2011 Toyota Sienna H11 bulb

[sahmlaura]

I've been reading through and searching the posts, but still need some help.

My low beam just died and I'm trying to figure out the best replacement. It is a Phillips H11 LL (long life?) bulb, I'm assuming the original. I'm tempted by these bright new bulbs I'm finding, but not too thrilled about the short hours they apparently have. I, also, am not finding another H11 LL, so I'm wondering how long the regular replacement H11 will last anyway. Is it not too much longer than these brighter counterparts? What if I bought a bulb from the dealer? Would it be the same lower quality bulb I can buy from auto-zone or would it be like the original in the car and last a really long time? 8-9 years was a great long life for a bulb!

My DRL look like they run off the hi beams, which I think are reflector type while the low beam looks like a projector type, if it makes a difference.

Please help me decide!

Thank you!!
Laura

 

[-Virgil-]

Welcome onto the board here!

LL (Long Life) bulbs produce less light, poorer-quality light, and poorer headlight performance (shorter/narrower beam reach and spread). This is because of what is necessary in order to make a long-life halogen bulb; it can't be avoided. And what's more, they last long enough (in the sense of continuing to light up when you hit the switch) to lose a significant amount of their original performance. At 8 to 9 years, you get severely reduced performance compared to even the relatively meager performance of a new LL bulb. Outside the US/Canada market, most of the world prioritizes maximum seeing and they are accustomed to replacing the headlight bulbs every year or so. That's the smarter approach: yes, buying and changing bulbs is an annoyance, but it's a much smaller annoyance than paying car-repair bills (or hospital bills).

If you buy a bulb from the dealer it will be a good quality low-performance long-life bulb, with a high price tag.

Replace both bulbs. Buy these Philips Xtreme Vision bulbs. Don't substitute another type, especially not a bulb claiming to produce "whiter" light. Look carefully at the headlight lenses to make sure they haven't begun to cloud up; if they have but it's not too badly advanced, use clearcoat-safe car polish-wax to clear it up to perfection. And it is definitely worthwhile to find a shop (maybe dealership, maybe premium body shop) that has an optical headlight aiming machine and pay to have them use it to aim your lights; as described at this page, aim is the most important factor in how well you can see at night. Even new vehicles aren't necessarily delivered with properly aimed headlamps, and after a few years of road shock and vibration and parking lot taps, the lights can be very far out of aim.

(You might want to replace the high beam bulbs, too, while you're at it; prolonged operation in DRL mode gradually reduces their ability to provide full intensity when you need it on a dark road. The best ones would be these.)

 

[-Virgil-]

Oh, look at that -- I put a wrong link; the last one pointed to a bulb that won't fit the high beams. I've fixed it now with the correct link. Thanks, LS400!

 

[Mr. Merk]

Virgil, why not use 9011? Does the Sienna require a cap on the bulb?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Virgil, why not use 9011? Does the Sienna require a cap on the bulb?

I, too, am a bit mystified. High beam lamps don't generally have obscuration caps nor require blacktop bulbs, even when the high beams are also the DRLs. Perhaps the HIR1 in DRL service in that lamp may be a bit too glaring; I would suggest moving the DRL function to the front turn signals (using the DRL-1), and using HIR1 bulbs in the high beams.

 

[-Virgil-]

When I read the original post, I don't see an indication that this is someone who wants to get involved with modifying/trimming bulbs. The HIR1 (9011) requires modification to fit; the linked 9005 fits directly in.

 

[64.5vette]

With how little work 9011 take to fit in a 9005 headlamp, I would hardly even call it a modification. They are a major return for very little investment. I took a Dremel and modified the socket in case one burns out in the middle of no where.

 

[jzchen]

When I read the original post, I don't see an indication that this is someone who wants to get involved with modifying/trimming bulbs. The HIR1 (9011) requires modification to fit; the linked 9005 fits directly in.

I agree, Laura seems to be looking for the exact same bulb that burned out, let alone a shorter lasting upgrade, and even less so having to deal with modifying things to boot. (This is a tough sale as it is). She must have good night/dark vision, unlike me.....