What average life of halogen headlight bulbs are other Gen-II owners experiencing? I'm curious if my 2005 that averages about 8000 miles (10 months) between bulb replacements is normal or not. The lights are on all the time. I use Sylvania bulbs, but bulb life is about the same regardless of type, i.e. Silver Star Ultra, Silver Star, or Xtra Vision. Is there a brand or manufacturer that offers a more rugged bulb at a reasonable price?
Not sure if there is a difference between gen2 & gen3 but my headlights blew at 40k miles (18 months) on passenger side and 60k miles on driver side (2 years old). Not bad for a taxi, so I'd say there's something wrong if yours are blowing every 8,000 miles. Are you 100% sure you don't touch the glass when you're installing them?
Sure, you have to bring this up! Mine are still original at almost 70,000 km (knocking on wood). Check your battery ground cable. Make sure it's properly tightened on the body (this is all on the right side of the hatch area under the floor). If it's corroded or loose it can cause the system voltage to fluctuate and that WILL burn out bulbs.
One burned out at 25,000 miles the other is still going strong at 35k. This is with the headlights used full time.
Thanks for your replies. Grumpy & David, I assume your experiences are based on your models having DRL modules which are not available in the States. DRL modules pulse headlight power so they remain just visible to oncoming drivers, but reduce current draw to 30%-50% of full current, lengthening their life. Sadly, we who bought our Prii in the States must leave our headlights on at full intensity if we want the equivalent of DRLs. Also, I replaced the OEM 12V battery with an Optimus a year or so after I started replacing the bulbs, so I doubt if I have a ground problem, at least not battery ground. XPCman, you raise a good point. My OEM bulbs lasted about 5 years, nearly 50K miles. This leads me to consider that the Sylvania after-market bulbs are lower quality and not cost-effective. The OEM bulbs lasted ~60 months resulting in a monthly cost of about $1.50/month assuming $90/pair from Toyota. Whereas the Sylvania bulbs are averaging me about $3.50/month from local parts stores.
Nope, my Prius doesn't have DRL's and being a cab my car can often be used on the night shift (with the lights on obviously) for weeks depending on my shifts. Also, I run the headlights when it rains during the daytime (for safety) and it can rain here a lot. So my headlights get a lot of use and still lasted a good while. (European DRL's only apply to newly released models from early this year. As such the gen3 doesn't have them, though the midlife upgrade due next year will have them. )
Grumpy, your response reinforces my conclusion that I'm screwing only myself by installing less expensive and obviously lower quality non-Toyota after-market bulbs. Thanks. BTW, my wife and I were visiting our son in southern England for two weeks over Christmas 2004 and it was cloudy/spitty only one day and part of another. I don't question your saying "...rain here a lot", but our thanks to your Country for giving us 13-1/2 days of lovely weather, and 15 days of charm and delight. :thumb:
I was using Phillips Extreme after the OEMs blew. Both OEMs and Phillips were lasting me about 20,000Kms or two months. I do run them full time in daylight. I upgraded to Phillips 55W HIDs and have run them for about 60,000kms without problems. I need high power lights because we have lots of Kangaroos and I have totalled a camry after hitting one at night. In fact I managed to avoid one last night due to good visibility. It is well known that the Higher power halogens have a shorter life than the stock 55 or 60 watt lights.
Feri, what is involved with upgrading a Gen-II from Halogens to HIDs? Does this require disassembly of the front end and engine compartment and/or extensive electrical mods to install the HID control module and lamp mounting hardware? Is there a review of HID Upgrade manufacturers and/or e-tailers? Thanks for your comments.
Hi Hytec, I'm sorry, Idon't know about Gen II I have a Gen III. The system I bought was plug and play for H11 bulbs. There are quite a few threads on the topic of HIDs and some installation videos. What I can advise is for Gen II, judging form the threads, you are better off getting 35 watt bulbs. Only buy good quality and use canbus ballasts. Hope this helps.
Thanks, I'll research this. Though with a seven year old car, it's probably more cost-effective to keep replacing the halogens, but with higher quality than the Sylvanias I have been using.
Phillips and Osram/Sylvania list filament life for their bulbs on their websites. Osram's standard bulb has a stated filament life of 1100 hours, most of the other bulbs, 150 hours. I suspect the standard bulb is similar to the OEM part. It is less expensive and has a longer rated filament life. My experience with the Silver Star bulb is consistent with the stated filament life of 150 hours. I'm going to try the standard bulb next. For me, the higher color temperature is not worth the effort to change these bulbs and shorter life. Hope this helps.
Hella halogens are pretty good too. The Sylvania ones are prone to burn out very quickly. Bonus, if you want to melt the housings you can get Hellas in up to 100W on high beam!
