Six or seven headlight bulbs in 16 months

**GuyD5** · Wednesday 1st June 2005, 18:32

Hi All

I've just replaced a headlight bulb for the sixth or seventh time since I bought the car 16 months ago. They seem to go on an alternative side basis, ie nearside this time, offside next time. One blows about every 8 to 12 weeks. It doesn't seem to make any difference whether I run with them on all the time or only switch them on at night. They are standard generic H7 bulbs, nothing fancy 'cos I can't afford to keep replacing them

Anyone got any idea what might be causing this to happen, could this be a power-surge or something which causes them to blow, but if so why does it only blow one at a time and not both together.

I tried replacing them as a pair with slightly more expensive ones (£15/pair), keeping the 'old' unblown one as a spare ... it made no difference to the cycle, they continued to blow alternately.

Cheers for any ideas

**p fandango** · Wednesday 1st June 2005, 19:34

are you keeping your fingers well away from the glass when you fit them?

**GuyD5** · Wednesday 1st June 2005, 19:38

yes mate .... slide the sleeve off and insert into orifice without touching

**p fandango** · Wednesday 1st June 2005, 19:41

Originally Posted by GuyT5

slide the sleeve off and insert into orifice without touching

then i haven't a clue mate, BT is totally opposite & i think i've only had to replace 3 bulbs in 6 years

**GuyD5** · Wednesday 1st June 2005, 19:51

thanks anyway Duane, hopefully someone else will have the answer

**bigndaft** · Thursday 2nd June 2005, 11:32

Mine have both blown on different occasions in the last couple of months, had the car 6 months now and have decided to turn the daylights off to see if thats whats causing it, I suppose they only have so many hours life expectency?

**vt5** · Thursday 2nd June 2005, 21:25

My prediction on this is it will fix itself in time.....mine has done.

Mine did the same for at least the first year after i bought it. Now it seems to be fine though...so whatever it was i guess it fixed itself.

General bulb advice though.......everyone knows dont touch them
If you switch bulbs on then off quite quickly then they tend to blow faster.

If it was a power surge then the fuse would blow before the bulb.

Perhaps its heat build up in 850 engine bays????? could be a design fault issue.