iamfiredup

Well, I stand corrected. I had checked the fuses and relay for the head lights. I had taken the bulbs out and *visually* inspected them. Everything looked fine. I drove by the local auto parts store and purchased a 9003 bulb. Whilst I was there I installed it and it worked great. Somehow I blew up the two low beams at the same time. Very strange.

Nope, they are Nokya aftermarket bulbs. I have used these in the past with no probs (except for putting higher wattage bulbs in my Dodge). I haven't yanked the bulbs yet to test the connection or look at the filaments. Just wanted to get some ideas before I got down and dirty with them :D

I typically drive around town with my low beams and fogs on both day and night. I do it to increase my visibility on the road since I don't have day light running lights. As you know they turn off automatically when I take the key out of the ignition. Well, today I noticed that only my fogs were on and that both low beams are off. My high beams work just dandy. I have checked the left and right fuses found under the hood and they are in good shape. I find it odd that both of my bulbs could die on the same day due to the bulbs being bad themselves. Can anyone suggest something else to try? Are there any fuses/relays that could affect this? Thanks in advance!

Well, I decided (for now) to go with a set of the blue halogens (90watt low/100watt high). I needed a quick fix for my night vision (or lack there of) issue. And to be quite honest, I am very impressed with the output of light that it gives! Hopefully in the near future I will get the real deal. Until then, I am quite pleased! Brenden

It's not actually in the steering column, at least not on my LS. If you look at the right side of the steering column where it meets the dash, look a little more to the right then down a few inches, there is what looks like a mini air vent. On the opposite side of that 'mini air vent' is where the connection is made, so you might need to yank the lower part of your dash to get to it...presuming it is in the same location. I hope that is helpful! Brenden

Well for those of you who care, here is what I found out. I had some free time the other day so I ventured down to my local Lexus dealer to see if they could quote me for repair on this issue. The service manager called out what he called 'his top guy' for me to bounce my question off of. When his guy came out, immediately he wanted to take a look at my vehicle. After quick inspection, he asked if he could quickly take it in the shop. I agreed to his request. Just after 5 minutes, the guy was back with my car and it was all fixed gratis! Apparently, there is a wire or tube (not sure which) which goes to a little vent looking device just to the bottom left of the steering wheel that was detached (probably by the cheepo mechanic who fixed my instrument cluster issue) He quickly reattached it and all was good. According to the service manager, this dealership has one of the highest CSI's in North America. Whether that is true or not, they just one my business. Brenden

Hmmm. Some aftermarket ballasts work better than others. I belive some luxury brands do use Philips ballasts as OEM. Make sure that when they say they are Philips HID's that it is the ballast as well as the bulb. I have found that when they claim that, it is just a Philips bulb. As for the auto-levelling, that is actually in the headlight casing itself and not the ballast or bulb itself. One thing to keep in mind as well is that when HID's break, it is usually the ignitor. Some ballasts have the ignitor built in, others are separate. If the ignitor goes bad, it is less expensive to replace a separate ignitor than the ignitor/ballast combo. I have also heard that hella ballasts have issues, but I haven't been able to get a solid confirmation on it. Brenden

They in fact do have a glass housing. ...and as long as it doesn't burn up my wiring, connector to the bulb or my fuse system, I will be pleased as punch! I do understand that with the higher wattage bulbs, I will need to boost the amperage on the fuse for the headlights. Regarding the HID's in the price range you mentioned, my experience is that (depending on the manufacturer) the hid bulb is poorly glued to an H4 (9003) base. A sign of a quality HID bulb is that it is actually manufactured into the base and not glued. If you know of any less expensive HID kits that have this quality that I might have missed, I would be open to suggestions! Brenden

So here is the scoop. I know that the whole headlight thing has been rehashed many times over in this forum. I am not looking for any recommendations on bulbs, HID or not (I have done 6 months of research on products and brands [yuk! ]). I do have a question that is not easily researched unless someone has experienced it themselves. For now, I have made the decision to go with a higher wattage, wannabe HID, blue halogen bulb (for those of you who don't know, even though these bulbs say *xenon* on them...they have absolutely NO xenon gas in them...just a blue halogen [fyi]). I have placed these bulbs in my 1998 Dodge Stratus with DISASTEROUS results. Apparently, late model Chrysler products use something called a data bus electrical system that when you use a device (such as a headlight) that pulls more wattage than it's supposed to, it freaks out this data bus system. Well, I don't want the problems of having this with my nice, shiney, new (to me ;-)) 1994 LS 400 to walk away with the same problems. I need more visibility at night (I do mostly night driving) and am not quite prepared to shell out $600 bones for a quality HID system. Has anyone placed these higher wattage bulbs in their LS? Anything I should be cautious of? I am very interested in a report from anyone that has used them for a year or longer. Sorry for the disertation (sp?) but I don't want to repair electrical damage, especially in a Lexus ($$$!). Thanks in advance. Brenden

A weird thing just started happening with my climate control in my 1994 LS 400. Even though I have my A/C on and it is set on inside air, it will only blow cold when the temperature is set to MAX COLD. If I bump it up off of MAX COLD to like 65, it blows HOT!!! Can anyone point me on the right direction to fix this? Brenden

I actually have this issue of vibration right now. When I purchased my LS 1 month ago, the engine was smooth as silk. I since have had the fan bearing mount (don't know the actual part name) replaced and it has had a lot of vibration ever since. Could it be caused from the belts being too tight?