Can you help me.
In the last 16 months I have got through 5 headlight bulds in my Ford Focus (1.6 zetec).
Original bulbs lasted just over a year - not too bad
Second set (Halfords all wheather) lasted approx 3 months
Third set (Halfords super briliance) one blew last night, they have been in since the middle of January.
The car is booked in for its 50000 service next week, is there anything I should ask them to look out for, of have I just had bad luck with bulbs?
They have alwasy been fitted correctly, and I have made sure I didn't touch the bulb glass whilst fitting them.
Cheers
(Glass-Tech)
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Poor earths?
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I doubt its a high voltage, as this would probably cause ECU warning lights and codes for 'Supply voltage too high'
Check you vibration by loose mountings.
Try a high quality bulb (not Halfords) such as Philips or Osram,
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www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/H7_osram.htm
These seem to be the cheapest place for Osram bulbs so far after a quick google.
The headlights have always had a vibration, but looking on the Focus Owners site it appears to be a "feature".
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AR,
Are the bulbs discoloured at all? If so, it *could* indicate that they are running on too low a voltage. As Cliff suggests, maybe a poor earth; or loose connection somewhere.
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If you run the dashboard diagnostics I think it displays the battery voltage as one of the options. It should be about 13.x volts with the engine idling.
To run the diagnostic, start with the key at position 0, then, with the trip-reset button held down, turn the engine on. The dash will display "test" or something similar or the dials will jump up. Let go of the button. Each time you press the button now it will give you a different value of certain parameters. One of these I believe is the voltage.
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Dave
The light output has always been very good with the new bulbs, so I doubt a low voltage.
Mfarrow
I had forgotten about the dash diagnostic thingy, I'll give it a wirl later and see what it shows.
My thoughts were that either too high a voltage was getting to the bulbs, or I have just been unlucky.
A pair of nice new Osran silverstar's are on there way over to me from the company in the above link, so it's fog lights on for me for a couple of days till they arive :-)
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Check out ebay and www.powerbulbs.com too, but I fear if it is caused by vibration, it may just blow expensive bulbs, Is it the whole lamp housing that vibrates or the innards, maybe you could do something about it like apply sealant to contact points?
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If it is an established vibration problem, why not try attaching a large weight to the headlamp reflector to try to change the resonant frequency?
Do both sides have the same problem? Do the reflectors have a condensation problem?
I cannot recall changing headlight bulbs at all in the last 8 years in 2 P registered Fiestas. 130k in total.
Can you describe the failure mode? Is a filament just broken, has it evaporated, is glass coated on inside, white or black silver?
It sounds like a feature of the car, surely somebody must have got to the bottom of it?
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pmh (was peter)
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It sounds like a feature of the car, surely somebody must have got to the bottom of it?
Exactly what I thought.
The bulbs have all blown in the same way, the filament broken, no coatings or broken glass.
It's very hard to tell what is vibrating, the light cluster in no way feels loose, and as the vibration is only noticed driving at night. I'll see the light on road signs shaking as i approach a roudabout etc.
Another thing that I've just realised after chatting about this in the office today (honest we do work aswell) is that I do flick the lights on very quickly - if you know what I mean. The switch on the Focus is a rotational jobbie on the dash to the right of the steering wheel, I flick them on really quickly rather than switching to side light and then to dip. I can't see that this would make any difference would it?
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Assuming they are H7s then I've gone through a few in the Alfa and they're swines to change. Now seems to have settled down but DO buy decent ones. As someone said Osram or Philips etc.
The cheapy ones don't seem to last all of mine had gone by breaking in the middle of the coil type failure.
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That sounds exactly the same as mine.
A nice new set of Osram's are in the post as we speak.
Just have to see how they go.
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I thought bulbs would last longer if they received a lower voltage? ie dimmed Or am i mistaken?
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I thought bulbs would last longer if they received a lower voltage? ie dimmed Or am i mistaken?
Too low a voltage and the filaments can carbonise up, hence you'll get a metallic looking appearance on the glass if this happens.
