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I keep having to replace the halogen headlight bulbs due to lowbeam failure

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by prius8654, Aug 17, 2017.

  1. Victor Sasson

    Victor Sasson Junior Member

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    That means Toyota will install a special wiring harness to the headlamps and replace both bulbs, as well as reimbursing you for replacing bulbs at the dealer in the past. The program runs through October 2019.
     
  2. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Your in the wrong forum this is the G2 forum there is no program for us.

    And your quoting yourself.
     
  3. prius8654

    prius8654 Junior Member

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    Yep, thanks for keeping it on point Ed.

    We do appreciate your attempts to help though, Victor Sasson!
     
  4. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    I have replaced my headlights with super bright Sylvania twice they are extremely bright and wont last long
    No where’s near the oem bulbs. Plus they get so hot they cook the headlight plug so I had to replace those also.
    Now years later back to the trouble free oem bulb. Buy the original bulbs online Toyota parts.
     
  5. prius8654

    prius8654 Junior Member

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    Thanks for the advice, Ed, do you have an online Toyota parts dealer that you recommend?

    For what it's worth, I have been running Sylvania Basic 9003 - the most basic Sylvania that one can buy - should be equivalent in output and life to OE I would think. That's what I have run through 3 of, surprisingly, because Sylvania Osram is considered a quality brand.

    I bought these Sylvania 9003 Headlight Bulb - Walmart.com

    I just may have to try the OE genuine bulbs, who makes them, Denso?
     
    #25 prius8654, Feb 6, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2018
  6. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Yes denso. There a very long life bulb. It’s a pain to get to them have to pop the bumper loose and pull it down a little.

    Anyway I like Olathe Toyota. They actually called me once and said the part I ordered will not fit my car so I was very impressed with that. Very nice.
    Buy all the oem bulbs for the car and do them all at once. The back bulbs are easy.

    Good for 5 years.
     
    #26 edthefox5, Feb 6, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2018
  7. prius8654

    prius8654 Junior Member

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    Wait, why do you have to take the bumper off to replace your 2nd Gen Prius halogen headlight (not foglight) bulbs?

    If I recall correctly, I just take off the fuse box cover for one side and for the other side I shift some part of the air intake, a resonator I think?
     
  8. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    You must have extremely skinny arms. It’s so much easier to pull the bumper down. Not off just down enough to pull the light out.
    Take off the top 6 screws under the black plastic rad cover and there’s one screw under the fender liner
    You take that screw out and the bumper pulls down enough to pull the whole plastic
    Iight housing out. Easiest way if you have to replace the bulbs.

    Lusciousgarage.com has it down to 5 mins in there video.
     
  9. egg_salad

    egg_salad Active Member

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    Sorry, but any time I take a headlight out, that means it needs to be re-aimed with a proper optical beam setting device. Best price on that is $60 around here. I'll make with the skinny arms.
     
  10. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    There is no head light beam adjustment on a G2 that I am aware of. Have had the head light assys out twice still in correct position.

    Your way its next to impossible to get the rubber cover back on. Popping is lao the bumper lose is the best way to get to the Inverter and the CHRS pump also. Take minutes. Pull the headlight out and the pump is completely exposed.

    Its the right way or luscious would not be doing it. Carolyn can do it in 3 mins.
     
  11. prius8654

    prius8654 Junior Member

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    It's all good, I think the right way is what works best for each person. The rubber cover isn't easy to put back on, but I've done it enough that I can do a light bulb change in 2 minutes with minimal disturbance of surrounding components. Again, to each his own.
     
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  12. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    aim1.png
    aim2.png
    aim3.png

    -Chap
     
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  13. VFerdman

    VFerdman Senior Member

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    I have looked into HID and/or LED replacement for my 2007. When I bought it last July it came with an HID kit that the original owner had installed. It was very bright. BUT! It was installed into the stock halogen headlight assemblies. This is horrible in more than one way. First of all the light emanating from the car is scattered all over the road and is illuminating everything making night driving a bit more distracting, but one gets used to that. Second, the light blinds the oncoming drivers. There is no way to aim it properly because it is scattered. The optics in the halogen assembly are not designed for the HID bulb and so they do not handle the light properly at all. It is a nuisance at best and dangerous at worst to oncoming traffic. Also, in my case the color of the bulbs was 8K, which is just bluish purple, which makes everything look very strange (this also can be gotten used to, but why?!). I replaced the HID with halogen super bright PIAA bulbs. No idea how long they will last, but they provide adequate light for night driving and oncoming traffic is not dazzled.

