Silver Yaris

New lights fitted - yeah! Even with dropping the bumper & being very careful as I wanted to try and sell the drivers side light (as it wasn't broken), a part broke off it as I removed it which had clearly gone brittle over time. Never mind, nightmare now over 👍

I do love my little Yaris & I love a bargain too as I imported the lights way cheaper than Toyota UK which made them only fractionally more expensive than non oem ones from the likes of eurocar parts 👍

Yes, new headlight units have arrived (imported from Toyota Japan) so I know for certain they are the right ones as they matched them to my VIN. Just haven't had a chance to take a look as yet as full of flu 🤮

Hi snowballs, Toyota don't sell the clip separately & universal ones won't fit. That's the main reason I've had to go down the route of new headlamp units.

Ian, after hunting high and low for a solution to my problem (I didn't want to pay £30+ for a 2nd hand unit that may break like mine has) I've ordered 2 new headlamp units. How easy is it to swap the units? I know there are bolts at the top of the lights themselves but do I have to drop the bumper or anything else to gain access to swap them?

Quick update on this, whilst trying to fit the retaining spring / clamp (bearing in mind that it's no longer attached to the headlamp) it's shot off in to the engine bay somewhere & I can not find it. Been to Halfords to see if any of their universal clamps will fit & they won't, they reckon it needs to be the original which I've no longer got & doubt that Toyota will sell them given that they are supposed to be attached / part of the headlamp unit itself. The guy at halfords suggested trying to put some heat tape around the bulb to almost wedge it in place but I'm not convinced that will work. Any other suggestions before I end up going down the route of a new unit?

This is the clamp in question. Unless I'm mistaken, it's supposed to be attached to the headlamp unit? I'm going to fit it anyway & see if that sorts things out.

Hi all, A headlight bulb blew yesterday and when I removed the bulb this morning the clamp that holds the bulb in place completely broke off the back of the headlamp unit. I have fitted the bulb in and tried to get the rubber seal around it as best as I can (which to be fair is doing a good job) but the beam seems to be sitting a bit on the high side which will be due to the bulb probably not sitting 100% right. I am going to remove it again over the weekend and see if I can get it to sit any better but failing this, do I have any options other than to replace the unit itself to ensure that the bulb sits as it should? I have been scanning ebay and can see that you can buy 2 x brand new headlamp units from various suppliers for under £100 has anyone done this and are they any good as when I look at Toyota prices they are £200 each? Also, some places are suggesting that the T-Sport headlamp units are different from the standard 2003 - 2005 Mk1 Yaris - is this correct? My Yaris is due an MOT at the end of next month and I am conscious that it will more than likely fail at the moment unless I either come up with a fix to my problem using my current headlamp unit or replace it so that the beam is correct. The only things that concerns me with replacing them both is ensuring that beam is set to the right level (which I am sure any decent garage could do) and ensuring that the motors work for adjusting the height of the beam. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Martin

Which bulb did you go for in the end as one of mine has died today so I may as well upgrade both although I am seeing mixed reviews for both of these bulbs so not sure on either or if there is a better option?

I was looking for a set of steel wheels to put my winters on to as I didn't want to have to pay to swap the tyres in December & then again in March every year on to my OEM alloys. I kept my eyes peeled on Facebook market place, ebay, etc and managed to pick up 4 OEM Mk2 Yaris alloys for £100 that were almost perfect condition. Don't bother with steels as you can get 2nd hand alloys for cheaper which also look better than steels & won't rust like steel.

There is a difference between the French & Japanese built Yaris which is why it won't fit. If you search on eBay for one most will advise if it's for French or Japanese. If you don't know if your car is French or Japanese the VIN will start with VNK on French & JTD on Japanese. Another way to check is if you use a spanner, the nut on a Japanese car is 10 mm and on a French car 13 mm. I replaced the rear arm on mine for less than a tenner & simply bought a new blade from my local Toyota dealer. If you have a Japanese built car then you will need a wiper arm removal tool which can be found on eBay for £5.

I would remove the light clusters in the 1st instance & clean up before buying any parts as if they were anything like mine, they will have years of dirt and grime in there clogging everything up and most likely forcing water in to the boot. As per advice that I had earlier in this post (and after cleaning the light clusters & refitting), lift the carpet, get in the car, drop the rear seats so that you have a clear view of the boot and get someone to pour a bucket of water over the rear of the car. That way, you will know for sure if you need to do anything else or whether just cleaning everything up has fixed the problem. After I have sorted mine, I left my carpet up to dry out & we have had horrendous rain here in Manchester and my boot is bone dry for the 1st time in years

Just thought I'd share some pics of what I found when I removed the rear light clusters (pics are of the passenger side but the driver's side was just as bad). In hindsight, it may not have been the seal that was gone, just a build up of dirt over the last 14 years that left the water with no where else to go other than in to the boot. It's a 2 minute job to remove them as only 1 bolt & 1 electrical connector after removing the interior clip panel so worth giving them a clean out before winter to prevent any leaks.

All fitted yesterday afternoon without the need for any kind of adhesive or sealant. I have emptied the boot, lifted the carpet, dropped the rear seats, etc. so that I could properly see if there was any water getting in now with the new seal in place & my wife pouring a bucket of water over the rear of the car - thankfully none so it looks like job done. Thanks to all who commented on this thread

Might have to use some sealant as this new seal will not seal tight the whole way around even though I've cleaned off the old residue which kind of defeats the object of a new seal