My 2007 Prius (not touring) halogen headlight issue

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by MarkySparky, Nov 5, 2021.

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  1. MarkySparky

    MarkySparky Junior Member

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    My 2007 Prius (non touring) has a weird headlight issue. This car has halogen headlights. When I first start the car in the morning I turn on the headlights and after 1/2 second, they get significantly dimmer. If I turn them off, then back on, it doesn't do this, the lights are just dim. Not so dim I'm worried that there's a bad ground, but I can't get it to repeat the problem again until the next morning. Overall, the headlights are among the poorest-performing of any car I've owned. As an experiment, I drove 30 miles to work in the dark both ways with high beams on with NOT ONE person flashing me to turn back to low beams. I was wondering what could possibly cause this strange consistent dimming issue when the lights are tuned on. Any ideas? These are definitely NOT HID lights btw, and plastic lenses are in pretty good shape, not fogged over. Thanks!
     
    #1 MarkySparky, Nov 5, 2021
  2. MarkySparky

    MarkySparky Junior Member

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    I/m wondering if there is a Daytime Running Light module in this car I don't know about and perhaps a daylight sensor is telling the lights that its daytime. Far as I can tell, there isn't supposed to be DRL in my model of prius, and TechStream doesn't seem to be helping me troubleshoot this
     
    #2 MarkySparky, Nov 5, 2021
  3. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    There is no daylight running light feature on this car. You should just try and replace the light bulb and see if it fixes your problem.
     
    #3 JC91006, Nov 5, 2021
  4. MarkySparky

    MarkySparky Junior Member

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    That's kind of what I thought. But as an electrician, I'm trying to figure out why the lights go dimmer a second after turning them on, but doesn't repeat after turning them back off and on again. Well, I guess I'll buy some new bulbs. I really need better performing headlights! Any suggestions for proven-to-work LED replacement headlight and foglight bulbs? I don't want to blind everyone, but I need at least modern performance
     
    #4 MarkySparky, Nov 5, 2021
  5. Another

    Another Senior Member

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    Do you know the brand and the age of the bulbs?
     
    #5 Another, Nov 6, 2021
  6. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Does your car have fog lights?
     
    #6 TMR-JWAP, Nov 6, 2021
  7. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I have aftermarket very clear headlights made for halogens or what have you I have very accurate and adjustable high low LEDs and people are flashing me all the time on low beam to turn them down and they are not miss aimed or anything like that as far as I can tell the bulb or filament pieces are at 3 and 9:00 and everything is good plenty of light no problem and I can distinctly tell between high and low beam and high beam cut off looks correct but people are flashing me a lot even in modern vehicles like new Corollas

    SM-A715F ?
     
    #7 Tombukt2, Nov 6, 2021
  8. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    people are flashing me a lot

    So what do you think that means? Have you ever read any of the AITA forums?
     
    #8 TMR-JWAP, Nov 6, 2021
  9. justlee

    justlee Junior Member

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    Wow MarkySparky that is a strange thing with your headlights. It's as though the voltage drops after a short pause. Let us know what you find! I have read that LED conversions don't focus right because the reflectors are made for the exact locations of the filaments in the original bulbs. Please let us here know if you find a brand that works well. My HID headlights don't work well on high beam and are a little foggy so I was thinking of changing them over to new Halogen units because I don't really like the blue tint. Has anybody driven Gen2's with both types to compare which lights the road better? Is there a consensus on if the HID is better than Halogen and or if converting to LED is the better choice? I"m old school so just like Halogen but LED seems like it would be energy efficient.
     
    #9 justlee, Nov 7, 2021
  10. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Thee donkey forums nope not really but I've had my lights aimed and messed around with a bunch I've messed with light systems since first HID put on market . Wen my wife drives car at me in the lowered Rolla doesn't blind me .And I'm pretty old and very light sensitive . Hence I go days hoping my displays off at night while I'm driving.

    SM-A715F ?
     
    #10 Tombukt2, Nov 7, 2021
  11. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I guess it changed nice person h forums to donkey he he

    SM-A715F ?
     
    #11 Tombukt2, Nov 7, 2021
  12. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Oy vey

    SM-A715F ?
     
    #12 Tombukt2, Nov 7, 2021
  13. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    You can buy led lamps with filament or Cobb units in exact positions as a halogen bulbs 3 and 9 0clock.is filament position forward and back in the bulb is only adjustable on a few branded bulbs the clocking adjustment is avail on a few more.. aux beam company

    SM-A715F ?
     
    #13 Tombukt2, Nov 7, 2021
  14. MarkySparky

    MarkySparky Junior Member

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    No, they're the bulbs that came with it when I bought it used a year ago. I should just buy some new ones and see if it helps!
     
    #14 MarkySparky, Nov 9, 2021
  15. MarkySparky

    MarkySparky Junior Member

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    HMMMM!!!! Its looking more like I may have misidentified my headlights... Yesterday while checking motor oil, I saw stickers on top of my headlight housings under the hood, which says WARNING HIGH VOLTAGE! And doing a bit more searching on PC, the headlights dimming a second after turning them on is consistent with HID lights... UGH! Those apparently have a bad reputation. I guess I need to dig a bit deeper on this. One post on this forum says if the car has foglights, that is also an indicator that the car probably has HID headlights. But there seems to be conflicting info on that too. From what I can tell from the VIN, my car is a Package 6 standard model, but one place online said my car had the Touring package based on certain options my car has, even though I have the smaller spoiler and 15 inch rims. Gotta love the Internet! "I read it on the Internet so it MUST be true!" Anyway, is there any adjustments or wiring upgrades I can do to increase headlight brightness? I'm an electrician, and jack of all trades, so I'm open to about anything to improve the dismal headlight performance!
     
    #15 MarkySparky, Nov 14, 2021
  16. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    This is why, in post #6, I asked if your car has fog lights. Your description was exactly what most HID lights do. Burn bright for a second at ignition, then dim a bit. A simple question that, if answered, would have provided the overall answer to your question. ALL Gen 2 prii that came with factory fog lights have HID headlights.
     
    #16 TMR-JWAP, Nov 14, 2021
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