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DD,
Intersting comment, in 4 years I have replaced one (of four) rear lights a total of two times....always the same one and both times the failed bulb has a metallic coating on the inside of the glass.
This particular light is one of a cluster which share a common earth...no problems with any others. I will check the supply wire for a bad connection causing lower voltage.
StarGazer
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The brighter bulbs you bought from Halfords would have a thinner filament to make them brighter, this would make them more susceptible to vibration and hence failure. You should get a longer life with the Osrams or any standard brilliance bulbs, but the root of the problem is the vibration. SWMBO's 2002 Focus headlights don't vibrate and are still on the original bulbs.
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if you are still having problems with bulbs the cheapest place i have found for any bulbs is lucas, i think we pay about a couple of quid for a headlight bulb and they are reasonable bulbs seam to last a while in my taxi!
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AR,
Does your car spend time ticking over with high battery demand (HRW, A/C, Lights, radio). If so I may have some news for you.
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Not particulaly PU, its generaly a get in, start car, and drive lots of miles! although I do have lights on alot at the mo, as my drive to and from work (55 miles) is in the dark.
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Well the car has been in for its 50k service today.
Spoke to the chap about the amount of bulbs I have got through recently, he said that I wasn't the first to have this problem so put the car onto a full diagnostic. The computer says no.. over charge in the system.
The Osram Silverstar's are in now - so lets see how they last.
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I had a similar run with my 330d. It then settled down and no other bulbs needed in the next 3 years. I never did work out why - BMW bulbs seemed to las no longer than any others. The one which lasted the 3 years was a genuine BMW one though.
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AR,
Sorry been away for a couple of days (without the trusty laptop). I
was socialising with a Ford Service Manager. He told me that the Focus' ECU/Altenator can throw spikes that will pop bulbs ( twice a week in an extreme case) if the alternator is subjected to high demand. Police Focii are particularly prone.
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Cheers PU
Lukily the service chap at the dealers I use seems to be an honest kind of guy, at the next service I'll mention this and see what he says.
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PU
I would be interested in a copy if poss.
Thanks
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pmh (was peter)
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AR: How old is the car battery? This fault is more likely with an old battery.
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Buzbee
The car is only 16 months old! I'm thinking more and more now that I have just been unlucky with the bulbs from Halfords.
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May I hang head in shame forgot it today, try again tomorrow !
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Well here we are again, N/S bulb blew this morning. That's 8 months for the Osram Silverstar. Luckily the car goes back in a couple of months so I will just be replacing it (well the pair actually) with the cheapest I can find.
www.consumabulbs.com/files/bdet.php?id=88
£6 a pair with free delivery.
Nice job for tomorrow evening on the drive, in the dark, no doubt it'll rain.
grumble grumble
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It's a pity that it didn't happen nearer to next Monday.
www.lidl.co.uk/gb/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20051031.p.He...2
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Oh well never mind I can live with 2 quid. But I think I'll be down there next week to stock up. I can also scare the wife and tell her off in to start the christmas shopping.
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It's a pity that it didn't happen nearer to next Monday. www.lidl.co.uk/gb/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20051031.p.He...2 >
You may have noticed the Osram branding disappearing overnight on these bulbs.
Don't get me wrong, Lidl do some great offers, but I think a bit of mis-information to their marketing dept has gone on here....
Nuff said
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Was Charles {P} but someone c o p i e d my name with spaces.
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You may have noticed the Osram branding disappearing overnight on these bulbs.
I imagine the manufactuer *could* be someone like Ring. There can't be too many different manufacturers of bulbs I would have thouhgt, and like everything else, a company like Philips, Osram, or Ring have probably made them anyway and they've been rebranded with Jo Bloggs name on.
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LOL. Now you've fitted the cheapest ones you can find, they'll probably last the life of the car ;-)
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Replaced the rear combined stop and tail lights on a Spacewagon several times and used Halford bulbs. Swapped to mitsubishi OEM bulbs and no problems thereafter.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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