I've just had my Xantia estate, purchased in Jan'01, serviced - 10,000 miles. They advised by phone that all 4 indicator bulbs were showing white light and needed to be replaced. I have had the bulbs back and the orange paint is flaking on all of them. The car was preregistered in March'00 but had only done 80 miles when I bought it from Citroen dealer. I have now noticed taht a lot of new cars have clear indicator glasses thus needing orange bulbs. Do they all flake after such a relativel short time ?? If this is a fact of life then a lot of people are getting ripped off and the lamp manufacturers are raking it in for the sake of a minor design change my car makers. your comments please.
John Farmer (from Kidderminster).
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Yes, after a while the orange coating on the glass does start to flake off. How long this normally takes I don't know, but the time it has taken them to flake on your Xantia does seem a little quick.
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Couldn't you find a suitable laquer to re colour them? What an irritating problem. Like you, I find this sort of situation takes the biscuit.
Regards,
Mike
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Many model shops stock Tamyia clear amber laquer. Should be the right colour but don't know how long it would last
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Another little lighting delight on the Xantia estate is failure of the high level stop lamp in the top of the tailgate. It is an LED unit and the "bulbs" are part of the unit. If that goes out your local dealer will be pleased to take nearly £70 from you...for a part that, on an older car, would be sorted by a75p bulb.
Progress.....saving the planet.....I think not.
Any electronics boffins know what is likely to have failed with such an LED array??
David
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I've never come across and LED that has blown in situ, ever, that I can think of - they don't do that as they don't work the same way as a light bulb. In an automotive setting they could be degraded/damaged by a voltage spike caused by poor damping on the switch mechanism, but I'd need to look at some circuit diagrams to see how they're actually put together. diodes as a rule are very robust within their working voltage range.
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Correct Ash leds should last iindefinitly,regarding coloured bulbs my son took the normal coloured lenses from his BMW 3 and changed them for white lenses and then had to fit coloured bulbs which last about 6 months .When I asked him why he did this he replyed its the fashion .I must be geting old.
Ash did you see my reply regarding C5 towing weights.
The c5 2.2 hdi automatic estate in Germany is limited to 1000kg braked trailor whereas the old xm 2.1td auto estate was 1500kg .I did not mean they had changed thereminds and altered the c5.If they are diferent in the uk I would be interested.
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Andrew
Called in at local Citroen dealer this morning and asked about towing weights. The spec sheet showed mostly 1500 Kg for the C5, apart from the auto 1400 Kg and the smallest engined C5 (which I forget).
You might find more stuff on c5.citroen.com/ but I couldn't
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These are not the permited trailer weights ,look on citroens webb site.The actual permited weights are well under these .These weights you have seen are the gross vehicle weights ie with the trailor fully loaded ,this is so for a C5 2.2 estate automatic the maximum braked trailer weight is 1000kg. I no its confusing but to be overweight in France or Germany means empounded vehicle
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Andrew, Ok I think this is the page you mean,
www.citroen.co.uk/C5/techpage.asp?table=weights showing max braked tow weight up to 1500Kg
it seems as the c5 auto has an inherent weakness
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Hi Darcy and Andy,
Nice to be back at the more cultured end of the bar! Hand must have slipped with the gin last week, oops!
I seem to recall the towing weight for the Xantia auto was also very much restricted. Excuse my innocence, not a caravanner, could it be something to do with you can tow this reduced weight with the standard car but if you want to tow more then you are into oil coolers and so on. Or is it really a case of the auto box being weaker?
I'm as interested to know the reason as you guys, but in my case it just curiosity.
Regards,
Stuart
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I replied on the other thread, but I'll put it here aswell :
Saloon: 1500 Kg across the board except V6 at 1400 Kg
Estate: 1300 Kg for 1.8i 16V & 2.2 HDi Auto
1400 Kg 2.0 HDi 90 HP
1600 Kg V6
1500 Kg all others
All those figures are "max towing weight braked", whatever that means - I've never towed anything. Hope that helps.
Ash.
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Ash,
This arrangement has several LEDs and a small circuit if I remember correctly. There is 12V at the connector but no light. Guess it must be the circuit then.
Perhaps I'll get a normal electronics guy to look at one, a 20p resistor or something may do it.
