Power6

I think this has been done a number of times and is not that popular so I won't bore with the details. I swapped the OEM HIDs in to my 01 ES this weekend. Easy swap to do, just a little wiring. FYI the stock HID car uses the same wire colors but has thicker gauge wiring. I am fine so far on the stock Halogen wires but I will keep and eye on them.

I bought a total of 3 OEM HID light units, all on EBay from junkyards selling them as "w/out HID" lamps. I just looked at the pictures of the car, saw they were actually HIDs and made an offer. As such it did not cost that much to pick them up, but each light had some issue I had to resolve like epoxy a tab back on, or one of them the lens is really scratched beyond repair so it is just spare parts for the others. 3 good ballasts and 2 good lamps in the lot.

Once I adjusted the beam height I am very happy with the output.

GoodRevs

Yep, I did this too about 2.5 years ago. Took me a few weeks to source out a driver and passenger side (separately) for reasonable prices, but after I sold off my halogen assemblies I almost broke even. Well worth it.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

I guess i just have **** luck.

None of these guys want to ship these to me in canada, and all the single [many of them] at <100$/each were sold off in long time. I pained me to see them sell eventually, but it is what it is,

I just couldn't justify the half day excursion to NY [i'm about 1hr north of the border] to get a pair of used headlights. I'll keep looking!

Now i can't find any! They're clean but not 399+/corner 'clean'

LeX2K

Nice improvement to the car for sure. Next logical step is projectors. I really want to do a retrofit on my car, but I'm too chicken to bake my lamps in fear of damaging them, I'd rather do it to a spare set. Which is damn near impossible to find, even harder if you're in Canada.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

The HID reflectors give such a different look to the ES, I love it. I'm also planning to do a projector retrofit, with winter night driving coming up.

Power6

I skipped the projectors to keep this project easy. New house this year and we are expecting first child in Feb next year I got plenty else to do, not to mention the other ES300 projects I am working on heh. If I got into projectors I would want bi-xenon and it would just take off from there...

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

So, (not to clutter up the other thread) the wiring seems straight forward, +ive to +ive, etc.

But what about adjustments, i assume these are adjustable as the Halogen's, correct?

I don't want to ****-eyed monstrosity lol, aren't the DRL plugs the same, though? Both use a 9005 iirc.

Thanks!

zazag

I'm assuming there is no auto leveling mechanism there. The ESs with OEM HID have auto leveling function.

Power6

^^Correct, the non-HID cars don't have the auto leveling stuff. The HID light units have a leveling motor it is self contained inside the light unit, an HID car has a light leveling computer, which is hooked to height sensors, ABS/VSC, ECU etc. In anon-HID car with this swap, the leveling motors stay in the headlights, not plugged to anything, they have to physically be there to seal the headlight and hold the headlight buckets stationary.

The leveling system is legally required for new cars sold with HIDs but really just tilts the headlights down a bit if you have a bunch of passengers and luggage, not missed much. I have a spare leveling computer, was thinking of hooking it up to a manual roller wheel like cheap cars with HIDs, that project is so far down the list I will probably never get to it.

imherenow

nice upgrade. i am surprised that after 13 years my OEM/auto leveling HID is still functionally properly. I have also adjusted the low beams height only on the right side a bit higher to give that "uneven look" so more light is projected/extended on the right side. (like the newer cars). I was a bit scared to adjust the level (and that too just on one side) and it might cause "auto leveling" light to turn on in the instrument display.
Also i do not keep my headlights on auto mode. I just do it manually. just because of its age.
I think next step would be fogs. a yellow (3000K) would looks great. Heres mine. Well i just painted the lens yellow.

Power6

The adjuster is separate from the leveling motor/mechanism so no worries there. If the leveling motors do go out they are pretty easy to replace.

Not sure what avoiding Auto mode does, I love the Auto mode, I never have to touch the headlight switch and the delay-off feature is nice.

BobGeorge

I did this swap on my 2000 Platinum Edition this weekend with favorable results, found a set of HIDs on eBay with the plugs/wiring, made an offer and the seller accepted. All and all a pretty easy job, though the one thing that shocked me when I pulled the old lights out is how disintegrated the airbag sensor on the driver's side was. There is a piece of foam adjacent to the sensor that I guess has held moisture for 15 years and caused it to completely rot out. Passenger side was fine and didn't have that foam. We don't have a Lexus dealer up here in Vermont so parts can be hit or miss, but the local Toyota dealer was able to get the new sensor in a day.

In terms of the HIDs, a little manual leveling and they work great. The stock non-HID wiring is smaller gauge like noted in this thread and I was tempted to use relays just in case, but sounds like people haven't had issues.

Power6

Nice work! Great to see people doing this, as these cars are quite old now you can pick the HIDs up pretty cheap. And an easy swap for much better lighting. I am big on good headlights you can't drive well if you can't see well.

Curious if you replaced the bulbs or stuck with what was in there? They last forever but the bulbs will fade to very blue as typically you the bulbs will be 13+ yo originals. Despite the cost I ended up replacing mine which returned them to a nice bright white.

No issues at all with the lighter gauge halogen wiring.

BobGeorge

For now I have the bulbs that came with the lights, but they are getting a bit blue so I might find a new set down the road. Agree that lighting makes a huge difference - I used to daily drive Volvo 240s that came with awful plastic headlights that tended to turn yellow. I always switched those cars over to the glass Euro lights with high wattage bulbs on relays.