I noticed some time ago that my driver side headlight would occasionally turn off, but it would turn back on if I turned the lights on and off. I didn't think much of it... I drove at night for the first time in a while and realized my driver's side headlight was now out!

I watched some videos of 2007 - 2012 LS 460 headlight replacements, and quickly realized that the headlights and wheel well assembly were changed in the refresh. The only 2 youtube videos I could find showed that the wheel well cover could be easily removed because it only covers the front half, but in my car it covers the entire wheel arch! Anyways, after a lot of cussing and sweating I barely removed enough of the wheel well cover, only to see that the assembly did NOT look like the youtube videos! I did not take a picture, but it looked like a heatsink or some metal square block, and not like this circular cap (below).

Now I am fairly sure that my car has LED headlights, so I'm not sure what could have died. I checked the fuses and both driver and passenger fuses were getting voltage. I saw a few other youtube videos that suggested the fuse box might die, but I temporarily shorted the fuses together and the headlight didn't turn on, so I'm not sure what could be the problem.

 

When you look at your headlights do you see 2 or 3 lenses? 2 is hid and 3 is led. If your heatsink looks like this one it's hid...disconnect the battery for a few minutes and turn the headlight switch on to make sure the ballast is drained then turn the heatsink(which is the ballast) counterclockwise some and it will come out of the housing but still has a small harness connected to the bulb. Disconnect the connector from the back of the bulb then release the small clip on the bulb to remove it, When installing the bulb wear rubber gloves or be very careful not to touch the glass. If it's an led system you have to replace the headlight assembly. Get quality bulbs like Sylvania or Philips even Osram.

 

Yes, that's exactly what I saw! My headlights are with 2 lenses only, so I guess I do have HID headlights.

I'm glad I asked in the forums because the youtube videos didn't mention anything about disconnecting the battery or discharging the ballast! I would have had a bad day!

Do you have any tips on how to remove the wheel well cover to access the hole? I had almost no space and I attributed it to differences after the refresh. Couldn't find a guide for the 2013-2017 refresh.

Planning on taking it all apart, figuring out what exact bulb I have, and ordering the same one so it's color matched with the passenger bulb. Reassemble, wait until it gets here, and open it all up again to replace the broken bulb.

 

You should replace both because the other bulb will likely go soon and they will never colour match with one used and one new. I took the liners right out because if you don't you'll be working blind at some point if you just drop the front area of the liner and that won't work out well for your first time replacing the bulbs.
It will be much easier for you if the wheels are taken off and the car is on jack stands. Your bulb is a D4S, good luck.

 

Here's the instruction straight from the service manual. I followed this and was able to get it done in about 90mins(60minutes for the first side, 30minutes for the second side since I already know what to expect).
It's important to remove the wheel. And also disconnect the negative terminal of the battery in case you touch something wrong and give yourself a good zap.






Once you have removed the fender lining, it's pretty easy. Don't drop the bulb lol.





I went with Philips Extreme Vision Gen2
https://www.hidconcept.com/products/...4f3be2fc&_ss=r
These are really bright. But they're not white. A little bit whiter than OEM and matches with the DRL leds.

 

NickL that is awesome! Where did you get the service guide?

I ordered those lights you recommended. Hope the whole job will take under 2 hours!

I was also looking at adjusting the angle of my headlights and the user manual shows some screws that I cannot locate! There are some white come shaped screws but I'm not sure if that's the right adjustment.

 

Here:
https://charm.li/

Lexus

• 1990
• 1991
• 1992
• 1993
• 1994
• 1995
• 1996
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999
• 2000
• 2001
• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009
• 2010
• 2011
• 2012
• 2013

 

I think I paid 50-70$ on the service repair manual on factorymanuals.com.
I will look for the instruction on the headlamps leveling for you.

 

factorymanuals.com looks to be a dead site, and charms.li doesn't have anything about the headlights.

I found this site, could be promising: https://repairsadvisor.com/2014-lexu...ra0329028.html

 

For $25 you can get a 2 day subscription and download whatever you need from Toyota.

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfo...tis&_nfpb=true

 

I believe the adjustment is made under the hood on top of the headlamps units. I can check tomorrow.

 

The simple method for adjusting headlights is in the owners manual, the one above is a plagiarized copy from TIS that most people will just screw up anyway. there's no need to go through that procedure if you just want to raise or lower your lights a little.

 

decided i would do my annual good deed and film the entire process so the next person can do it easily. go pro battery died during reassembly, but i did get all the important parts.