Dip lights keep blowing

madalig12

Hi, myself and my wife both have 307's and I'm forever changing the dip bulbs, this week both cars are down to one each again. I've tried changing both at the same time but it still happens. I've gone through 7-8 between us in the past 18months. Any ideas?

TheBody

madalig12 wrote: »

Hi, myself and my wife both have 307's and I'm forever changing the dip bulbs, this week both cars are down to one each again. I've tried changing both at the same time but it still happens. I've gone through 7-8 between us in the past 18months. Any ideas?

I gonna bet your car has H7 headlamps. I've the same problem with my ford focus. I was having a chat with the owner of an autofactors and he was saying he'd be out of business if it wasn't for those bulbs!! I'm sure he was joking but they are a pain in the neck.

The Pontiac

Seems you're not the only one. Every fifth car I see on the road these days and I think it's a motorbike. A conspiracy theory would be that manufacturers are shorting the life-span to sell more bulbs.

7-8 bulbs in 18 months is a bit excessive though. Surely a fault somewhere.

colm_mcm

You can get heavy duty bulbs that might solve it. It could also be an earthing problem causing them to blow.


I'd check the following:

Any moisture in the headlight units?
Connections to the bulbs not melted or rusty?
Headlight units loose?

MugMugs

Two things. One helpful and the other just stating the obvious. Not withstanding the fact that your cars are French which seem bulb hungry anyway, are you touching the bulb when putting them in? This can reduce lifespan.

bazz26

Can depend on the quality of the bulbs used also. Cheap stuff from the Far East on ebay tend to only last pi$$ing time.

Osran do long life bulbs which are guaranteed for 3 years. Have them in my yoke early 2 years now and so far so good given that I have my dips on during the day also.

TheBody

bazz26 wrote: »

Can depend on the quality of the bulbs used also. Cheap stuff from the Far East on ebay tend to only last pi$$ing time.

Osran do long life bulbs which are guaranteed for 3 years. Have them in my yoke early 2 years now and so far so good given that I have my dips on during the day also.

I must check that out. I've tried a variety of brands but none have been especially good.

bazz26

TheBody wrote: »

I must check that out. I've tried a variety of brands but none have been especially good.

Here they are here:
http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/H7-Osram-Ultra-Life-12V-55W-Bulb-OSULTH7.html

Might be cheaper on ebay.

Darsad

Ive seen this on many cars . the problem with the H 7 bulb is that the foot plate is too small and does not dissapate heat as good as prevoius H 4 bulbs and that combined with smaller bulb enclodures within modern lamps causes bulbs to overheat and blow more frequently especially if you drive with dip lights on.One solution is to solder a heat sink onto the bulb before you fit it a six inch piece of wire with a small 2cent size washer at the other end will / should solve the problem fir you .

Wheelnut

As Darsad mentioned, driving on dip beams the whole time can use up the life of the bulb. Those 307s have automatic lighting so the lights could be on even when you have not switched them on.

My daughter has a 307 and I have to change bulbs fairly often, but I do not think it is excessive for the use it gets. (I use Lidl bulbs)

madalig12

MugMugs wrote: »

Two things. One helpful and the other just stating the obvious. Not withstanding the fact that your cars are French which seem bulb hungry anyway, are you touching the bulb when putting them in? This can reduce lifespan.

Nope, I wear gloves, I was also told not to touch the pin as moisture on it could blow it.

madalig12

colm_mcm wrote: »

You can get heavy duty bulbs that might solve it. It could also be an earthing problem causing them to blow.


I'd check the following:

Any moisture in the headlight units? Nope
Connections to the bulbs not melted or rusty? Nope
Headlight units loose?

nope, very tight.

MrDerp

Had this problem myself with a Ford Focus.

Started actually wearing gloves putting the new bulb in, as opposed to being careful not to touch the bulb itself, and got extra life out of them for sure.

Then, I stopped buying Ultra/Super/Mega/Brilliance/mega/whatever bulbs in halfords and switched to Osrams and I stopped changing a bulb every six months.

anthony4335

I had the same issue with a Subaru Legacy, after changing the forth bulb in a year I replaced them with aftermarket HID's. 2 years later no more issues.

Captain Slow IRL

I was talking to a friend working for a large main dealership and they had a TSB out about bulbs blowing; the remedy is to use a pliers to crimp the metal part of the spade connectors so they grip the bulb tighter.

I'm doing a bit of p/t work in a garage and we tried it on an accord that was in fairly frequently with blown bulbs and it seems to have worked for that car!