    Before making a decision to go with halogens in the stock headlight assembly I did a bit of research and learned that to do HID (or LED for that matter) properly I would need to completely change the optics of the headlight. There are fine kits out there for this purpose and it is a great aftermarket upgrade to undertake, but from my modest research I realized that it would run around $300 or more and a bunch of DIY hours. This made me give up and go with halogen bulbs at least for now. As much as I would love to have those nice bright headlights, I am not prepared at this point to spend the time and money on this. If you decide to go with HID/LED, please, please, PLEASE! do not just throw a bulb kit into your stock headlights. It will seriously jeopardize safety of oncoming drivers. Have you been blinded by one of those people? I have and I hate when it happens. I would rather just replace the halogen bulbs more often. My hands are small enough that I too can do it without dropping the bumper. If and when my current bulbs go I will definitely check out the Toyota parts for long service.
     
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  14. prius8654

    prius8654 Junior Member

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    Very helpful post! Thanks for taking us back to the original reason I posted.

    Do you have any links or manufacturer names for these approximately $300 setups, I do realize it's a decently large DIY undertaking but maybe worth it if I put in the time.
     
  15. VFerdman

    VFerdman Senior Member

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    Unfortunately, I did not keep the links, but I came across a lot of HID kit sources. I don't know which are better or worse. I already have the ballasts and wiring so I would only replace those hideous blue bulbs with white ones. You will need to buy the whole kit, I guess, so your cost may be higher. HID kits can be found on Amazon as well as specialized stores like The Retrofit Store. The
    Retrofit Store seems to be more comprehensive in that it sells headlight assembly retrofit kits as well as the bulb kits of various brands. I would start there. As I said, there seems to be nothing Plug and Play for the Prius and some DIY will be required. But if you want to go that way, that would be the right way to do it. You will end up (irreversibly) modifying your existing headlight assembly to contain a lens and a reflector kind of like the ones on the cars that come stock with HID/LED lights. Those optics (and some effort on your part) will handle the light from the HID bulb properly putting it where it belongs, on the road (and in US we need a so-called squirrel finder beam for the road signage) and not in oncoming traffic's faces. There is a whole sub-culture of headlight retrofitters out there, it turns out and products to support it. There is a bunch to learn about what products and practices are good and what are to be avoided. It's a nice potential rabbit hole to go down with the auto lighting, but I chose to stay away from it for now.
     
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  16. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Thanks for that. Never saw anyone refer to headlight aiming on a G2. I replaced my original headlight assys as they got hopelessly clouded with OEM's and they must be aligned at the factory as they mimicked the factory alignment.
    I assume the adjustment screw is behind the white plug. The lamp is fixed to the housing so it must aim the reflector assy up and down. That screw must be really hard to get to to adj with the head light assy bolted in to the car.
     

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  17. jzchen

    jzchen Newbie!

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    Looks like the nut in the lower right is the adjustment...
     
  18. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    I never noticed the adjustment procedure, I wonder if anyone has ever followed that procedure as written.
    If a tech had two headlight to aim he wouldn't be able to feed his family that week.
    Engineers.
     
  19. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    That’s why shops have headlight aiming machine. Headlight itself has a marking for a percentage to use with headlight adjustment machine (or some other method). There’s no sideways adjustment so that part of proses is just for checking that nothing has gone wrong.

    You can pretty easily use that information to adjust the lights against some wall etc.

    If I had to remove headlight from some vehicle just mark the line on a wall before removing it and check/adjust it back to the line after it’s installed.
     
    #39 valde3, Feb 8, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2018
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  20. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    No the adj is on the curved side of the headlight assy not the straight side. That black looking plug with the nut is part of the back plate it can’t be turned I remember looking at it thinking why is there a nut on this.