Hi all I have a lexus es 300 2001 that I have had for 3 years. The left headlight bulb broke on me before and we replaced the bulb. About a year later my headlight wont turn on. We took the bulb out and it was still working fine. We even tried a replacement bulb which still didn't turn it on. Now I am at a crossroads. I have put in roughly 4k into issues with this car.It currently had 70 k miles on it but my dealership wants about 150 to even diagnose issue. Does anyone have any ideas? We checked fuses and cleaned some of the wires. I have a feeling it will come back with a big bill and I'm thinking I would rather get a cheaper car for the generic parts.

 

Well first off you need to give us more detail. Does your car have the HID's or standard halogen headlamps? HID would obviously be a little more complicated as it could be a bad ballast.

 

^^ This.

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Yea it is HID. It might be the ballast.

 

^ It IS the ballast.

The only way to check it, is by testing the bulb with the other side; which you said you did.

Regardless, i suggest getting a new kit for the car. [~60$ for a great kit from our sponsor on this forum] Since the car was on original bulbs from 2001, they were on their way out by now anyways [in terms of light output, that's just how HID's are... its inevitable]

Get a plug-n-play kit for the car, install those and see how much better the light output is.

Ultimately, just keep the one good ballast as an extra spare - with HIDs its always good to have one or two kicking around!

-Mike

 

Ok do you have a link for the kit. Also I had the bulb taken out in by someone at my work who said the bulb on the right was still or appeared to be in good condition. How hard is it to put the ballast in? Mind you I'm great with computers but pretty bad with cars. Is it something that will be through the roof if I have dealer do it or is something I can have a mechanic do for much less? Also the new bulb was purchased from a napa auto parts store.