, pull it out to expose the connection at the wires, unconnect it, let it hopefully unwind (if there is tension) and put it back into place, problem fixed. My concern is what holds those screws in place? I don't want nuts and washers falling out of place inside my roof liner, and not being able to screw visor back in.
    Thanks in advance for any advice/tips yall may have!
     
  2. pjc

    pjc Member

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    Location:
    Bloomington, MN
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    2009 Prius
    Are you sure there is a problem? Remember: for the light to come on, the switch must be set to "on" AND you have to open the little vanity mirror.
     
  3. Prius904

    Prius904 Junior Member

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    2004 Prius
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    yup, the light wont come on when I do that(slide the mirror open with switch on), but if I push the visor toward the windshield, it resists moving in that direction and after pushing it anyways, the light comes on. The passenger side works fine and doesn't resist being pushed toward the windshield or opposite direction (toward me and up to roof liner)
    Has anyone unscrewed their visor from the roof before? Is there anything I should be careful of?
     
  4. Prius904

    Prius904 Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
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    Well, I took the visor out with no problems.. just 2 screws to unscrew. There are no hidden washers or anything to worry about on the other side of the roof liner, and the visor easily screws back into place. When you are pulling the visor out, there is a wire connected, and is easily detachable via a plastic clip. I didn't find any tension in the wire from it being bound or anything. There wasn't much else I could inspect. The visor just simply does not have the flexibility that the passenger side does. Very inconvenient when I am trying to pin my windshield sun shade up. The bulb continues to come on if I push the visor beyond its comfortable range toward the windshield. That sucks.
     
    Okie-Steve likes this.