What's wrong with my headlights?

agrinnall

Halfords and KwikFit, two names to send a shudder down the collective spine of the board! Better to find a reputable independent garage and use them, although for bulb replacement the simple solution is DIY.

Kim_kim

agrinnall wrote: »

Halfords and KwikFit, two names to send a shudder down the collective spine of the board! Better to find a reputable independent garage and use them, although for bulb replacement the simple solution is DIY.

I'm afraid I wouldn't have a clue.
Hence Halfords supply & fit for me.

Strider590

Kim_kim wrote: »

Those expensive bulbs didn't last long....

.

In my experience they don't, I used to buy them, got sick of replacing them every 6 months, started buying H7 bulbs in bulk (around 50p each for Lucas).

Kim_kim

Strider590 wrote: »

In my experience they don't, I used to buy them, got sick of replacing them every 6 months, started buying H7 bulbs in bulk (around 50p each for Lucas).

They were nice though :-)
I do at least half my driving on full beam, I live in a village & it's unlit roads after the handful of lights in the village.
They were lovely & bright.
Really lit the road up. You could see everything. It felt safer.

Strider590

Kim_kim wrote: »

They were nice though :-)
I do at least half my driving on full beam, I live in a village & it's unlit roads after the handful of lights in the village.
They were lovely & bright.
Really lit the road up. You could see everything. It felt safer.

I'm confused, you say you use full beam etc, but these were on your standard headlights and those are what don't work?

Kim_kim

Strider590 wrote: »

I'm confused, you say you use full beam etc, but these were on your standard headlights and those are what don't work?

When they did work, they were nice. It's only yesterday coming home they didn't work.

I don't understand the rest of your post, I thought it was one bulb & the beam you selected changed the brightness/direction of it & so that one bulb could be full or dipped.

ETA - I'm confused now, because they did come on, on full beam, but not on dipped.
What does that mean?

Kim_kim

The post above has made me query this.

They do work on full beam, but not dipped.

There is only one bulb in there isn't there?

So it can't be the bulb can it?

****actually I put them on dipped & had a look, an odd little light was on right in the corner of the headlight, but nothing in the main light. Like a parking light.

reeac

I changed to Phillips plus 80 about 8 years ago and they're still fine. The original bulbs were still working but were 10 years old and I thought that maybe they had lost some output. I wouldn't buy any of the cheap make bulbs.

wba31

Kim_kim wrote: »

I'm afraid I wouldn't have a clue.
Hence Halfords supply & fit for me.

Google/youtube is your friend. Even the owners handbook. For some cars changing the bulb is relatively straightforward and you may surprise yourself with how much you could do maintenence wise on the car.

I think if you look into it and it looks to be beyond your skillset and toolkit, then peoples advice regarding Halfords and Kwikfit is to get recommended to an independent mechanic, who doesn't work for a big chain, who aims to do a good job as he relies on word of mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z85msuvSmDI

Joe_Horner

Kim_kim wrote: »

The post above has made me query this.

They do work on full beam, but not dipped.

There is only one bulb in there isn't there?

So it can't be the bulb can it?

****actually I put them on dipped & had a look, an odd little light was on right in the corner of the headlight, but nothing in the main light. Like a parking light.

If it's a combined high and dipped beam then the bulbs have two filaments in them - one for high beam and one for dipped. So it's perfectly normal for one to blow but the other one still work.

The "odd little light in the corner" is a separate bulb for the front position marker (or side light). Used to be in a separate light unit on most cars but tend to be integral to the headlight now.

Incidentally, it's pretty normal not to get flashed for having one bulb out. Partly because having the side light in the headlamp unit makes it less obvious and partly (I guess) because it's liable to earn a flash of high beam right back at you