CodeRed

3rd week into my RX F-Sport, Claret Mica. It is equipped with factory Xenon HID

Although my dealer will replace burned-out bulbs as part of warranty, but its miles away;
I have a habit of keep a couple or several replacemnt headlight bulbs (just in case), however I find the owner's manual confusing in determining exactly what type of HID bulb is used.
(In terms of Wattage, Type, Temperature, etc.)

Can anyone please shed some lights?

vlad_a

I'm yet to replace an HID bulb in my 10-year-old IS300. You might be starting to worry a little too early.
Besides, it may be better to get a fresh bulb when and if it burns out.
http://www.trademotion.com/parts/201...ent=HID%20bulb
http://lexus.sewellparts.com/accesso...2012/6161.html

I don't know exactly what color temp it is. My guess is 4300K. Looks like D4S is the model.

CodeRed

Thanks vlad_a, That's a good soruce to start.

I'd like to be prepared, I have one or two spare bulbs in all the vehnicles, just in case the bulb gives in, in the middle of the night or away from home.

vlad_a

You're welcome! If you're set on keeping spare bulbs, check out e-bay. You could get a cheap spare for $20.

RX330inFL

While they have not updated their charts for 2013, the Sylvania site is usually a good reference for what is needed:

https://www.sylvania.com/en-us/appli...l=1707&make=54

Cruiter

Eric, welcome to the club. As nearly everyone here has a Gen III it's a good place to hang out. RE: the HID's, they're state of the art technology but designed under normal use to maybe last the life of the car. I read a little on them when I got my 2010 and basically they're similar (in small scale) to the flood lights at a state fair. They're filled with xenon gas and have something to arc or keep the burn going. Given that, I think the weak spot may be flashing as in from off to momentarily on at oncoming cars for instance. That's excessive starts w/o getting to full operating temps.

Vlad mentioned it might be wise to not get one unless you do loose one and then get a fresh one (they are filled with sometime of gas). I doubt though you'll ever have to worry about it. When they're on and you switch to high beam you're not really changing anything except opening the shutter to allow 'all' the light out .

Info from Wikipedia :
Automotive HID may be called "xenon headlamps", though they are actually metal-halide lamps that contain xenon gas. The xenon gas allows the lamps to produce minimally adequate light immediately upon start, and shortens the run-up time. The usage of argon, as is commonly done in street lights and other stationary metal-halide lamp applications, causes lamps to take several minutes to reach their full output.
The light from HID headlamps can exhibit a distinct bluish tint when compared with tungsten-filament headlamps, although a range of spectra are available commonly specified as a Colour Temperature.

CometVR4

HID bulbs don't burn out. However with any bulb they don't last forever. When brand new they are bright white with a hint of yellow, they produce the most lumens. After about 200 hours they start to color shift. The yellow hue will change to a bright white...then bluer over time and the bulb will slowly dim out. I've even seen some 10 year old bulbs in a Lexus IS or Acura TL that actually dimmed out so bad that they've changed over to purple and hardly any light is produced. If you do replace one bulb make sure you do it in pairs for this very reason.

The bulb type for your car is D4S. It's probably a Osram Xenarc bulb. Dealer will charge $175 for just one. I recommend avoiding eBay because of fakes but buying from a reputable company such as theretrofitsource.com

CodeRed

Thanks Jim, I was browsing around for information and found this forum.

Thank you all for the information.
I had this crazy thought of replacing them with different temperature bulbs (thus color).
This is my first vehicle that's equipped with factory HID, I had my other cars retrofitted, but it's a totally different story.

Since, as you guys/gals have mentioned that the bulbs are designed to run (not burn out) for years, I guess I don't have to worry about it now, perhaps I will just order one from the dealer's part store just for the piece of mind.

Thanks again.

CometVR4

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...oducts_id=3180

Here you go. $60 for the pair. Based on the reviews some guys have mentioned more brightness than stock.

ericsan13

http://www.kbcarstuff.com/D4S-XenonD...b-p/xt-d4s.htm

these bulbs are better - I have the xengreens and they are poorly made and not as bright

look for the coupon code for the xenondepot bulbs from the official vender in the forums

CodeRed

Thank you both for the suggestion, $60 / bulb in opposed to $170 from the dealer, not bad.
$60/pair XenGreen looks attractive for the price.

I still need to find a good way to pop the plastic pieces back out (the plastic piece the keep the engine compartment covers together/in-place)
I had to use my nail to pull the longest of the 4 side sideway, then hold and forcefully push the pin back out, it wasn't easy having to repeat this for like 20 times to pop all the plastic pins back out.

I am sure there should be a "proper" way to do it that I haven't figured out since I dont have the mechanics go through this pain every time they service a lexus with the engine compartment covers (or maybe they use new ones everytime?)

kitlz

CodeRed, to remove the engine cover clips, push the center to release them. Then they're ready to come right out with maybe a little help. The clips have to be reset before you reinstall them. It's a matter of pulling the center part out slightly. Some can be stubborn. Make sure you line up the engine covers before replacing the clips. Push down slightly to secure again.

It's actually not a bad idea to have a few spare clips. You never know when one might disappear.

CodeRed

Thanks, yeah I got them out like 1-2-3,
The painstaking trouble I had (described above) was to reset them.
In my case, it seemed that ALL of them were stubborn and didn't wanna pop back out to ready-to-put-back-in-place state.

ericsan13

I used a shop knife to pry it out. You can also reach in from the bottom to push the pin up on a lot of them.

Don't get the XenGreen, I regretted cheaping out. With the $20 off per bulb, the XenonDepot bulbs are a much better buy.

CodeRed

Cool, Thanks for the advice on the pins and the bulbs