I had a crack in my triple beam headlight housing. The light still works but water was entering.

The replacement cost, including my labor was about $4500. I almost threw up in my mouth when the service advisor quoted that.

Indeed those headlight units are expensive.

Luckily insurance kicked in for most of the costs.

Also, if you replace the headlight with a newer unit,. Put paint protection film over it to protect it. You don't want to have to she'll out money like this often.

 

You could have taken it off, let it dry and sealed the crack with silicone. I paid $1000 for a used one that had a broken tab that I repaired, came from a accident car, works perfectly.

 

There are a Pass and Driver Triple Beam on Ebay right now. $849 and $999.

 

Frick. Our 2018 RX has those LED lights now. I guess we better get rid of it before the lights pop. Aren't those LEDs supposed to be "forever"?

 

Lexus has been using it in the LS for a long time. You can buy used 2006-2009 LS 600h that have the LED headlights that still work.

It's rare that they actually fail. probably the point of failure is the house cracks from a minor accident, someone doesn't put the turn signal bulb cover on correctly, moisture gets in and reeks havok on the electrical component. Otherwise the working hours for the LED will long outlast the car.

I would not spend thousands of dollars to change headlights, devalue the car, to fix a problem you don't have.

 

The cars that have the biggest problems with LED's fail are Honda/Acura and Hyundai/Kia. LED on those cars and some others happens very soon and often.

On the GS LED problem again I'm sure it could be sent to somewhere and opened up and repaired for a reasonable cost. Like peasodos said I would not go fixing a non-problem that is not broke.

 

My headlight damage was clearly caused by a rock. This is why I had xpel applied on the new headlight. So far so good.

 

I am pretty sure the 13 GS450h has standard LED headlights for both low and high beams.

There was also an option to upgrade to triple beam lights.

 

I'm still learning to use this site but I didn't see any diy posts from OP. What did he do to te clock?

 

Well it’s still cheaper than a headlight for my 98 Viper… and it’s just a halogen projector light.

But this is the issue with LED lights and why I’m staying the F away from it as far as possible.
“But an LED last almost an eternity before it burns out!”
yes, the filament. But it’s all controlled by cheap and crappy electronics inside the headlight that if they go out you’re ****ed. Look at the first generation headlight for Tesla model S with issues like this where people even today hasn’t figured out how to repair it because it’s so difficult to get the headlight assembly apart and then back together air tight.

I see so many newer cars today with failed LED lights front and rear that it almost puts old incandescent bulbs to shame when it comes to failure.
But I live in harsh climate so it’s not the same as living in California or any other dream place.

 

So I'm trying to figure out what makes the Triple LED (which BTW, is sooo worth it, so if it does need replacement, I'll do it) complicated. Is the LED light itself not a standard bulb and something that's built into the headlight itself? If that's the case, is there no way to desolder/remove the LED board and swap it with something else?

 

The led's are not something you can replace and it's not a simple led either.

 

OK, so no I HAVE to see one taken apart! HAHA!

 

I don’t believe it’s particularly complicated.
It’s just LED filaments with what I suppose is a driver board.
Housing is nothing spectacular and if they’re moving with the steering wheel it’s probably similar to the directional HID.
It’s expensive because it’s new… that’s basically why. You pay a hefty price for something new and cool and also the R&D cost (which I assume is A LOT on headlights).
LED filaments and driver board is maximum a few dollars per head light in parts alone.

 

😂 Here is a led GX headlight disassembly same internals essentially as a 2016+ led GS headlight, except these are not adaptive(more motors). There was also a member that made a disassembly video for the 2013-2015 GS led headlight but I can’t find it.