Check your bleedin' lights!

Zubeneschamali

On a few runs down the M4/M6 this week I counted cars which passed me or ones I passed, and the number with at least one defective front or back light.

Some days it averaged 1 car in 6, one day 1 in 4 (out of 60!).

I just can't believe the number of folks out after dark with busted lights.

peasant

Sure, isn't there a grand stretch in the evenings now

zilog_jones

What I find worse are bulbs put in arseways or misaligned so that the dipped beams are pointing upwards into my eyes :rolleyes:

JustAddWater

I know!

I've seen this go on for a long time! The amount of cars that either have one working headlight or that put on full beams to compensate is unreal, something uregntly needs to be done about it. Dont know how many times i've had to signal to the car behind to tone it down, blinding me!

cantdecide

zilog_jones wrote: »

What I find worse are bulbs put in arseways or misaligned so that the dipped beams are pointing upwards into my eyes :rolleyes:

Wtf is that about?

Isn't it a bit nuts in this day and age that it seem no matter how careful you are, at least half the time, you end up with the beam all over the place. For the sake of road safety, something should be done about this.

I don't think it's reasonable that you buy a bulb for €8 and you have to spend 3 times that to undo adjustment problems relating to fitting it.

Stiffs

cantdecide wrote: »

I don't think it's reasonable that you buy a bulb for €8 and you have to spend 3 times that to undo adjustment problems relating to fitting it.

If you misalign your lights by replacing the bulb. You deserve to be charged 3 times the price for proper alignment.

Bulbs clip in.. You don't need a hammer or the like to fit them???

_Kaiser_

Stiffs wrote: »

Bulbs clip in.. You don't need a hammer or the like to fit them???

To be fair, it very much depends on the car. Some headlight assemblies are virtually inaccessible without pulling bits off or putting the car up on a ramp.

I know that my own Passat is a major pain to change bulbs on as some genius decided putting the water bottle directly behind the drivers side headlight would be a good idea :rolleyes:

Personally though I hate people who drive around with misaligned or broken lights, but when the Gardai won't do anything about it why should they? :rolleyes:

Just another example of the "ah sure it'll be grand" mindset that pervades EVERYTHING in this country

pa990

it was a lot worse in the days before the nct

no1beemerfan

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

........I just can't believe the number of folks out after dark with busted lights.

Came up behind a car on M7 by Portlaoise last night....with nothing working on the back!

um7y1h83ge06nx

no1beemerfan wrote: »

Came up behind a car on M7 by Portlaoise last night....with nothing working on the back!

Jesus, the driver must be looking to keep things 'interesting'.

"Will I or won't I get ploughed into...?"

Martron

one of my fog lights are gone..... i dont really notice it during the day but at nightime its really annoying.


this was done already. What i dont get is how can you compile such accurate statistics when you should be concentrating on driving instead of counting faulty bulbs!!

R.O.R

I was one of those people this morning - oh the shame

Was pointed out to me by the missus (in her car in front) as we were coming out of the estate. Don't think it's been like that for long as I'm always checking the reflection of the headlights on the car infront.

Fitting a headlight bulb to the drivers side of an 05 Accord it s PITA. You need either tiny hands, or really long arms as there are a couple of pipes in the way. Eventually managed it at lunch, but my hand is scraped to bits.

H1 bulb if anyone is interested. Stock of different headlight bulbs in work FTW :P

whippet

Good man, keep them fog lights on the whole time ... they're gggggreat. :rolleyes:

PS. the clue is in the name, FOG Lights

Martron

whippet wrote: »

Good man, keep them fog lights on the whole time ... they're gggggreat. :rolleyes:

PS. the clue is in the name, FOG Lights

Good man, i wrote that on purpose read the rest of the post you ejit

BlackWizard

Martron wrote: »

Good man, i wrote that on purpose read the rest of the post you ejit

It's not really that obvious. But judging from the gap in between the two paragraphs I just gave you the benefit of doubt and thought it was sarcasm or quoting someone else that I didn't see.

