Irish239

I have a 2008 Lexus ES350. I have a passenger side headlight that intermittently will go out. Turning the lights off then back on will get the light back on. I was told by a dealer that the bulb needs replaced for $285 plus labor. I thought I would look in to replacing myself. From my understanding it is a "discharge bulb" and high high risk of a 20000v shock comes with it. Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to do this to prevent the high voltage shock? I have never replaced a bulb with the AFS system and do not want to break any of those parts. Is it best to remove the entire headlamp to gain better access to the bulb? Any help would be much appreciated!!

jcat_350

20000v shock? Your car has a 12v electrical system...not sure where you got that information from. As long as the car is off (you can even disconnect the negative battery cable if you feel safer) it's no different than changing a normal headlight bulb. The bulb still sits in the housing (the housing just happens to sit inside the AFS system), just get the dust cover off, turn the bulb assembly and remove. The bulb should sit in the little plastic base and then just go back in reverse order. You should be able to find the steps on here somewhere.

Intermittent passenger side light going out that's remedied by removing power to the system and then refiring it sounds more to me like a ballast issue. They usually just go with the bulb first because it's cheaper and easier. To replace the ballast, I believe the headlight has to come out which requires removal of the whole front bumper assembly.

You should be able to get a D4S bulb for around $150 IIRC. With about an hour (going slowly)'s worth of labor, you'll have saved a good chunk of cash.

Irish239

Thanks for responding!! I thought the same thing on the 20,000 but that is what the manual and yellow warning sticker say on the car right by the headlights.....I would imagine, as you said, disconnecting the negative battery would prevent any shock. I was concerned with the AFS since it is very "loose" in there and did not want to break anything as I disconnected. It is a little hard to see in there so I was debating on removing the entire headlight so I can see the housing better. As far as replacement bulb do you have a reliable source for purchase?

Thanks so much again for your reply!!

jcat_350

your first step should be removing most of the plastic covers around that side of the engine. This will give you a lot more room to access it.

Just don't force anything too much and you won't break anything.

As for a replacement, you might be able to order one from advance or autozone, they use philips parts which are arguably the best bulbs out there. However, I doubt anyone stocks D4S bulbs, so it's almost certainly going to have to be ordered.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Is it a good idea to replace both bulbs when one is out for better brightness balance?

jcat_350

normally, I'd say yes. However, I doubt there would be that much difference from an OE bulb to a replacement, so there's really no reason to spend the extra money until the other bulb actually burns out. It definitely won't be like one of those cars you see with one poorly aimed headlamp where one looks way brighter than the other. HID bulbs don't really gradually lose their brightness the same way halogen bulbs do. They'll make their way toward blowing completely, but this is usually preceded by a complete change in output color or just blowing all together out of nowhere.

Again though, I'm not convinced this is a bulb issue...usually bulbs either work or they don't. They get power, or they dont. So the fact that it's flickering and only works after shutting off and turning on the system makes me think it's a ballast.

OP, free and easy way to check, swap bulbs from one side to the other. If the left side starts acting up, you'll know it's a bulb. If the right side acts up after bulb swap, you'll know it's a ballast.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Interesting,thanks.

jcat_350

np. for reference, one of the cars I used to see all the time signal an imminent bulb failure with a color change were the Saabs. Particularly 9-5 models where one headlight would be normal and the other would turn (an embarrassingly bright shade of) pink right before it went out completely.

chefchoy

Super good point,,,,,,