2000 rav 4 new headlights and switching to led

the new ultra clear head lights housings showed up today!
yea....
glad i swapped them in the air con shop!
sort of a pain as 2 bolts snapped off.
a bit of time drilling them out and re tap on the holes and back to ok!
and copper never seize on the threads now.
they will be removed again for when i paint later..

the bulbs that came with the head lights were dim by modern standards...
way too dim for me.
i put back in the ones that were in the housings from the PO.
look better...
waiting for cooler and dark to set them now.

old first
old right

old left

new right

new left

wow that was easy to adjust!
and those
click here for the headlights assys
fit right in to the 2000 rav 4.
and the have both up down and left right.
i have the PO premium sylvania 6000k white bulbs in there now...
lol
as bad as the old reflectors were... this is a 1000% improvement over the old ones...
well worth the time to swap them out!
now i am not sure if i need the LEDs...
i think i will drive it in the rain first and see how it does not with the dark road.

did any one make a bumper cover with the fog light cutouts for the 2000 rav4?

the only thing i wish they would make is the head light adjustment as 2 sections..
one for the high and one for the low reflectors...
now they have it as all together so you have to live with the high beam as too high up...
i like the high beam a bit lower than the choice they have.
i would shoot pix of the down range..
but cameras lie....
they are too sensitive most of the time....

ahh the new front marker turn assys came in last eve!
Dorman 1631386 Front Passenger Side Turn Signal/Parking Light Assembly
and
Dorman 1631387 Front Driver Side Turn Signal/Parking Light Assembly
that was a real good face lift!
and bright too!
i will add pix later.
i have some LEDs for this part on the way to try.
doing the 1157 switch over style
AUXITO 1157 Switchback LED Turn Signal Light Bulbs 2057 2357 7528 BAY15D P21/5W White/Amber Dual Color 3030SMD Chipsets with Projector for Turn Signal Blinker Parking Daytime Running Lights
a bit on the pricy side at 27.00 for 2...
and there is a deal on these 194 style
AUXITO 194 LED Light Bulb 6000K White 168 2825 W5W T10 Wedge 14-SMD LED Replacement Bulbs for Car Dome Map Door Courtesy License Plate Lights, Pack of 10
they popped up for 10 bucks for each pack... so i bought 2!
led 194's for a buck each! wow! i hope they are bright!
they might be higher now.
i hope they work well on the oem style reflectors as the side markers are yellow.
the LEDs tend to have more blue color... not sure if they will be brighter than standard or not.
i may do just one side first and take pix for a side by side pix of the before and after!

has any one tried to find a direct fit fog bulb for the turn signal section?
it could be done easy to turn flash the yellow with a relay.

the switch backs AUXITO 1157 Switchback LED Turn Signal Light Bulbs 2057 2357 7528 BAY15D P21/5W White/Amber Dual Color 3030SMD Chipsets with Projector for Turn Signal Blinker Parking Daytime Running Lights
arrived 06/23/2022 as well as the 194 bulbs
AUXITO 194 LED Light Bulb 6000K White 168 2825 W5W T10 Wedge 14-SMD LED Replacement Bulbs for Car Dome Map Door Courtesy License Plate Lights, Pack of 10
.wow what a BIG change on light!
passenger side as stock:


and driver side as led loop


and driver side as day running light with switch back bulb note: you have to have the marker lights on for this to work.

well they are all in!
WOW are they bright!
and yes i have pix of before and after i will post those later after the pix edit.
i still need to adjust the ps headlight as i had to have it out when i did the running lights mod
i found a harness issue and it was easy to remover the head light so i could do a proper repair on the light harness.

i wish i had the extra 20k for good cameras and computer to edit video for youtube feed..
yea you need a pretty good sized mac to deal with good video edit in 4k these days...
i had one that got stolen from storage back a few years...
darn state farm did not want to pay out...

the i phone did well on the pix.
i think the inside the shop on the shop door pix showed the color and pattern the best from stock premium bulbs to the led.
i bet there is at least 20% better light on the led.
and way more of it on the pattern.

i did driveway gravel here this am so long day after working all night!
lol need zzzzz's!
stay tuned!

sorry guy's been busy on a clients BIG YJ Jeep project.
back on the 2000 rav for a couple of min last night
just a quick swap out
new bulbs for the dome lights front and rear
make sure to turn off the bulb switch front and rear for a few min so the bulb will be cool
for the dome (bayonet base) i used these Cargo LED Extremely Super Bright 30-EX 3014 Chipsets BA9 BA9S 53 57 1895 64111 LED Light Bulbs with Projector For Side Door Courtesy Lights Map Lights 6000K Xenon White 12-24v(Pack of 2)
one number 2 Phillips screw in the front and carefully pry down the whole switch / dome light cover.
it fit right in perfect and is nice and white light now not the washed out dim yellow of the stock bulb.
and washed the Lense with dawn and a finger nail brush and blew dry with the shop air.

ok on to the rear
just be careful when removing the rear cover tilt down from the driver side first as it has fingers on the passenger side
i needed 27 mm festune but all that was out there from auxito was the 31mm...
this is the bulb i used
AUXITO 400 Lumens 1.25 inch 31MM DE3175 DE3021 Canbus Error Free Festoon LED Bulbs 3020 Chipsets for Interior Car License Plate Dome Map Door Courtesy Lights Xenon White, Pack of 2
yes it will fit if you get fussy with it...
and yes like the other bulbs they are nice and bright!
maybe now i can tell if the rear door is still open! lol!
yea before the onboard battery charger i ran down the battery as the rear door was partial open.

i will try to update this with pix and a couple of action pix shot from the inter state and in town so you can see the high low switch over.

when you decide to do the head light switchover to led i would also do the new housings to make sure they are clear and bright.

on to the next part, the rear hatch door replacement in another thread...
and rear suspension rattle... bolt parts on the way for that..
more later.

djk-rav4 said:

THANKS! I didn't have much trouble finding LEDs for the rear, they're common. Replacement for the front didn't seem to be a common size for LEDs in stock at parts stores.

Aside from the improved lighting... if/when I leave the door open it doesn't wear the battery down so much. It's not like these older models turn lights off after 10 minutes for us.

Click to expand...

way brighter than oem as well...
nice to be seen in traffic or at night in snow or fog!
and big difference if you have the 4 bulb system in the headlights!
ball diamond bright! nice for those late night drives on the inter state.
did you do the interior lights yet???

working on yellow fog lights for the front of the rav next..

it has been down for the last 3 months with time belt replacement.
i did all the other stuff while it was down.
i have pix and parts lists as well as tools lists.
make sure to do your time belt every 100 to 150 k at the max.
this one was at over 200 k...
i did not know it was not done.. the service records in the rav said it was done in 2016..
total wrong on the date.
i should be good for another 80-100k miles.