Headlight Bulbs

[ad_330_coupe]

Hi all,

Question regarding my dad's 55plate 9-3, For some reason it seems to blow alot of dipped beam headlight bulbs, they dont always need to be used for this to happen, when you get in the computer says diped beam headlight failure and the coresponding side, it seems to alternate between which side blows. So if the left blew last time it is more than likely the next will be the right.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Adam

[JonV]

What kind of bulbs are you using and are you physically touching them with your bare hands?

[ad_330_coupe]

Cant remeber the last make that went in apart from they are H7's and no, being very carefule not to touch them.

[woody93]

I'm glad I'm not the only one blowing a lot of bulbs. I still haven't figured it out. I've owned the car for 1 year - put in 4 bulbs so far. I just want to buy HID's and be done. Lifetime warranty!

[Dave 37]

I have a notebook where I keep records like this. I have the date and mileage of when the bulbs burned out and when new ones were put it. Based on mileage, I can estimate the number of hours that they last.

My original bulbs lasted about 600 hours. One blew within 2 weeks of the other. A Sylvania Silverstar lasted about 100 hours. A regular Sylvania (I wrote down the model number) lasted about 400 hours. A Hella bulb has been used about 300 hours and still works.

[woody93]

...you would think you're either a pilot or aircraft mechanic taking logs like that. (I am a mechanic).

I, too, had one burn out roughly 2 weeks after replacing the other side. I just figure I'll get HID's, let the ballast take the input voltage spike because they're good for up to 16VDC. From there, the transformer inside can deal with that. Like I said, lifetime warranty.

However, if you ever find anything suspicious, I'd be interested to learn what it was and maybe do the same for myself.

[brianl703]

I had a GE bulb last about 2 weeks. I replaced the bulb myself because it blew late at night. When it blew the second time I just took it to the dealer and they replaced both sides under warranty and did some software update to reduce the voltage to the low beam bulbs to make them last longer.

[woody93]

Well, the UEC runs them at 13.5VDC. It uses PWM to get the lower voltage unless somehow Tech II does something else...