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Headlight issues... again.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by JayBan, Feb 12, 2012.

  1. JayBan

    JayBan New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2012
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    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I have a 2007 Prius with a similar HID headlight issue as many of you have stated. My passenger's side headlight decides, while I'm driving, to turn off. I've read through many different threads and been in and out of Toyota trying to fix my headlight and ballast without having to pay 675 dollars plus tax.

    I was thinking over some other ideas, would replacing the entire headlight assembly fix my issue? Because instead of taking the risk with an aftermarket ballast and having it not work, headlight assemblies are cheaper and easier to install. (at least for me and my mechanic brother.)


    I know there is a civil case, but I'm out of 5 years(of purchase date.) and I'm over 55k miles.
     
    #1 JayBan, Feb 12, 2012
  2. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    I'd replace the bulb first before mucking w/the ballast. $675 is WAY too much. If replacing the bulb w/a genuine quality D4R still results in it intermittently going out or failing to start, then you can consider replacing the ECU/ballast.

    See http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...102126-lights-keep-going-out.html#post1448540. For 06-09 Priuses, you'd want D4R NOT D2R. Also see http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...-all-hid-bulbs-created-equal.html#post1438374. There are tons of threads on how to DIY.

    I wouldn't waste time or money replacing the entire headlight assembly. If you're going to replace the headlight assembly, you have to at least partly remove the front bumper cover, but at least that'll make it very easy to replace the bulb.

    I tried to replace the bulb w/o removing the bumper cover, but the metal clip came off and I couldn't remove the washer tank, so I ended up having to pop the front bumper cover anyway to remove the headlight assembly, put the clip back on and put in the new bulb. My thread at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...d-tank-trying-replace-passenger-side-hid.html includes some pointers to some DIY threads and videos.

    Also, FWIW, I received a settlement check (http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...ion-settlement-award-letters.html#post1458323) that covered the cost of the 2 Philips D4R bulbs I bought from Amazon (one I used, the other I will likely need to, in the near future).
     
    #2 cwerdna, Feb 12, 2012
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    While a bad ballast is possible, it's unlikely. What you have is a bad bulb. The symptoms you describe is the normal failure mode for HID bulbs. Make sure you get real D4R bulbs - there are a lot of counterfeit bulbs being sold through Ebay and such. I suggest replacing them as a pair for uniform light output and color.

    Tom
     
    #3 qbee42, Feb 13, 2012
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