Corolla Lights flickering - after bulb change

paulginger2 · 01-02-2014 10:46pm #1

Hi all

i had to change my dip light bulb ( small bulb) and the beam bulb (big bulb) today as well as a rear brake light bulb.

I changed them and now whenever i sit in the car and press the brake pedal, without it even switched on, the
dash lights, the rear light and my headlight are all coming on and flickering.
This also happens with the car switched on.

Any ideas what this could be???
I disconnected the battery before doing it, and was fairly careful to ensure that the connections were tight.
Could i have been given the wrong bulbs??
Is this an easy fix?
absolutely no problems like this ever before until i bloody went at them

dooroy · 02-02-2014 2:18am

Strange one - but electrics can do strange things .
Did you compare the bulbs before fitting - were you replacing like with like ?
One suggestion would be to remove the bulbs again starting with the brake light bulb as I think thats the one most likely to be 'wrong'.
I don't know the year of your car but many cars have bulbs with either one or two contacts in the rear lights.
Indicator bulbs are usually single contact 21W while the brake light and parking light may use a double contact bulb (21W/5W for example) .These bulbs are sometimes referred to as S/T ( stop and tail). If you fitted a single contact bulb in place of a double contact its possible the single contact 'bridges' the 2 contacts in the holder . Had you any difficulty in getting the brake bulb into the holder ? The pins on the side of the S/T are at different levels so the bulb will only fit in one position .
These are just suggestions - hope they help .

SleeperService · 02-02-2014 10:11am

Where did you get the bulbs - did you pick them out yourself or did you ask in a motor factor for bulbs corolla from year xxxx?

paulginger2 · 02-02-2014 11:11am

Thanks for the help
I got them off the auto factors and they picked them out for me.
Today i went out and removed the rear brake bulb and replaced it with the shot bulb (old one) and as far as i can tell everything is back to normal, bar the rear brake light obviously.
I had a look at the two bulbs and in fairness they both have the same wattages, voltages etc.

Its very strange, i would have to think that i was given the wrong bulb, its the only explanation i can think of.

Has anyone come across things like this before??

dooroy · 02-02-2014 12:58pm

Electrics can be funny that way:) - but at least you found the problem ?
What year is your Corolla - has it got the 2 contact type of Stop and Tail bulb ?

paulginger2 · 02-02-2014 1:30pm

Yeas the rear bulb has 2 contacts at its base, im assuming the other type just has one.
Its a 00 corolla.
In fairness the new bulb had two aswell, so i hope that getting another one wont make the same thing happen again.
Like i said all the numbers as regards voltage and wattage matched so i dunno what to make of it tbh

dooroy · 02-02-2014 1:37pm

Must be an internal fault with the bulb then , haven't come across that before .
You could check that the bulb has 2 filaments - I just remembered that some bulbs can have 2 contacts but only one filament ;but as I said earlier the pins on the side are arranged so that only the correct bulb should fit.

bbbaldy · 03-02-2014 8:47pm

Have seen this before with a faulty double filament brake/parking bulb. both filaments were connected to each other due to a fault in the bulb, when you braked it fed into the parking light system and vise versa.

paulginger2 · 08-02-2014 7:33pm

bbbaldy thats exactly what must have happened, i changed out the bulb for a new one and hey presto, back to normal.
Thanks again!!!

11-02-2014 4:47pm

Usually it's people fitting them perpendicular to how they're supposed to be mounted. Both contacts touch across both filaments instead of one for one.
Done it myself a few times.

Corolla Lights flickering - after bulb change

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