armashi

So for the past 6 months i was having intermittent flickering issues on the driver's side of my car. It would flicker for a couple weeks then stop for a couple months then pop back in. Yesterday it started up again after some dormancy and it was the worst it's ever been. Even after I pulled into my garage and the car was standing still, it was still flickering.
My Passenger side headlight has been absolutely problem free. Until tonight. When my lights came on, the passenger side looked like that incredibly gay 40,000k rice boy crap. It's been like that all night and I don't think it's going back.
Funny thing is, as bad the driver side flicker was yesterday, it was nowhere to be seen today. It shone bright and strong without the slightest hiccup. So it went from being the worst it ever was to perfectly normal within a day. Usually the bad to better turnaround takes a week or two.
In any case, I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I'm going to have to change both bulbs. But are these some crazy symptoms or what? Anyone have any thoughts?

db22

Perfectly normal for an RL. You will have to change the bulbs. For some reason the RL is about the only car thats infected with this issue but there are a lot of us that had to cure this plague.
cheapest = EBay bulbs and DIY. expensive = dealer.

rtr

it's called your bulb is worn out and happens on any car with hid's. no big deal.

getakey

Actually, it can be a big deal depending on old the bulb is. IMHO, a bulb that costs $400 to replace should not wear out in 3 or 4 years. The flickering is well documented on this site as a problem that occurs prematurely and many dealers have replaced for free.
I looked up the mean time between failures for HID bulbs (don't have the data handy) and they should last a fairly long time.

Dopes6070

There are so many variables with Xenon bulbs you have to take lifetime ratings with a grain of salt. There are a few things that really shorten their life though. One of them is the Auto on/off that the RL has. Whenever you go somewhere that’s not brightly lit like under a bridge they flick on then back off after a few seconds when you get back into a bright area. Every ignition cycle the bulbs and ballasts go through shortens their life. Think about the igniters on your stove, they wear a bit every time they spark and they quit working once the gap gets so big the electricity can’t jump across the electrodes. This is the same deal just in a different application. The more they turn on and off the quicker they wear out. Now if your commute is 1 hour and you use the lights in manual mode they will probably outlast the spec whatever it is.

If I remember correctly it’s around 8000 hours. Just be thankful it’s that good. The company I work at makes a piece of equipment that uses a 250w Xenon bulb that costs $800 and only lasts 300 hours.
If I remember correctly its around 8000 hours. Just be thankful its that good. The company I work at makes a piece of equipment that uses a 250w Xenon bulb that costs $800 and only lasts 300 hours.

getakey

Understood. 8000 hours is a long time. Even if frequent on/offs cut the life in half, the bulb should last more than 4 years.

Dopes6070

My mistake I just checked and Wikipedia lists the life as 2000 hours... I was thinking of my DLP TV with 8000 lol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlamp

I see 05-06 Lexus RX's all the time with flickering and out headlights. My bulbs went till around 80k miles b4 they needed to be replaced because of flickering.

white05rl

I purchased direct replacements (same brand, etc.) on Amazon. Both bulbs AND Saturday delivery was about $140.00.

I installed them myself in about 90 minutes total. The Dealer quoted me $276ea installed!

DurgyNess

Dang thats crazy, 140?
when my RL had this problem i replaced it with xenonworks hid's and it was like 25 for the set. came with 2 year warranty too

armashi

Thanks for all the feedback gentlemen. I guess what had me most confused was the incessant flickering stopping immediately as the other headlight turned purple. I think I turned this forum upside down trying to find anything even similar or mentioning a color changing headlight. For a sec I was worried that both headlights are linked and something was terribly wrong. I guess I'll just change out both bulbs and see what happens.
I'm not trying to get any crazy colors, I'm fine with 4100-4300k bulbs, but does anyone have any good, reliable, and cheaper suggestions than the stock Sylvanias?

white05rl

The stock replacement bulb is on Amazon for less than $45ea.

http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-39659...3017832&sr=8-2

kbmedia1

Sweet!!! My driver's side has been doing the exact same thing, I though it was a loose connection or something.

Now to figure out exactly how to replace it, since those baby's are packed in there pretty good. Seems like you have to almost take the whole engine out to replace the bulbs...(totally over exaggerating here).

white05rl

You can do either side with a minimum of disassembley. I did both in about 90 minutes without removing the bumper (the dealer quoted $276/ea installed). Now that I have the experience, I bet it could be done in forty-five minutes. Here's a thread you'll find useful:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ight=white05rl

Blazing GT

damn, my headlight turned pink.

I thought my car got sick

but its way too cold to pull apart the headlights....sigh...


this car

037

swap the bulbs out, 10 minute job tops.