Help/advice Requested Re: '98 Lexus Es300 - Hid & Fog Lights.

[TAMEDV8]

Hi folks,

Will greatly appreciate any input/help provided on this. I have a 1998 Lexus ES300, its stock and has all the original setup.

The headlights are regular stock lights with halogen bulbs, as are the fogs.

Now, what I'd like to do is install an aftermarket HID kit with slim ballasts - for the main lowbeam [i know I know, there will be glare etc... but I plan on aiming the lights a tad lower after the install]. I have already purchased a HID kit with H7 bulbs. And install yellow bulbs from Nokya into the fog lights.

Here is the issue: a) No clue how to install the HID in the lowbeam. [Any tutorial? walk through? anything?]

and B) how to access the fog light bulbs? I have looked under the car, on the sides, from the top... nada, nowhere to access the darn fog lights from behind to replace bulbs.

Please kindly provide any help you can... =)

[TAMEDV8]

Anyone? :)

[BoaR]

Not to long ago I installed hid's for my main lights and planning on doing the fogs in a week or two.

(for the fogs to get access you need to remove the wheel well guard 4 screws then the side blinker to gain access. or if you have access to a full garage lift to completely raise the car properly, you can remove the underbumper splash guard)

Generally, any HID kit should come with instructions. any non piece of crap one anyways.

basically what you need to do is check the H7 bulb for base thickness because thats the only issue i had with my slim kit. the light fit fine, but the OEM lexus snap closing pin had nothing to push up against to firmly lock the bulb in place.

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-check-

--This--

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if its super thin base, you will need to do the steps below. if its thick, then just remove the bulb itself by unsnaping the secure pin and replacing with the HID and re-locking the snap pin.

I removed my entire light housing due to this problem (hid base bulb was too thin). to do that, pop the hood, the plastic guard needs to be removed. there are 2 star screws holding the side blinker lights in place. undo them then PULL the blinker straight out towards the front of the car. it will unsnap. inside the little hole there will be a bolt. undo this + the top bolt to completelty remove the light housing. once loose carefully disconnect the wires.

unsnap the securing wire holding the bulb, put the HID one in, and i placed a homemade spacer after the hid bulb to make sure the clip was pushing down to lock it in place. pass your wires through the hole, using the rubber water guard to seal it up (should be around your kit wires by default and the rubber piece cant even be removed from them). reverse the steps to get the lights back onto the car. omiting re-pluging the light wiring, but replug the blinker wire.

once that is done, your ballast needs to be connected and thats it. red/red blue/blue then ballast connecter to H7 connector of the lexus wire. DONT PUT THE BALLAST ON ANYTHING THAT CANNOT STAND SUPER HEAT. it heats up like a mthrfcker. im not even joking (i have the 35w slims installed and it will feel like lava burned your hand if you touch them after a while). unless you want a hole through your winshieldwasher tank etc... dont attach it to anything like that. I ziptied mine "air mode" / "frame" to the car itself. battery side to the actual car frame bar that runs down, and passenger side making a semi bridge between the winshield washer tank and the fuse relay box. so it is firmly "suspended taught" between them.

its really harder than it sounds (if you dont have HID kit instructions). in all honesty first time i did my own hid install ~ total time 1h for passenger side fighting with it because i didnt know the spacer wasnt fat enough until i pulled the light housing. and only 10min for driver side after knowing wtf i needed to do. ;)

If you want pics i can go take some later to help you out. just let me know.

:)

[Aikibro]

Anyone? :)

Everything below is premised on the fair presumption that your '98 is pretty similarly put together as my '97... but I could be wrong on that.

I also replaced my stock lights with HIDs and just followed the instructions from the manufacturer.

However, to replace the bulbs here's what I did on my 97 ES300:

1. Remove plastic cover from inside of the hood, behind the grill. This exposes the screws you need to access to remove the headlamps.

2. Each headlamp is bolted to the frame by a screw somewhere towards the center, near the radiator. Unscrew that, then using a phillips you can unscrew the opposite side of the headlamp towards the fender. This disconnects the headlamp from the side marker.

3. The side marker must next be removed. It snaps into place and is held there by friction. To remove it, it must be slid towards the front/bumper. This may be tricky, but what I usually do is place a flathead screwdriver against the rubber trim of the marker, that's flus up against the body. Be careful not to scratch the paint, nor to damage the marker/rubber. Place the blade of the screwdriver at a slight cross-angle to the rubber trim (almost as though trying to form a 'T'. Again, taking great care not to create any damage, hit the base of the screwdriver with the heel of your palm. It should shove the marker forward and loose. Not to worry, it's connected by a harness so it won't go flying off into the ether.

4. With the marker removed, there are two nuts along the side of the headlamp holding the lamp in place. Remove these.

5. The lamp can be removed now, wiggle sideways towards radiator, and out. The lamp will be held in place by two harnesses connected one each to the low and high beams.

6. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to remove the bulbs from here, but for the low beam there's a black rubber dam at the back of the headlamp that you need to remove. This can be done by simply grabbing the lip of the dam and yanking it free. Don't worry you won't break anything.

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Fog lights:

1. No need to remove the fender... I too fell for that trap.

2. With the headlamps removed you should be able to see clear thru to the floor of the engine compartment

3. Just behind the bumper in each corner you should be able to see the foglight (gray in my case)

4. Disconnect the harness from the back of the foglight. My technique is to take a flathead scredriver, lift the notch of the harness and simultaneously push down to slide it off.

5. On the foglight, towards the fender there's a bolt held in place by a nut, this is all you need to remove.

6. With the nut removed, grab the front of the foglight with one hand while applying force to the back of the foglight with the other. The goal is to push the entire foglight assembly towards the front and out. The bolt goes thru a hole in the hard plastic behind the bumper, it will feel difficult to remove, but really this is ALL that's holding it in place.

7. Now that the fog light assembly is off, twist to remove the black disc covering the hole at the back of the assembly to access the light bulb.

8. There are two wires inside that cover, one of which runs to the bulb. Slide it out of the notch in the cover/disc by just pulling it loose.

9. Remove the metal clamp holding the bulb in place and presto... you've just removed your halogen foglight.

10. Finally, a reminder not to touch the replacement bulb with your bare hands, especially if the bulb is a halogen.