David
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David .be very careful testing the diodes as the operating voltage of a diode can me as low as milivolts and putting a volt meter using the normal continuity test can inject upto 5volts or so and this will blow the diodes .Most good meters Fluke for eg have a diode test facility .
regards Andy
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More like 2p, but not 70 quid ;o).
Not quite my area, but thinking about it I would have thought a series array, to get the right number across the 12v, would be easiest, but most prone to failure. I think I'd have a parallel array across a Zener diode, so each diode was clamped at the ref voltage. What that voltage was would depend on the diodes/power handling of an appropriate Zener, if available. If that's what they're doing they may be clamping 12v to 1-3v with a Zener, which would make for a warm Zener and a possible area for investigation, I think (it's a long while since I've thought about the old analogue electronics. Note to self: time to get the books out and brush up, again).
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John
Yes, a common problem with many modern cars. Watch where you get the bulbs. The originals on my Vectra were pointed out at an MOT to be a bit white, but this was at about 60k miles. I bought replacements in a local motor shop, and they were looking almost as bad after a year or so. I should have bought better quality - the bulbs looked a bit 'cheap' and the lacquer was uneven. Halfords bulbs seem quite good and are not main dealer prices.
Regards
John
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I have heard of a new indicator bulb that appears white but glows amber (i.e. it doesnt have an amber coating on it).
Its one of the big-boys that make it - I think its phillips but i'm not sure.
I'll try and find a url or soemwhere that sells them
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check out www.maxpower.co.uk/products/products_styling_templ...9
yes i know its the max power web site but its the only place i could find them
Regal Auto Bulbs - 01233 860638
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or www.demon-tweeks.co.uk
they do a silvered Phillips bulb that shines amber
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Sounds like there's a market for bulbs with orange glass, as opposed to clear glass with a coloured lacquer.
Available?
S.
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Thanks for all the replies I had, guys. This is the first time I've used HJ and I am very impressed by your willingness to help. I'm going to chase up the special bulbs, and if they don't work, I will try the paint. Thanks again.
John Farmer
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I saw this thread yesterday and thought I would check at work and see how many of these bulbs we have fitted month-to-date.
I was not suprised to see that 42 Bulbs (GLB344) had been issued from the stores! The bulbs are not the usual cheap 55p single filament jobs, they are an extravagant £2.39! Wow, that paint must be expensive!
Surely a better way to colour the bulbs would be a simple slip-on filter - similar to some filters found on some dash illumination bulbs. Then, a run of the mill single filament 21W bulb could be used.
It is quite suprising the amount of cars you can observe with very white indicator bulbs, in need of replacement. The paint applied to the bulbs doesn't seem very durable- it can clearly seen to be flaking off.
David
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Here's a radical thought.
If the lenses were coloured orange with clear bulbs then the same 21W bulb wold fit all lights with that requirement. Cheaper bulbs, less options to stock....
Wonder if anyone's ever thought of it?
As I said at the top.....progress??
David (Old git)
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Reading your comments about £70 for a replacement rear high level light nearly put me back in the coronary care unit, as mine went a week ago, just before I went in.
However, I checked it last night and it was a simple bulb replacement, so the heartrate has returned to normal.
Regards
Brian
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Buy a little bottle of the stuff they sell to paint on your headlights for continental driving. Clean the remainder of the amber stuff off the bulb with acetone (carb cleaner) then paint the bulb with the laquer. I bought a bottle probably 5 years ago and its only 1/2 gone!
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Andrew Moorey (Tune-Up Ltd.) wrote:
>
> Buy a little bottle of the stuff they sell to paint on your
> headlights for continental driving. Clean the remainder of
> the amber stuff off the bulb with acetone (carb cleaner) then
> paint the bulb with the laquer. I bought a bottle probably 5
> years ago and its only 1/2 gone!
Couldn't you paint the inside of the light lens and solve the problem forever ?
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If anyone doesn't reconise the term "carb cleaner" it's the same stuff as the other half's nail polish remover, also cellulose paint thinners (cheaper without the scent).
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The branded aerosol carb cleaner I buy is toluene, which is not acetone but far nastier, so watch getting it on your hands - I think it is absorbed through the skin and can knacker some internal organs, but I could be wrong. I once tried acetone and it was pretty useless in comparison.
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