tschuler

Hello,

One of my 2000 es300 headlights stopped working.

From Goggling it seems that it could be either bulb or the ballast. But the first trouble shooting step is to swap bulb sides.

But, how do I actually swap the bulbs? I can see the grey plastic caps. Will I need to remove any parts behind them to make room?

The passenger has more room, so I tried it first. Is the grey cap supped to rotate counter clockwise? Would not budge for me. Did not want to break anything. See attached photos.

Can anyone provide some guidance?

jakebot88

I just posted earlier today about a few tips with changing the high beam on the passenger side...

Yes. You do twist counterclockwise to take it off. It's hard to do but you just have to muscle it.
It doesn't rotate very far and it will come off

That being said if BOTH of your bulbs are out it may be a fuse.
Use your manual to determine the location of the fuse.

I can try to assist you to the best of my ability but I'm stuck on getting room to change the passenger side high beam bulb.

Chocolate

I hope this is helpful.

http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/20...ghts/headlight

PFB

The original poster is asking about changing HID bulbs, I don't think that its the same procedure as changing out regular Halogen bulbs.

Although my own 2001 ES300 has factory HID's I never had to change them yet, so unfortunately I can not provide any further help at this point.

Tomorrow however, if he still does not get a reply, I'll look it up in my owner's manual. The instructions should be there. If so, I'll than post back.


Phil

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

It's a *****, the driver side is very tight - do-able, but tight. I did it once, and it wasn't worth the pain and cuts... Next time I simply took out the headlights, much easier.

You're almost better off removing the corners [phillips screw], and the headlight itself.
Lift up the tabs holding in the rad cover; gently.
Then remove the three 10mm nuts holding the headlight assembly in place. One on top, two on side in the fender.

This should only take about 5 minutes in total

tschuler

Thanks for the tips.

Question: If I take the suggestion of removing the headlight unit, will I need to reset anything with the auto-leveling system?

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

Good question, I would assume no.

But... then again, i retrofitted the JDM headlamp assemblies into my car. First thing I did was cap off the auto-level since it so useless anyways.

kudos34

I was wondering the same thing. I was thinking about doing the removal method too.
1 question, do you install the bulb, put the metal clips back on, then connect the socket to the bulb?
Or install the bulb in the socket first, place in headlamp, the clip the metal clips? I'm having a hard time with the passenger side. I shouldn't of tried to change it at night. I have an 04, but mine looks like tschuler with the grey plastic cap.

tschuler, yea the pastic cap is tough, just some muscle though, its pretty tough pastic and wont break.

kudos34

Just finished changing my bulbs out. It was very easy after removing the battery. Put the bulbs in, connect the clips, then put the socket on and lock it. Notice the location of the bulb to socket fitment. I took a picture with the old bulb in to see how to get the clips back on. That was giving me the most trouble. Other than that, it was a breeze.

Now I have another problem... Take a look... https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...lights-on.html