Hey, thanks a lot! I really appreciate your comment. YT obviously pushes creators toward LOOONNNGGG videos but for DIY, I too like concise content that gets me just what I need!

Hey, I'm so glad this might be helpful. If you get stuck, feel free to post a question and I will try to help.

I just had the same experience with another car. I watched a great video on valve adjustments and was happy to pay someone to do it for me!

45 minutes my ass.

$150 is not bad

@@jonphanspromotions really dude?. Nothing beats doing it yourself and saving money.

@@kingj8432 you got me wrong. What I meant is $150 foe the mechanic to do it is not bad if you can’t do it. I know people that tried to do it and made it worse. I always try to do it myself first.

I highly recommend it and considering the age, it might be reasonably priced now. Ours has pretty low miles but almost no significant maintenance.

Hi, was it some sort of UV coating?

You saved me about $350 Instructions spot on. 👍🏼

Just replaced my bulbs and I was able to get the headlight housings out without removing any of the undercarriage bolts.

Thanks for adding to the knowledge base. I'm sure others who try this will appreciate it!

Perhaps you have a later model year and they changed the design (which would have been smart!). Ours is an '06 and I followed the instructions from the '06 factory service manual.

@@ravraid Actually mine is a 2006 too :-) I watched him thru the window. No bumper replacement. It's a small dealership that specializes in Lexus/Toyota/Honda/Acura vehicles so they must have figured out a shortcut. I can't imagine having to remove the bumper each time you have to change a bulb....and I've had a few go out since I bought it. But other than that I LOVE the car! I have a '17 RX350 that never gets driven & probably feels jealous since I picked up the SC! LOL

@@Oivey2000 Could you please advise how much you paid ? I guess I have to do it on my 06 SC as well...

@@DrEproz1236 It was only around $20-$30 or so, if that. The shop I use is independent & works on Asian import brands, and has always been very reasonable.

Ha! I should have done that while I was in there! However, I've read that you don't need to drop the bumper for the turn indicator bulbs but can get access to them by going through the fender liner. Not fun, but still less work than the bumper.

Yep, the bulbs only go in one way. I didn't see a way to get that wrong. My headlights have been aimed fine so I didn't look for an adjustment. I don't think the adjustment would be related to the bulb anyway since it is the reflector that directs the beam and not the bulb itself. It sounds like you've already tried the manual adjustment screws but there is also the auto-aiming mechanism so perhaps that has gone bad?

@@ravraid Thanks for the reply. Mine does not have the self-leveling lights as far as I can tell. I got the vibe from the Lexus certified shop that did some other work they didn't really want to mess with it.

I've only replaced the bulb but I suspect that you'll need to take the same stuff off to replace either and getting new bulbs was easier for me than finding a junked unit. Also, when replacing the bulb, you at least know you are going to get many years of life out of it. The two hours of labor sounds about right but I'd think a Lexus mechanic could do it faster. I think someone in the comments mentioned doing it without dropping the bumper but that seems a bit like magic to me. The whole job isn't that difficult once you know where the fasteners are!

Yes, I believe both headlights have their own ballast unit. Toyota calls it a Computer, Light Control (#85967-24010) for this model year if you need the info.

Ive had the same problem in the past. Removal is the easy part but putting it back together can be challenging. Taking pictures along the way really helps Ive even made diagrams that made jobs easier for me. Hope that helps

It has been a really solid car and very fun to drive. The maintenance has been reasonable but we don't put a lot of miles on it.

Check the roof operation for sure !! Also the CD changers can jam real easy on these. These are awesome cars I have experience with 2 of these cars. Problems with the roof actuation the switches can go bad or cables can get out of whack. CD changer jamming. He has replaced numerous H ID bulbs and ballast as well as heated seat elements. Starter, and there was something with the VVTI he had to do. This is of course on 2 sc430 one a 03 and the other a 07or 08.

I have a 2002 430 for 15 years I've never had an issue I only have 170k miles on it and you wouldn't know if it was running if you stood right next to it.

I have a 2008 SC430 with 87k miles. I have owned it for 11 years and plan to keep it. It's very fun to drive and the service is similar to any other Toyota/Lexus product. The dealer recently changed the timing belt, water pump, and performed the 90K service, about $2400 in total. The timing belt was severely cracked and the water pump was just starting to leak around the studs. I learned from the dealer that the SC430 is an "IC" or in-contact engine, so if the timing belt breaks in operation, the engine valves get damaged. If you can buy it at a good price, I highly recommend changing the timing belt ASAP before it breaks and damages the engine.

Sorry, I don't recall. There were bolts on the top and bottom and they are quiet possibly different. Very likely they'll be between 10-14mm so any metric socket set should have you covered.

ravraid thank you so much for the video. I just replaced my driver side headlight assembly using your video as a reference. All the bolts were 10mm. Actually took me about 2 hours due to a couple of hiccups but got it done!

@@brandonmaiden3927 So glad to hear that - it's my motivation for making videos! Thanks for the bolt size info too. I'll see if I can edit the description so others will know.

Ah, that person just posted the page that I included in the video (0:35), just to help people replace the headlight. The SC430 Factory Service Manual is 5, yes 5, volumes! Stacked up, it is about 15" high! I bought a paper set many years ago but a PDF would absolutely be better, if you can find one. I think Lexus produced a factory service CD so you might find that on ebay.

Yep, a Philips D4S. I got two on Amazon. It's about $55.

Agreed - nutty. I want things designed to *encourage* the owners to fix things themselves!

Simple since the headlight housing needs to be pulled out to get to the bulb. Please comment if you've found a good/cleap source for the headlight assembly. For other cars, I've gotten third-party assemblies (even on Amazon) but I always figured the SC430 sales volume never justified that market.

@@ravraid Very true, I have not been able to find a new head light housing for less than $500.00. They are very expensive. I was able to find a pair of used head light housings and plan to replace the original ones that came with the vehicle. Looks like I will need to remove the balast from the current headlight housing and reinstall into the replacement headlight housing. I will let you know how things go. Thanks

Ack, my bad. I had some trouble with Google Drive awhile ago. I updated the links in the description. Please try again!

They are made by MKS. Something like MKS510 I think.

You should make a video of that! I think the bumper removal is what scares most people off. Someone mentioned in the comments that they saw a Lexus dealership also doing this without removing the bumper; clearly it would be faster.

For bulb selection, I just went by the Amazon fitment guide and ended up with Philips D4S. I don’t know for sure if D2S will work but the Amazon guide seems to indicate it will. I’d certainly check carefully because you wouldn’t want to go to all this work only to have the bulbs fail again!

@@ravraid right I appreciate it!

Yeah, doing something like this for the first time is always a pain but after you've done it, it's no big deal!

Mine is a 2006 and my factory service manual is specifically for 2006. Since models don't change every year, I'm confident some other years are the same or similar but I don't know exactly which. There might be some indications on the ClubLexus website as the forums there are full of folks asking similar things.

@@ravraid thank you! I think we both have Gen 2 of the model, so the steps should be pretty close!