I am becoming tired with the headlamps in my '04. I have been using Phillips lamps sourced through Amazon so I suspect lamp quality is not the issue. Replacing the ballasts with used modules (ebay $60-100) seems a poor choice as the originals are prone to failure. New OEM modules would suffer from the same issue and also be much more costly. I am considering sourcing halogen lamps either used OEM or even perhaps a non-oem unit (http://www.carid.com/2007-toyota-prius-headlights/replace-euro-headlights-1440291.html). Does anyone have any experience doing this? I have searched for a couple of hours and not found any posts regarding this possibility. Doug
I have not found an aftermarket ballast than seems to be well regarded. I would certainly be open to any suggestion in that department.
The Morimoto kits from TheRetrofitSource.com work very well. I am about to finish up a full retrofit with my GenII headlights if you are interested in a full upgrade but that would e around $400 with projectors and HID bulbs/ballast.
The OEM ballasts have never given me any problems......ever. Do u by chance always leave ur heights on?
The 04-05 generally didn't have HID problems. It was the 2006-2009 that were terrible. Well, the light output sucked but that was by design. LOL
Until I started experience failure I did, in fact, always run with my headlights on ---- even tho I do not live in Canada.
I am about to finish up a full retrofit with my GenII headlights if you are interested in a full upgrade but that would e around $400 with projectors and HID bulbs/ballast. Actually, reliability is a bigger factor than cost. I prefer to fix things once if possible and for safety and law enforcement reasons $400 well spent does not seem unreasonable to me.
I think the ultimate in reliability would be replace the OEM ballast and bulbs that are giving you trouble with a Morimoto kit. For good reliability and outstanding performance plus new headlight lenses that are not oxidized my retro is nice. I'll talk with Sean and if you are seriously interested I bet we could have them done in no time. Here is what they look like when completed.
Looks sweet. I would be interested in pursuing discussion. Moderator edit and note: I removed your email address as it really isn't a good idea to just put that out there on the new in an open forum, esp with your name in it. If you wish to talk with F8L about it more feel free to just start a conversation with him (Private Messages on here with the new software are now called conversations).
There's your problem. How many miles did you get out of them? Did you buy Philips D2R bulbs from Amazon or something else?
My last Phillips D2R purchased directly from Amazon ( not thru a re-seller) lasted 5 weeks. Could have been a bad lamp I guess but my suspicion is that it is the ballast. I recognize that the majority of complaints have been with the 2006-2009 MY but failures in 04 and 05 models are not uncommon. Both originals lasted > 100k which is wonderful but if I cannot count on the lamps/ballast to work consistently..... I have another lamp ordered and will give it another whirl but I am one of those who finds it necessary to loosen the bumper cover to change the lamp.
This is probably the reason why u are seeing premature failure. Everybody knows that HIDs are suppose to last longer than halogen bulbs but what do u think is going to happen when the lights are left on ALL THE TIME......their life expectancy is reduced. I was using the Denso ballasts on my gen2 & now have them on my gen3.......they haven't given me any problems however I only have my lights on at night. I would def consider F8L's retro........the light output is just amazing & will put ur current OEM setup to shame.
($40) DDMTuning kits have a lifetime guarantee... after replacing my stock faulty HID bulbs with the DDMTuning bulbs ($15) I haven't even thought twice about lighting issues. Plus the price is hard to beat...Just puttin it out there.. However what F8L is offering is by far unbeatable for performance and reliability. Looking to do a similar setup one day.
