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I keep blowing headlights...

41255 Views 15 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  worthywads
Ive gone through about 5 bulbs in the last 4 months. Could there be something wrong that is doing this? I never touch the glass of the bulb when changing them, and I change them both at the same time. It varies back and forth between the drivers side and the passenger. Just curious if there is something I should be looking for, or if I just keep getting bad bulbs. I've been replacing them with stock silvania bulbs. I dont want to put expensive bulbs in if they will just blow again.
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i am running the eurodezin bulbs just the normal halogen bulbs. at first i was blowing bulbs like crazy. maybe not as often as you but still blew. im on my 4th set of bulbs minus the factory set. the last bulb that blew laster 1 week. I made the company send me a new set. i have not been replacing both bulbs because they were blowing so quick. my passanger side bulb has been in there for over 1.5 years if not 2 by now. which bulb do you always blow. mine is the driver side bulb the most. look at the eurodezin bulbs. $25 for the bulbs then $7 for each new set plus the mail charge
I've had the same issue ever since I replace the factory ones. A guy at the shop said it's because of the the design of the bulbs and the fact the bulb tends to vibrate a lot in it's housing. They don't sit tight enough. Not sure how true it is but it sucks replacing bulbs every 3/4 months. Each side of mine go out w/in a few days of each other... :(
Knock wood, but my stock bulbs are still good after about 3 1/2 years. I suspect a lot of aftermarket bulbs are sold with marketing hype, but are of poor quality. Haven't really heard anything bad about stock Sylvanias -- unlike their Silverstars, which often have a short life.

Not sure what the problem might be. H-4 bulbs are a very good, time-proven design... I have not heard of any problem with loose receptacles, but it's worth looking into. I'd stick with high-quality name-brand bulbs, such as Phillips, Osram, or Narva... and also stay with stock 55/60W, as overwattage bulbs can sometimes have shorter life, and often fail to actually produce noticeably brighter light.
What brand? My GE Nighthawks has been running strong for 2 years (2000 hours) now. Brighter than OEM too.
I keep blowing headlights...

Are they at least buying you dinner first?:lol:
Are they at least buying you dinner first?:lol:
laugh...my...a$$...off :lol::rofl::naughty::clap::thumbsup::cool:;):D
I would check with a dealer. If you are using good quality bulbs, they should last longer than that. I'm not buying the argument that it's caused by the design of the bulb. Lots of people, including myself (I've got over a year on the original bulbs) are getting more life out of the bulbs than that.
You might be touching the glass and never know that you are.

Are you wearing gloves when handling these lights? It's a must.
I've gotten 44k+ miles, most with the headlights on, over 3 years for the factory bulbs, lost the first one in January, at 3 years even. Bought a sylvania something for the replacement, we'll see how long it lasts.

Are you running a modified suspension that makes your truck really jittery? New road construction?
inside the plug the bulbs go into, check the contacts and clean them.

if no help? try swapping the relay in the fuse box with another, that powers the headlamps.

frequiently a bad ground can cause devices to burn-up. loose connections draw more current...
loose connections draw more current...
That is incorrect.
A loose connection will cause increased resistance in the circuit and cause a voltage drop across the loose connection, which reduces total current in the circuit and reduces the voltage available to the device being powered. This is bad in the case of a headlight circuiit because these bulbs produce the most light output and have better life expectancy when run at rated voltage.
To best check the system, with the engine runnng, headlights on, using a good quality multimeter, measure the system voltage at the battery, then measure the voltage at the appropriate connections at each bulb. the difference between those two values will be the total voltage drop in the headlight circuit. This can be further evaluated by measurng between the pos. terminal on the battery and pos. terminal on the headlight connector, then doing the same with the negative to isolate any source of voltage drop. As an example, if the contacts in the headlight relay have high resistance, the voltage drop between the battery pos. and the headlight pos. terminal would be unusually high . Before I upgraded the headlight wiring in my NEW 07, I had about 2 volts drop total in the headlight circuit. After upgrading all wiring to 10awg with interposing relays, total voltage drop was closer to 20 millivolts. This alone made the stock bulbs signiificantly brighter.
Also check to make sure your charging system isnt overcharging.
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