IS250 SE-L headlight bulb

[Jamescokell]

Hi Chaps, 

Long time since i last posted. One of my headlight bulbs has gone. Didn't find the manual terribly helpful regarding what i need to by as a replacement, mine is a 07 IS250 SE-L so am i correct i am after halogen bulbs? and if so any recommendations on the best bulbs?

Regards

James

[Spock66]

Osram Night Breaker are pretty good and available in most fitments, but you would be best to replace both if you don't want your car to appear it's squinting.

[Jamescokell]

You're a star, thank you. Definitely will swap the pair, presuming they're a ballache to change. 
Quick question do i want H4, H7 or H11?

[J Henderson]

An SE-L will have HID headlights. The bulb type is D4S.

Swapping the bulbs is pretty straightforward, but there isn't much room for your hands unless you remove, or loosen and reposition, the air filter box to do the driver's side bulb. Removing the filler neck of the screenwash bottle to do the passenger side bulb, also helps.

 

[Spark plug]

Mine has normal Helagen bulbs. Not sure what year they changed to the deerer HID bulbs...

[Linas.P]

32 minutes ago, Spark plug said:

Mine has normal Helagen bulbs. Not sure what year they changed to the deerer HID bulbs...

Always had from day one. If you have SEL, then you must have Xenon + headlight washers. If you don't have headlight washers, nor hid, or one of them and it is 100% SEL, then I would assume previous accident. It is common to use cheaper halogen headlights and simple bumper without washers (so it also saves money on the piping, pumps etc.) after accident on these cars.

[Spark plug]

Mine was damaged in 2010 and repaired by Lexus. The bill for it is in with the service history. They did me a favour then lol.. Halogen bulbs are so much cheaper to replace when they blow...

[Linas.P]

Well... not exactly... Xenon bulbs last good 6-10 years, whereas halogen bulbs in my experience fail after 1-2 years. Now sure - I tend to drive with lights day and night, because I used to, because in much of Europe that is required by law... but its also common sense, so that obviously reflects in halogen bulbs failing after just a year. In short xenons are cheaper per hour of use by magnitude of times - sure they cost £60-£80, but they work more than 10 times longer.

The other issue - even candle light is better than halogen on IS250, whereas xenons were quite decent in my opinion. Meaning they are also work better and for longer.

Third issue - Xenons do not fail without warning, basically they start to become dimmer and turn pink, but they do not fail completely... and even if they ever fail, you can turn them on and off and they come back to life for some time. Whereas when halogen fail, they fail instantly without warning and unless you have spare and willing to replace it at night in the rain... you will end-up driving with single light or main beam.

So I would not call it a favour. That said I am really surprised Lexus would do this (i.e. replace lights with cheaper inferior units), perhaps owner requested it as I think list price was ~£600 for Xenon unit and something like ~£200 for halogen.

[Spark plug]

Helogen bulbs last a long time if you buy good quality ones. I used to taxi and they lasted for years. my mate had a BMW at the time and replacement Xenon bulbs were a £180  each.  Much easier to find £10 or so then £180...

[Linas.P]

Not sure what times we are talking about, but Xenon bulbs, even the good ones... do not cost £180. Osrams are in that £60-80 range (for 2), maybe up-to a £100, but last time I needed a pair like 5 years ago I paid £45. But again £100 for 8 years isn't that expensive and you get that long warning when they get pink, so waiting 3 months for some sort of discount is totally feasible. 

The only way halogen bulbs last is if you don't use them, good ones are maybe wither/brighter, but they don't really last that much longer and good halogen bulbs are also £20. The other key difference - halogens wear out from use, xenons wear out from turning them on, so once on they can shines basically forever with very little degradation. Basically there is no way halogen outlast Xenon, say "£ per hour". One is in a range of £1/100hours, another £1/1000hours.