2006 Gs300 Hid Problem

[Blokie]

Hi,

I have a 2006 GS300 and am having some HID low beam issues. The near side bulb started going out intermittently, and would come back on for a while if you turned the lights off and on again. I purchased a new pair of bulbs (cheap autobahn ones from eBay) and fitted them in mid-October last year (so about 3 months ago), and everything was working fine until about a week ago, when the same behaviour started again. I am planning to swap the bulbs over to see if the problem moves to the other side, but was after some advice on whether it is likely to be a bulb issue (i.e. I have been unlucky with the cheap bulbs), or whether it is likely to be something more underlying.

I have about 2 months left on the dealer extended warranty, but suspect I would need to purchase genuine Philips bulbs (at considerable cost!!) before Lexus would be prepared to even look into the issue (their response will almost certainly be "you're not using the proper bulbs"), and I don't want to go down that route unless it is pretty certain that the issue would be covered by my extended warranty.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Mark

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[Grizzly Man]

Looking on American forums, this seems to be a big issue (probably the biggest) with the GS. I've also had it myself. Now, while some people claim the ballast (big money to replace) is the problem, my reading is that it is the bulbs themselves are the cause. It seems that the OEM Philips D4S bulb (cat. no. 42402) is a bit suspect and is prone to early failure. There is further evidence for this in a recent Toyota service notice in the States regarding Xenon bulbs on the Prius (same bulb with different fitment) which basically says the above and that any issues are not due to the ballast. Note that Toyota/Lexus are now using Toshiba bulbs rather than Philips. Regarding your second set of bulbs - I'd imagine "cheap ones from eBay" is the problem there!

First thing to do is what you said above - swap your bulbs side to side and see if the problem moves. In fact, when I did this, it fixed the issue! Guess one of my connectors was a little loose! Do you have your old bulbs still? Might be worth putting them in to see if they're ok. If you want to get new Philips bulbs - from memory there are some reputable selling apparently genuine Philips 42402 for approx £70 a pair (much cheaper than that and I'd be suspicious). A previous thread here put the Lexus dealer cost at £165 plus VAT plus labour IIRC! Last I checked I couldn't find any definitely genuine Toshiba (Harison) bulbs around.

[ACLex]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/D4S-TOSHIBA-HARISON-XENON-BRENNER-35W-E4-Toyota-AURIS-/180646044261?pt=DE_Autoteile&hash=item2a0f57e265

Andy

[Blokie]

Thanks guys.

I swapped the bulbs over earlier and left the lights on for about 20 minutes and both remained on. WIll see how it behaves over the next few days.....