Hey everyone,

Siutation here is this -

I've had non-OEM bulbs on my xA for more than a year now, left one's been replaced once with the same kind. They're Redline H4 90/100W/12V bulbs and I've had no problems with them whatsoever.

Last night when I started my car,

- The headlights would not turn on
- The parking lights and high beams functioned as normal
- The blue dash light indicator for the high beams did not work
- The car made a weird electrical humming noise with the engine off but powered on when I would switch the a/c from outside to inside and vice versa.

I took the car to Piercey Toyota in San Jose (which usually has great service). I got a call explaning that the reason for the headlights being out is because I've been using non-OEM bulbs. To me, it sounds like a standard spiel they would give, but would this be the case in my situation? It's surprising to me that all the failures would occur simultaneously...bulbs were good, fuses were good and everything else was OK that I could see before I sent the car off to the dealer.

Could it be that the wiring in the headlight assembly has been damaaged because of the new bulbs (which have worked with no issues for over a year?)

Would appreciate any feedback on this guys and gals. Thanks!

UPDATE: I picked up my car and they had installed the OEM 55/60W Sylvania bulbs in, and they were working. I got home and installed a spare 100W bulb that I had (identical to the failed ones) and it worked fine! Now I'm wondering if there was some kind of power surge that killed off the indicator and the 100W bulbs on low beam....

 

Put the OEM ones back in and take it to another dealer.