Hey guys,

So it been about a year plus since I decided to get rid of the yellow OEM 4300k bulbs on the 06 TL. I purchased a set of Philips ultinon D2S 6700k from Japan from Nigel on the Club Lexus forums. The bulbs were a set back about 300$, at least I knew it was a quality bulb and I would not have to change it in the near future,

Fast forward 14 months later, The bulbs have a really nice color to them (purplish white) but I keep having this ongoing issue that started last month. When firing up the bulbs both sides turn on, after a short drive 15-20 min the drivers side bulb will ALWAYS turn off. Simply cycling the bulbs on and off will turn them back on again but after another 10-15min the drivers side bulb goes out again. I also notice sometimes the bulb color switches to a blueish green after repeated re-starts only on the drivers side.

I'm left thinking that only the bulbs can be the issue as turning them off and on again works as a temp bandaid. Both lights fire up without problems.

Is it possible that its a bad bulb? Could it be a ballast issue? (overheating of the ballast maybe turns the bulb off? after x amount of minutes)

I just bought the new XB5500k bulbs from TRS and want to make sure I only do the job once, should I just change the bulbs or does this sound like a ballast issue?

 

well, we dont know.

You're going to have to trouble shoot the bulbs and ballast.

take the problem bulb and switch it to passenger side. see if problem follows, if it does follow...bad bulb.

if problem doesnt follow bulb, test out ballast the same way.
switching sides to see if the problem follows the ballast.

 

This.

Chaaaances are its the bulbs, at least, let's hope it is. Taking the bumper off is a 15 minutes thing.

 

hoping its the bulb!

 

Lol hoping so too, taking apart the bumper wasn't fun considering all the clips that broke... thank god for black tie wraps lol... + had high hopes for these ultinon 6700k bulbs but they only lasted a year.

 

Buy some clips off eBay or something. They're dirt cheap and well worth it over tie wraps. :P

 

You don't have to take your front bumper off to get to your headlight bulbs. Just go through the wheel well, at first I thought it was going to be a tough job but it's easy once you get it down.

 

Here's a link to the thread about changing your bulb without removing your front bumper:

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...-004-a-598853/

 

HOLY small hands batman!!!!!!!

im freakin asian and have pretty small hands. (shuddup, I have small gloves)

BUT for the life of me, its too hard to squeeze my hand through the wheel well, while trying to unscrew the tiny screw.

it takes less than 10 mins to take the bumper off.
while it took like 20 mins, fighting to get my hand up the wheel well.


Plus, OP doesnt even know if its ballast or bulb.
Good luck diagnosing ballast in tight quarters!

 

Yeah I've seen the wheel well tutorial and I really don't understand the aversion to taking off the bumper to work properly rather than trying to save time/effort by squeezing your hand in weird places and ending up taking more time/effort...
Either I'm super pro at taking off the bumper or some people really think it's harder than it is.

 

LOL! At first I was like shit...how am I supposed to fit my hands in there?? Haha, but I used a small flat head screwdriver to unwind the screw, it only takes a few turns bc it's that small. But once I have a reason to take off my front bumper then I'm sure I'll get that process down fast. It used to be the same way with my Civic, once you tried it once then the other times it's that much easier to take the bumper off.

Hope you figure out the problem OP!

 

It's a bad bulb. I had the exact same issue as you. Both bulbs powered up and my passenger would turn off after a few minutes.

Cycling the bulbs off and back on again would power both on and the passenger would turn off a few minutes later again.

Contacted TheRetroFitSource.com about my problem and they sent me a replacement bulb. Problem solved.