JohnnyCake

Sorta like the title says, my passenger's headlight sometimes looks perfect, I look later and it is dimmer than normal (different color), and sometimes it is out completely.

Thoughts on diagnosis?

VVTiBob

Remove bulb and carefully Check all connections for moisture and/or oxidation. Clean and remove oxidation if necessary. Apply bulb grease to prevent moisture from entering. Test voltage levels.

sixonemale

Johnny, I think I have a very similar problem. My wife came home last evening and said the passenger head light was not working and even took a photo with her iPhone and showed me. This morning when she started her '06 SC both headlights and running lights were working. This takes me back to a comment that came from one of her co-workers several months ago that said one her headlights was not working, but I quickly dismissed it way back when because they worked later on that day after she told me about the comment. This certainly does not sound like bulb specific issue, but probably has more to do with the electronics on the headlight assembly that I'm not all that familiar with. Unless someone has had this same problem with a ’02 – ’05 SC, I’m wondering if it could be a malfunctioning “headlamp leveling ECU ASSY.” Directly from a repair manual:

“When any defects such as deformation, cracks, dents, chipping, etc. are identified on the HID headlamp (especially on the lamp control ECU), replace it with a new one.”

This topic is way out of my strike zone, so any thoughts or potential solutions to solve this problem are welcome. Thanks in advance.

sixonemale

I spoke with my local Lexus dealer who has a person that is known as their technical expert, whom I've had a positive experience with in the past when he finally found and solved my very difficult intermittent stalling problem sometime back.

In summary, when I was on the phone with him, he said that when the HID bulbs start to go bad, the ECU will sense trouble and shut them down intermittently. He also spoke to a service rep about my problem and the service rep said nine times out of ten it's the bulb when this intermittent shut down occurs.

I just purchased two bulbs from Ebay and am going to replace both of mine, rather than just one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110938544719...S:3160&vxp=mtr

Johnny, I hope this helps your situation, might be worth a try.

hlthlnk

I think it is a very simple diagnosis...the light bulb is going bad! This happened to me a year ago, people would say your bulb is out and by the time I looked it was working. It took about 3 months before the bulb gave out totally. Replace both bulbs while you are at it and make sure to read as many threads as possible before you start the project to insure you want to tackle it or if you should take it to the dealer. Good luck.

sixonemale

Hlthink, I agree it's the bulb and I've also searched the threads regarding installation and have sent them to my mechanic who I will have install them without dropping the bumper. Thanks for your sharing your experience that supports my local Lexus dealership's conclusion.

JohnnyCake

I got some back channel communication from someone who read this thread and that person also said "definitely" the bulb. He got the Philips # D4S Xenon bulb from Amazon for $48.25 each. The eBay deal is a steal, especially since I might have the dealer do it (they are quoting $140 which seems pretty good) and they will probably be OK with me supplying them Toyota parts rather than Philips.

Sixonemale, why did you decide to do both?

sixonemale

Johnny, My '06 has about 45k miles on it and since one bulb is suspect or bad, I'm assuming the other one is close to the end of it's useful life, therefore, I don't want to go through this again anytime soon.

iolmaster

iTrader: (1)

I am the source of the back channel info and I think Johnny may have misunderstood my comment on the bulb brand. I changed mine in an 06 about 6 months ago and the OEM bulb put in by Lexus in Japan is in fact Philips. It had the same part number stamped in it as the one that comes out of the Philips box. There is no such thing as a Toyota bulb. Just like there is no such thing as a Toyota MAF sensor. It is made by Denso. It may be in a Toyota box but Toyota did not make it. Also, just like a number of people said, change both of them at the same time. These bulbs are not like regular bulbs with a filament. They dim substantially over time. When I replaced the bad bulb on mine I turned it on to see if it worked and compared it to the original. Big difference in lumen output. You will not be happy if you replace just one.

sixonemale

I am going to replace my daytime running lights at the same time at the same time I change my HID low beam lights.

Question, in the manual it says they are 9005 bulbs at 60 watts per bulb, type A. Can I get rid of the yellow color of the daytime running lights if I buy a higher end bulb that specifies they are whiter in color like the Sylvania Silverstar bulb?

Thanks in advance for any answers to this question.

Agent305

I have a 2007 SC430 and my HID headlights were going out intermittently. The left side would go out and then come back on. The right side would go out and then come back on. One time both sides went out and then they came back on. After reading through this wonderful forum with a variety of posts on multiple threads I decided to have my mechanic replace both sides with new HID bulbs. So far I have not had any failures all week. With the old bulbs I could not get a full week without a failure. In my opinion replacing the HID bulbs on a SC430 is best left to a mechanic unless you are really comfortable with doing it as there is very little space to work with. I did read a post where they found a way to replace the HID bulbs without dropping the front bumper but this job was more than I wanted to try.

I found a seller on eBay that sells the OEM HID bulbs at a very reasonable price. He ships them properly padded for safe arrival and mine came in mint condition.
Here is his ad on eBay....copy link below

Hope this helps

http://www.ebay.com/itm/D4S-x2-NEW-O...5YPyg~&vxp=mtr

Caflashbob

Osram 66440CBI Xenarc CBI D4S Light.

beautiful white hid light. See reviews.

GmanSC

Nope. I've tried. The best way is just turn it off and install COB DRL.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...low-light.html

BCT

I am looking for the headlight bulbs myself. Mine is probably still the the original bulbs. Not that I am an expert on HID bulbs, but I been reading around trying to decide what I want, and apparently there are bulbs on Ebay, Amazon that is fake/counterfeit. Just be careful where you buy those bulbs.

Agent305

I totally agree you have to be careful with all the knock off bulbs that are sold on the Internet sites. The eBay seller I bought from sells factory OEM bulbs and mine are shining bright with no failures. This forum is a great resource for all Lexus issues and I am glad to be a small part of it.