hello again
quick question...

I had my car in storage for the winter
pulled it out today.

the one headlamp was dimmer then the other. the other was operating fine.

the dim one went out after a few min.
I restarted the car and it came back on dim.

odd

is this a sign that the bulb is burning out?
or something else?
what is the usually lifespan on these bulbs?

thanks guys

 

Could be the bulb or the ballast. Swap the bulbs left side to right side headlights. If the dim / outtage follows the bulb, then it's the bulb and you need to replace it. If it stays out on the one side, it's probably the ballast and you need to replace that.

I'd recommend going aftermarket bulbs if it's that (Morimoto) crisper color and MUCH cheaper. Ballast you should stick to OEM.

 

I'm pretty sure it's the bulb. Best to replace both at the same time so that way, one isn't burning brighter than the other. Bulbs from Lexus dealerships are CRAZY! Go aftermarket and save yourself a ton of $$$.

 

Curious are our bulbs D4S for low beams?

 

I believe it is unless the 2012 and up headlights uses bi-xenon?

 

MY12 is still d4s. My '11 with '12 headlamps (swapped under warranty)due to bubbling issue is D4S.

 

try switching the bulbs from one side to the other to figure out if it's the bulb or ballast issue.

 

thanks guys.

I will look in to those crisper bulbs

Ive also read a bit and some had a grounding issue where this can occur.

am I correct in assuming that is it was a grounding issue that it would of happened right away and not to 3 years later?

I did the 2012 headlight swap a 2-3 years ago. haven't had a problem since.

what is the lifespan of our oem bulbs?

 

everything i've seen on retrofit source lists d4s lifespans to be 2500 hrs

 

I had 1 headlight bulb working sometimes, sometimes it would go out after a new minutes, sometimes would come on dim.
Research lead me to believe its pretty common for these bulbs to do this when they are at the end of their life.
I replaced both with the Phillips bulbs I got off Amazon, and haven't had a single issue since.