replacing 2005 low beam bulbs frequently--too frequently

So the original bulbs lasted two years? As I recall this type should not be handled with bare hands because skin oils will attack the bulb at operating temperature. Maybe this dealer has been replacing them incorrectly each time?

 

I agree with Richard about the dealer workerbee's possibly leaving finger oil on the bulb(s). If possible, I would buy a different brand and replace them myself or find someone handy who could help you replace them for a beer or some other consideration. The owner's manual should have instructions on doing the replacement + you can search here for more detailed instructions on how to replace them yourself.

 

honeybee77,

Back in the days when I had my Peugeot diesel wagon I was going through the old non-halogen, regular, sealed-beam headlights like crazy. It was a 4-headlight system using the 4000 & 4001 sealed beams (NOT little bulbs placed into reflectors) & I don't know which number was for the high beams or the low beams, but it was the low beams I was burning out most often. I would buy them in batches of 10 at a time. I think I would replace one or 2 a month, but I didn't drive with the headlights on during the day. When I did have the headlights on I rarely had the need for high beams, so that's probably why they lasted longer & didn't burn out as often. At first I attributed the short life to the vibration & clatter of the diesel engine, thinking the car was shaking the daylights (no pun intended) out of the filaments, but in talking to other owners, I found they were not having the same trouble I was.

On some quiet days I did also notice that immediately after shutdown of the engine I could hear a loud crackling or bubbling under the hood, which I eventually tracked down to the battery. It was bubbling away like mad & steam was coming out the vent caps & it stunk like sulphur. I just figured since the battery wasn't used to keep the car running like in a gasoline powered car (it only gets used basically to start the car & that's pretty much it), that it was constantly getting charged with energy being put in with no need to extract any energy, so that is why I theorized the battery was de-gassing so violently. But then I realized that I was putting about a quart (or maybe even more) of distilled water per week into that BIG battery. Again, talking to other owners, I found none of them were having that problem either.

So eventually I mentioned these things to the right person & I was told that my voltage regulator was probably shot. Sure enough, when I took it in to the dealer to have it checked out, I think they told me it was putting out something like 18 volts into my 12 volt system [normally a regulator only allows a charging system to put 14 volts into the battery (slightly more going in than gets pulled out to run the car) so that there is always some extra current to keep the battery fully charged]. Looks like the 18 volts was what was frying my headlights & my battery [I had to replace it too (I almost needed an engine hoist to get that BIG battery in & out of there)].

So, with the Prius I don't know if there is an external voltage regulator somewhere that can be checked, or if it is the expensive inverter that controls & maintains the 14 volts going into the 12 volt battery & the rest of the cars electrical system (that should be able to be checked, but I don't know if it can be adjusted). Of course it could be as simple as the fact that you use your headlights ALL the time & since they are halogens & burn a lot hotter, those 2 factors could have a lot to do with reducing your headlight life. I've probably offered you way more than you wanted to hear. Sorry!!

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Hi Melisa,

You would need to use a digital multimeter to measure voltage across the 12V battery when the Prius is READY. The correct voltage is ~13.8VDC. If much higher that could be a reason for premature bulb failure (although in that case I would also expect other bulbs to be failing, not just the right headlamp.)

Its most likely that there is a problem with the bulb type being used or that the installation left grease on the bulb surface. Good luck figuring that out.

 

I would think Prius should give some error message if the 12V voltage regulator went bad, right?

 

You can use the procedure here to test the battery without any special equipement:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...oubleshooting/73479-service-menu-12-volt.html

If the voltage is over 14.4 volts, you need to change the 12 inverter.