Martron

well it was a fog light joke.

Stiffs

Leave the one "fog light" on AND the full misaligned beams on until your 400 metres to the on coming car on a straight.

Then...

and only then...

when your fully sure you've completely blinded them...

then..

turn your lights to dip..:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

rant!

flynnlives

this may sound like a stupid question put where do i buy and how to i change a bulb?
front left side indicater broke today, want to get it fixed asap, its a astra btw

_Kaiser_

Speaking of bulb fitting...

Any of the VW guys here know why a replacement nearside headlight unit on a 06 Passat (same part number as the original was ordered using the chassis number of the car) would have a different fitting for the H7 bulb itself - ie: the original unit was such that you clipped the bulb in, whereas the new one twists in?

Did VW change the physical unit and keep the same part number by any chance?

slimjimmc

flynnlives wrote: »

this may sound like a stupid question put where do i buy and how to i change a bulb?
front left side indicater broke today, want to get it fixed asap, its a astra btw

All indicator bulbs are the same size, fit, and brightness and are either clear or orange. To find out which you need check the colour of the plastic indicator lens ... if it's orange you need a clear bulb, if it's clear you need an orange bulb.

Go to a Motor Factors or Halfords and ask for an indicator bulb of the approriate colour above (bulb costs about 60c). If you ask nicely and it's not too busy they might even show you how to fit it. Halfords will fit it for you for a few €'s so you should watch closely to see how its done.

Do not fit a clear bulb if the indicator lens is also clear otherwise you'll have a white indicator which is illegal.

zilog_jones

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Any of the VW guys here know why a replacement nearside headlight unit on a 06 Passat (same part number as the original was ordered using the chassis number of the car) would have a different fitting for the H7 bulb itself - ie: the original unit was such that you clipped the bulb in, whereas the new one twists in?

Did VW change the physical unit and keep the same part number by any chance?

If the unit is compatible in every other way they probably wouldn't change the part number. There's probably a revision number somewhere on them. Maybe the headlight unit it replaced wasn't actually the original?

@R.O.R: With a lot of cars these days you're supposed to remove the whole headlight unit to change bulbs. It might save you a lot of hassle (and pain!) to do this, and just keep the relevant tool(s) in your car. I have to do this with my Fiesta as I do not have hands of an 8 year old.

Fighting Irish

zilog_jones wrote: »

What I find worse are bulbs put in arseways or misaligned so that the dipped beams are pointing upwards into my eyes :rolleyes:

I just high beam those people whenever i can

Mc Love

Why dont Gardai stop people for this? You wouldnt get very far in the UK with some misaligned/missing lights

R.O.R

zilog_jones wrote: »

@R.O.R: With a lot of cars these days you're supposed to remove the whole headlight unit to change bulbs. It might save you a lot of hassle (and pain!) to do this, and just keep the relevant tool(s) in your car. I have to do this with my Fiesta as I do not have hands of an 8 year old.

Had a look at that, but it's bolted in place and they aren't in an easy place to get too. I even checked the manual to see what that recommeded - the Japanese must have small hands!

Changed an S40 bulb yesterday and that's a piece of p1ss. Whole unit comes out really easy.

Zubeneschamali

Martron wrote: »

What i dont get is how can you compile such accurate statistics

I have an Excel spreadsheet on my laptop, so it's easy as long as I don't get urgent emails or phone calls while counting cars, although I did pass three cars with bad lights in a row on Wednesday, and nearly spilled my beer.

slimjimmc

zilog_jones wrote: »

What I find worse are bulbs put in arseways or misaligned so that the dipped beams are pointing upwards into my eyes :rolleyes:

I know that in rural areas some people intentionally raise the off-side headlamp to shine upwards in winter. They believe it helps show up potential obstructions (e.g. broken tree branches) on the edge of narrow roads while they're meeting oncoming traffic.