I am at the end do my rope, the drivers side lo beam keeps blowing. I'll start by going to when I bought the car. Two years ago when the car was mew to me I installed sylvania zxe bulbs. Then two weeks ago the ds went out, I replaced it with a spare I had it blew instantly. So I tried the one from the passenger side it burned fine. So this time I bought some hids. They burned for about two days then the ds flickered and went out. Bulb had blown so I removed the ballast and reinstalled a good bulb from my spares it blew immediately. I've traced the wires and can't find any corrosion or nicks that way cause a short. Any help would be appreciated

 

I'd safely say it's aftermarket vs OEM light bulb. Toyota is known to be very sensitive to proper electrical parts specs. EG, on wify's Rx300, a bad light bulb warning light been on the dash for years, and all lights work fine. But she has several aftermarket bulbs installed at 150 000 miles, of course.

 

Go back to std bulbs. HID's don't handle "daytime running lights" use very well and the "brighter" bulbs just have a shorter life. Remember to replace in pairs and wear gloves to avoid touching the bulb and leaving oily deposits behind that will shorten bulb life.

 

I should have said this to begin with I am not a newbie and this is not my first rodeo the bulbs are not the problem they are clean and new and the same kind run just fine in my tundra and my 92 trail rig(in bouth for about 3 years now). The point is something on this car is causing the bulbs to blow the filiment no hot spots on the glass from moisture or grease I was just wandering if anyone else had had this issue before I go to toyota and pay them a arm a leg and my first born for them to fix it

 

It kinda makes your think like you are going crazy doesn't it! I'm having the same issue with my '07 TCH. The headlights work intermittently on the driver's side. I thought it was the bulbs, but when I go to replace them, I see the filament still intact! Everything from the bulb back is fine! Don't have a clue as to what this issue is....

 

An often overlooked point in troubleshooting automotive electrical problems is the ground. Most vehicles use a chassis ground, with a terminal on a wire screwed into the body somewhere, often more than one terminal to a body point. you might want to go through as many as you can find with a 1/4 drive an firmly tighten them. Be careful to just tighten the connection, not break a screw.

If you live in an environment that encouraged corrosion, it might be advisable to remove the screw, clean the connectors and terminal point, and coat them with terminal grease (lightly) before reassembling.

This is more of a procedure from working on old cars, but "Sometimes you gotta go Old School on s**t."

 

I agree with RadioTek that a lot of electrical issues involve grounds (and each headlight has its own ground). In this case, each headlight has its own relay in the under hood junction block. Pull the left side headlight relay and check for corrosion. Clean everything well and re-seat the relay and see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, do the same inspect and clean at the headlight connection. Last place will be to trace and check the ground.