Avensis Mk1 Aftermarket Headlight plus original leveling motor

[Sat312]

I have a Avensis Mk1 CDX 4 door saloon and recently had a prang resulting in broken headlight. Anyway rather then forking out £105+VAT on OEM part I decided to try an after market headlight from Amazon £35. The manufacturer is DEPO a Taiwanese company.

The item came without bulbs or the leveling motor so I took these from the old unit.

The problem I am having is that after following instructions to the hilt the leveling motor doesn't seem to raise or lower as before. I think when fitting the motor the plastic shaft isn't enaging in the winding mount in the headlight. Is there a method to how the leveling motor should be mounted?

I would be grateful if anyone could provide some advice.

[fastbob72]

Not  that this will be particularly useful or wgat you would want to hear but I bought aftermarket foglamp for my 2002 T22 1.8 vvt-i.These were from eBay rather than Amazon but smilar price at £40 each though I can't remember what the make was but I'm pretty sure they were from Tiawan or China.The quality isn't that great and the silvered part of the inside housing which the bulb fits through actually came loose while fitting the bulbs and although I was able to use a thin screwdriver to push it back into place from through the apeture at the back it tells you what the overall quality of the aftermarket replacements are.

You'd have been better getting a good 2nd hand headlight from a scrapper or eBay.Although in my experience finding a Mk1 T22 in the scrapyard isn't easy.For my last M.O.T but one I needed rear seat belts.I'd wrecked the inertia reels on both when I'd removed the plastic fittings around the boot/parcel shelf area to access the strut tops when fitting lowered suspension.Couldn't find one in any breakers,none for sale spares and repairs in the local rag so in the end I adapted a pair from a Vectra,plenty of those in the breakers lol.

[Sat312]

Many thanks for your advice. I got the light fitting sorted today. It happened to be the motor shaft wasn't engaged in the socket so it wasn't able to push/pull the silver housing. I had to use a long flat screw driver under the plastic socket and carefully levered it until I heard it snap into place. As an after market item goes I was sweating as there may be a good chance the plastic may be of weaker construction and snap.

Anyway it worked and headlight is in place and working as expected. As for the quality it's really not too bad. In fact the materials are fairly good but time will tell. The seller on Amazon states that the headlight is assurance approved but I can only take their word on that statement 🤨

Problem with scapper is that you don't know what degree of yellowing the light has. I did concider this option but the price was the same or more then the after market part. At least with this I have a one year warranty.

So the conclusion is that well known after market manufacturers have a reputation to hold so they must be trying to produce quality products which come close to the original parts without becoming too expensive. In my case DEPO seems to be well known but again time will tell 😉 As long as I can get through MOT next month I'm good. I will buy original in the coming summer.

[Konrad C]

1 hour ago, Sat312 said:

Many thanks for your advice. I got the light fitting sorted today. It happened to be the motor shaft wasn't engaged in the socket so it wasn't able to push/pull the silver housing. I had to use a long flat screw driver under the plastic socket and carefully levered it until I heard it snap into place. As an after market item goes I was sweating as there may be a good chance the plastic may be of weaker construction and snap.

Anyway it worked and headlight is in place and working as expected. As for the quality it's really not too bad. In fact the materials are fairly good but time will tell. The seller on Amazon states that the headlight is assurance approved but I can only take their word on that statement 🤨

Problem with scapper is that you don't know what degree of yellowing the light has. I did concider this option but the price was the same or more then the after market part. At least with this I have a one year warranty.

So the conclusion is that well known after market manufacturers have a reputation to hold so they must be trying to produce quality products which come close to the original parts without becoming too expensive. In my case DEPO seems to be well known but again time will tell 😉 As long as I can get through MOT next month I'm good. I will buy original in the coming summer.

Mk1 early generation ('97-'99) Avensis headlights are made of glass, to should not "yellow" like the much later plastic lenses on the Mk2/3. Not sure about the Mk1 facelift though.     

[Byzii]

Glad you got it working!

And as far as aftermarket headlights go, you really can't go wrong with Depo, they're considered the best.

Especially when you take into account the price of original new headlights it's a no-brainer. Where I'm from one original headlight unit will set you back 500€! That's 1000€ for just the two headlights! The price is so ridiculous that when you go to the dealer they'll recommend to buy Depo ones since the quality is good enough to easily hold up for years, especially if you protect them.

[Sat312]

FYI, I got the unit from Amazon market place UK for £34. The main dealers are selling for £125 per unit.

Glad to hear DEPO are reliable brand 😁

@Konrad C, the DEPO is glass also. Good to know. Thanks for that piece of info 🙂