SeattLexus

I too had my car for about 11 months mid-Feb, and my driver's side HID went out. But my problem was not the bulb. It was the circuitry in the light housing (at least that's what the service dept. told me). Upon firing up the lights, they would both come on, but then 15 seconds later, the driver's side went out. Happened consistently.

Anyway, had to leave the car at the dealership for a few days while they diagnosed and ordered a new light housing and a fresh bulb. They said they hadn't seen such a problem before.

The dealership accomodated me with a loaner (RX330 ) and kept me informed of everything they were doing.

I don't have the noticable difference in light color you describe when your bulb was replaced.

Anyway - thought I'd share.

caudlek

SeattLexus ..... i guess they would have reused the same bulb so one might expect the same brightness .... but i would be surprised to find any electronics within the housing .... a grounding issue with some housings perhaps??? Something for other owners to keep an eye on.

In my 6.5 years running the IS300 most of my warranty/repair issues were HID related ...... nice option, but has been problem prone for me. Hopefully my 350 will be a better experience.

Sexi_Lexi .... given that some of us have changed bulbs/housings and seen no brightness difference you might want to press the dealer to look at it with your next visit ..... my dealer seems very responsive to keeping Lexus drivers happy. I would pull both bulbs myself, compare them (same brand etc???), then switch places ..... check to see if the weaker headlight is the same or also switches. Then you know if its a bulb or housing/electronics issue.

KC

pocky

iTrader: (12)

pocky lazy.

ES3

For fear of having mine go out, I'm turning my turning my lights off when I come home at night so they don't go on (in auto mode) when I start my car up in the morning (dark in my garage) Then I thought about it, and it seems silly that the HIDs could really be that impacted. Still, I know it would be replaced under warranty, but if 5 years down the road my lights burn out cuz I didn't do this now, I'll be mad.

taylorjste

well.. today on my way to work, i noticed my driver side headlight is not working OEM HID.. the only thing i've ever done to them was adjust the height after i installed my eibachs.. i guess it's off the dealership for yet ANOTHER warranty claim... i'm getting pretty tired of all this crap.. i haven't even had my car for 2 years and i have less than 21K miles

1. faulty passenger side view mirror that would not tilt all the way when shifted in reverse

2. unbelievably annoying rear deck rattle, yet to be fixed after 6 attempts by the dealership

3. engine knock/rattle at cold start-up

4. now my blown headlight..

this is my first lexus and maybe my last if things dont start to improve.. i thought i was getting a well-designed, reliable vehicle.. 335i coupe may be in my near future

Scottina08

iTrader: (1)

those are very, very minor problems....except maybe the engine knock at start up

taylorjste

i never said they were all major mechanical issues.. that's not my point.. i'm just annoyed by the persistent problems related to lack of quality.. i understand no car is perfect, but i just had to vent.. frankly, i was hoping my $44K+ lux sedan would hold up a little better than my 97 civic.. it's not looking too good right now

fluxx

iTrader: (1)

i think these are isolated cases as far as lighting failures.

my sister has a 1998 ls400 that is in pristine condition. i know for a fact that she has always had the setting on auto and that its garage kept. needless to say the oem hid that came with the car are still in perfect working order.

everything else on the car is in great shape as well aside from a side-mirror being replaced because some old lady lopped it off. haha she was pissed when she got the bill for 700dollars for the replacement.

BLK*LEX

it happen to me too.....i felt the same way....i had an audi before, and never had my bulbs replaced in 5 years of owning it....it happen to my IS prob wihthin a year also....

kyrsplat

I remember the second or third day I had my car, I started it up at night and the passenger side light fired up fine but the driver's side one didn't turn on till after the car had finished the start-up sequence. Hasn't happened again but I think the issue lies with the design of the entire system. On our Audi's and VW's, the lights (when set to auto) would not turn on until after the car had completed start-up procedures and was capable of delivering the full power needed to operate the HID ballast and ignite the arc in the bulb. However, the IS ignites its headlights before engine turnover even starts, and so when the battery has to start providing power to the starter motor you notice a slight flickering of the bulbs accompanied by a dimming of their output. It would seem that this system isn't capable of maintaining adequate power to the headlights while turning over the engine and the subsequent shortage of power is damaging the ballasts and the headlights. Just a theory...

RealStreet

So bringing this back up. Are we sure that i can buy a aftermarket HID bulb and work with OEM parts? Its a 9006 bulb right?

I recently had the driver side one give out. Dealer did not cover it because it was a wear item. 2 weeks later my passenger side went out after I paid them almost $300 to fix the driver side.

Looking to fix the passenger side only or just buy 2 new 6000k bulbs or something.

ISThree

iTrader: (2)

OEM HID low beam is using the D4s bulb.
the 9006 bulb is the fog light.
the 9005 is the high beam light.

felixsc300

iTrader: (5)

I'd like to know this too. BOTH my driver and passenger side are randomly going out and working fine again.

Come to think of it, would Lexus replace a bulb if its flickering off but will continue to work? I'm under CPO warranty.

istundra

iTrader: (2)

I would definitely present the problem as intermittent flickering and hopefully they will do good by replacing some parts.

RealStreet

Thats the problem I'm having and they did not cover it under warranty.

The bulb works just shuts off after a few minutes. Sometimes it stays on for 30 minutes sometimes 30 seconds. All you have to do is shut it off and turn it back on.