Folks of this forum, any help/ guidance here would be much appreciated. So heres the deal, first noticed heavy condensation in the driverside headlight of the vehicle 2 weeks ago, and exactly a week later the driverside headlight went out. Not thinking other than a burned out bulb because of the condensation I had assumed a new assembly and bulb was needed. So today when i took the car out I figured why not try the headlight, and it worked. I then switched it too the off position and tried to turn the lights back on and (of course) the driverside headlight didn't work. So I got home and let the car sit for about an hour. Tried the headlight, and it worked (of course). I then switched it back into the off position, then back on and the light went out again. Sooo, i cleaned the connection and still the same deal. But i have to let the car sit for about 15 minutes for this to happen. Any help would be great!

p.s im a broke college student who got this car from a deceased grandparent, so the cheapest way would be idea.

THANKS!

 

Did you check your old bulb to see that the filament had burned out?
Have you ruled out a problem with your switch?

 

The old bulb is still currently in the vehicle, and i have not checked the switch. But the passenger light still goes on. So it would possibly be isolated to the driver side?

 

If you haven't looked at the old bulb filament, do so. Jiggle it a little bit and see if anything is loose inside. It's possible you just need a new bulb.
Sorry I missed that the passenger side comes on. That pretty much rules out the switch.

Are the wires going to the driver's side bulb ok? Wires can degrade/harden and start strange behavior.

 

Wait... did you change the housing yet? I think there’s a warranty extension for your headlight issue.

 

I believe the warranty extension is over for his 2005.

Here re is a thread with instructions how to remove the headlight from the car:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hyb...densation.html

I'd remove the headlight, dry it out, then put silicone caulk around the seam between the headlight lens and housing in attempt to prevent condensation from returning.

 

I contacted corporate Lexus about making a claim with regards to possibly covering the replacement warranty. No luck. Wisconsin winter is starting to hit so i should probably do this sooner rather than later. Damn. Thanks for the help thus far.

 

Sounds like the ballast, possibly the condensation caused water to get in and then it dried out? Intermittent HIDs working is usually indicative of a bad ballast. Some people would saw switch the sides to see if thats the case, but used ballasts on EBAY are so cheap, I'd say if youre going to the trouble of taking it out, I'd just buy a used one you know is working to put in.

 

Are you handy? Regardless if it's the bulb, ballast, or wiring you really need to get the housing off the car and take it apart. The Denso ballasts are very durable but are not waterproof and I assume the housing is trapping enough water in the base to do bad things. Taking it apart will allow you to see if it is pooling water, repair anything necessary, and seal it up properly after everything is fixed.

If you are not, consider a used OEM whole housing, should be in the ~$100 range that would most likely fix everything. It is a risk but better than a housing that is not sealed properly.

 

A member sent me a PM asking how we repaired our leaking headlamps.

Here's a picture of where you need to put in a good bead of silicone to stop water getting into your sealed headlamp.

The leak is caused by a failure in the sonic welding between the clear lens and the housing plastic.

Solution: Apply a bead of silicone on the entire length of the clear lens mating line with the housing.

 

amazing to me that a car as expensive as Lxus would have this problem- did they change headlight manufacturers?

 

Like so many other defects in cars, when a process goes out of control and you do not have robust sensors to detect them, some sills will occur. Lexus-Toyota had this spill and as a result, a number of cars ended up with defective headlight housings. This particular defect comes from defective sonic welding of the front clear shell to the base. Lexus initiated a warranty enhancement on this and some of us were lucky to have discovered the condensation-leak and some us, me included, had to deal with it after the fact. I had 1 headlight with a leak, the other one was ok. I had extended warranty and claimed this defect but got shot down by the dealer saying that he saw a bump on the front bumper and claimed that the leak was caused by this bump (bs to me). Then I discovered how to repair it, sealing the top portion when the water was going into the headlight. So far so good. A friend of mine who had the same defect was able to repair his without issues.

 

How did you perform the repair? With silcone caluking?

 

Yes good old silicone.