First Post. Headlight Assembly Soup.

Hello all. Found you on the Google. Read some very thorough and helpful forum threads. Many of you are not only very knowledgeable, but very generous with your insights. Thank you for that.

I have been driving a manual 1999 SR5 for 20 years (since 2004), now with 238K and just bought a 2022 SR5 Premium. Already miss the 1999 turning radius and narrower width, but enjoying many of the new additions to car tech in the last 25 years.

Here is my question. Bought the 2022 used (clean title)--had been in a rental fleet (... now I know). All seemed to be well on it. Did the 60 mile Cathedral Valley loop in Capitol Reef the first weekend. Pleased with the performance. However, on the drive home, noted that the high beams did not work.

Now a few weeks later, after changing bulbs, fuses, and more through investigation, it turns out that both headlight assemblies have been replaced (and somehow they are different!), with not the original part, and completely rewired to make them work (splicing and electrical tape). Whoever did it clearly went to great effort to do it, but odd that they didn't use the same lamp. They each only have two wires in, with one not used. The DRLs work, but the high beams do not.

After reading some great forums on here, it sounds like many owners are not happy with the factory installed headlights and have been swapping theirs out. So... here area a few questions I have... maybe some of you on here would be able to point me in the right direction:

• How can I identify the exact part that has been installed, as neither is the original (where would I find the part number on the assembly), or is there another way to tell? I looked and found the part number for the dust gasket around the bulb backing, but that is all I could see.
• Any ideas why the high beams wouldn't work with the new assembly (and wouldn't need all three wires)? Likely culprit?
• Even with the current odd setup, I am fine with the assemblies currently in place, but just want to get the high beams working. Does it seem that should be possible (with different fuses/wiring for example), even if they aren't the right assembly for the model year?
• Finally, dealership (not where purhcased) recommended that I replace the whole thing with the original parts, and pay them a fortune. Not planning to do that, but wondered if I were to have to replace the current assembly in order to get my high beams, given all of the talk on here, should I go back to factory originals or use something else (balancing price and performance). Dealership (expectedly), also strongly recommended against OEM parts due to it causing computer errors (seems unlikely based on all of the threads about upgrading, but also a few similar recommendations for finding original Toyota parts).

That is long. Any insights, or condolences... appreciated.

Thank You!

 

Can’t comment on anything you asked other than to share that the LED headlights from factory on my ‘23 ORP are really nice. I don’t care for the little tab ‘spot’ in the pattern, but light output is great and high beams do well on dark county roads. I also have a ‘22 F-350 Super Duty with factory LEDs which are exceptional.

Here and in Ford forums I see Morimoto as the most popular aftermarket LED assembly. Many seem to have reliability issues, but seems most really like them when they do work. I’d venture a guess yours are Morimoto or perhaps AlphaRex. I can’t give any clues to identify simply because I’ve not ever had those.

Best of luck and I’m certain you’ll have many here able to help more than me. I’ll also suggest you post up several photos to help others identify them.

 

OP, no judgment, but it almost sounds like it got into an accident and they(previous owner/operator) repaired it as cheaply as possible to get it back on the road. There would be no reason to replace the excellent factory LED lights with two different (!) lights and then to wire up only the low beams.

If you post a photo of the lights and the modified wiring, then maybe the braintrust here can identify the parts and see if a connection to the high beam can be restored. It is hard to say what needs to be reverted if no one knows how it currently sits.

 

Welcome. Without pictures of the front and back on the headlight assemblies, as well as the wiring, it would be difficult to know. If you’re in Utah, I’m happy to take a quick look.

 

welcome

 

It sounds like they put some cheap FB marketplace headlights on there. Likely the halogen model since marketplace is flooded with them. Those were 2 wire low with a different connector than 2021+. If they had used any 2021+, there would potentially be lost functionality but there would be no splicing. I would look for some LED takeoffs from a 2021 Limited/Pro or anything 2022+

 

??

 

I appreciate the comments, suggestions and questions.

Pictures posted below. I know it’s hard to tell what’s going on on the inside. Is anyone able to tell which assemblies those are on the outside?

 

I am in Utah. Salt Lake County, Millcreek. Would love a second opinion if you are in the area. Thanks for the offer!

 

From the looks of it, the passenger side is not OEM and not LED. Looks like someone just put aftermarket halogen headlight replacements in and hacked it up.

 

Clarification on dealership. When the high beams wouldn’t work, I had tried changing the bulbs, fuses, and relays… all without success. I took it to an official Toyota dealership for service thinking it must be a computer issue that they might be best equipped to resolve (this was not the place where I had purchased it). They were the ones that identified that the headlamp assemblies were not original (something I had not even considered) and recommended replacing w new original parts, harness connectors and pins. They quoted $3500 for the parts and labor (~10% of the cost of the vehicle and isn’t really an option). I’m hoping to be able to get the high beams working as is, but if not possible then to minimize cost.

 

I sent you a PM with my number. I work pretty close to you, in Midvale, and can take a quick look sometime this week.

 

@steelevo @canyonsoup when you meet up, if it’s determined you are going to go back to OEM LEDs and need new connectors on the truck side, PM me. I thought I was ordering 2 sets of connectors for some relay trigger harnesses I was making. Turns out is was 2 sets of 10ea. So I have some spares