It's getting warmer now and I'm getting my summer list together for what to be on the lookout for at junk yards. One of the first things I'm gonna be looking for are OEM 3rd Gen (2000/2001) ES300 HID Headlight assemblies. I realize the chances of finding these in a junk yard are very unlikely, but if they I do happen to come across them my main question is what should I expect to pay considering the following conditions:

• They're from a ten year old car (I'll rub some dirt on them to make them look more dated)
• I'll say they're basic, halogen assemblies (I figure it's pretty unlikely they'll be able to tell the difference by quickly looking at them. Also assuming it's a big yard that deals with many vehicles per day of both domestic and foreign and that they won't be too familiar with this gen of ES).
• I'll say they're from a Camry (cheaper car = cheaper price for the part rationale. They look similar enough to a Camry headlight assembly.)
• I pull the assemblies from the junked ES myself, should save some money there.

So taking these mitigating factors into account, whats the cheapest you think I can get away with these HID headlight assemblies?

 

300$ lol

And that may be being too generous, these shops aren't too dumb, the assembly itself has it stamped in the light itself 'High intensity discharge'.

Try eBay, there was an auction for ONE RIGHT headlamp without ballast, for 140$ buy it now, and ~40$ in shipping about 2 weeks ago.

Oh and don't bother contacting eBay junkers outside of eBay as they won't even consider any offer less than 400-500$ in most cases. I already tried.

 

I can't even find a close up picture of one of these rare housings online. So it says HID inside the assembly, or on the outside, because if it's on the outside I bet it could be covered up with a scruffy, dirty looking piece of tape. If I could pass it off for basic Toyota Camry assemblies I was hoping maybe $200, I could live with that. But the very few I've seen in the last month online are going for $450-500, which is insane.

I've been looking for over 30 minutes and there isn't a single assembly online, and out of looking on craigslist/autotrader/ebay only a few ES's for sale have these housings. They're very rare.

 

I can assure it will have the 'warning' symbol that its a high voltage bulb/whatever, and it would be stated that it is an HID kit.

Not only as a means of identifying, IIRC it states to remove the HID headlamps if equipped and a few other components before scrapping the car. Unless i'm way off and thinking of the RX330 manual...

But you are right, they are pricey, rare and near impossible to source a set.

I can tell you now, not to bother as what you are currently doing; searching thru the net, don't bother, been there done that and not one online resource comes up with anything.

 

So basically, my only viable option is striking it really lucky at a junkyard.

I also found some pretty decent high(er) resolution pics of them, makes me want them even more. I don't see any markings that designate them as HID's either.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/1518095-post9.html

 

They should have a stamping, as i have been saying. Be it on the underside of the lamp housing, its there.

Then again the massive 'D2R 35w' emblem and weird bulb mounting points are a dead giveaway.

 

For the past day or so I've been working on getting the parts together for this. So far I've bought one drivers side HID assembly, and I'm looking for a passenger side one that isn't $300, lol. Also need to get the D2R bulbs and adapters. I'm not in a huge rush so I can sit on this for a month or more and wait for one to pop up online.

One main question, whats the deal with the auto leveling feature? Does that only work on models ordered with the HID's from the factory, or is there a way to enable it otherwise?

 

auto leveling will not work unless it came with the car. you will have to manually aim the headlights.

 

IIRC, the HID headlight isn't a direct fit for some reason. I did research on this one time, and I thought I remember reading that you have to modify the headlight opening to get it to fit properly. I might be wrong, but you might try and do a test fit first. The halogen and HID units don't directly match IIRC.

 

I think that's true only for years prior to when the HID's were offered (97,98,99), a piece of metal at the lower portion of the headliner socket had to be adjusted. 2000 and 2001 it should fit right in. That's what I've read at least. I can try it out though next weekend and let you know, I should have the headlight by then.

Can anyone explain why the auto leveling won't function? Is a necessary wiring harness missing in ES's that didn't come with HID's?

 

^ IIRC its just missing wiring... And to be fair, i don't mind wiring, but i would never start hacking up a harness and somehow piggyback a mere convenience feature.

And i am not sure if the non-hid cars even have an ECM for that feature to work...

Just level it manually...

 

Hi, just jumping in here - so does this mean that the original HID headlamp assemblies also have the manual headlight adjustment ***** at the back of the headlight just like the normal non hid headlamps?

LEX ES300

 

^^ To my knowledge yes.

Since the 'main' ones HAVE to be at the back where you adjust it to fit the light cutoof properly, HID or not, this has to be the same way and has to be on the back.

The 'tilting' HIDs are simply a separate motor in the HID housing that moves the bulb a couple of degrees up and down.

I know this for a fact, since my dad has the RX330 with this feature, and it does have the manual ***** to adjust the headlamp itself and the HIDs 'do their own thing'.

Then again, i may be confusing the cars with the GS/RX series. I am not 100% sure that the ES300 even came with self-leveling HID's to begin with...

 

I am almost 100% certain, that it does not have self-leveling.

Almost every car I can think of with factory reflector HID's do not have any kind of self-leveling. Self-leveling on factory reflector HID's is very rare, unless the car was equipped with bi-xenon's and reflectors. Self-leveling is much easier to do with projectors, which is much more common.

 

^^ I think you are correct/

It's probably projector-only cars in that case. Because the assemblies are HUGE compared to the smaller counter parts that are halogen only.

Wikipedia doesn't mention that it has the self-leveling so it probably doesn't.