[Closed] Cars with one headlight out

aa - Member

😀

I thought it was an automatic thing that the other light got stronger when a headlight bulb fails?

That's what your chav lights (fog lights) are for, innit?

Tell me about it! Driving back from the Somerset Levels the other day, I kept getting stuck behind cars crawling along at around 40, on a fine, clear night. When I finally got an opportunity to overtake, every one had a bloody headlight out! I thought it was a legal requirement to have all lights working, and spare bulbs carried in case?

People just don't check their bulbs (Or oil, water, tyre pressures etc...) any more. I think it's particularly bad in the UK too.

In all honesty when did we all last check the basics (Lights, oil, tyres) on our cars?

I do mine reasonably regularly but I'm not anal about it.
Lights are pretty obvious, you can see them on the car in front or reflected in windows. We've had our car 5 years/60,000 miles and I know it doesn't use any oil ever, but I'll check it 4-5 times a year anyway, tyre pressures every month or two at most, but I'm very sensitive to tyres and I can feel them if they're out by much usually
The motorbikes are a piece of piss to check because you can see it all from the seat!

That's just me 🙂

I thought it was a legal requirement to have all lights working,

Correct.

and spare bulbs carried in case?

Incorrect. 🙂

Have to admit I must have driven for a while with one of mine out before I noticed- tbh I'm just a bit too impressed by modern headlights, the throw from one light is enough that I never suspected anything was wrong. On the motorbike, if a bulb blew I knew all about it!

TBF even if I had a spares kit in the car I wouldn't necesarily stop and change it, it's a pain in the arris on so many modern cars, to be completed at leisure, in daylight, possibly with about 50 different tools.

Probably because replacing a headlight on the average new car now costs about a million pounds due to having to pull the whole thing apart for access. Froggy cars are particularly bad apparently.

In all honesty when did we all last check the basics (Lights, oil, tyres) on our cars?

spotted loads of motorbikes in my rear view mirror whilst on the autobahn the other night. only to be overtaken by a car.

also saw the usual "if in doubt, just turn every possible light on - at least one of them will be the right one" on the autobahn too. UK reg. plates, of course.

had to let one knobber (also UK plates) who wanted to go the same speed as me past, and let him lead the way, it was so bright. must have cataracts or something, or a misted up windscreen. was a perfectly clear night where I was.

Helps if you have a car that nags you constantly about faulty bulbs. They do seem to go on my volvo way more than any other car I've ever owned.

Helps if you have a car that nags you constantly about faulty bulbs

Obviously most people don't

Also, how do you know for sure that the warning is functioning correctly...? 😈

Oh I see that all the time as well - it's made worse by the comments you sometimes get on Daily Wail style news stories banging on about how cyclists should pay road tax and have insurance and an MOT. As if that magically means all cars are perfect all the time...

In all honesty when did we all last check the basics (Lights, oil, tyres) on our cars?

The vast majority of people barely know where to find the dipstick. Most cars never get checked between MOTs. I saw some statistic years ago that reckoned that about 1/3rd of cars on the road would fail an MOT in a spot check and about 1 in every 5 of those fails would be rated as a dangerous fault needing immediate action.

But most people simply don't know or care.

The vast majority of people barely know where to find the dipstick.

In many cars, it's between the steering wheel and the seat.

We've got the fancy valve caps that Bluetooth the pressure to a wotsit in the car. Good for keeping an eye on things, as is the OBD2 interface thing.

Glad its not just me who gets marked by it.

i can't remember seeing so many Cyclops cars in many a year.

Hi, Actual AA bloke here (not aa - member).

I would say that at least 50% of the people I go out to who have broken down don't even know how to open the bonnet, let alone find the dipstick.
I stand at the front of the car, say "can you pull the bonnet lever please"- cue lots of fumbling around and an eventual embarrassed request for help.

As for headlights, we go out to loads where "both headlamps suddenly went out, must be an electrical fault". Ninety nine times out of a hundred it is two blown bulbs. The owner invariably then asks why both failed at once. They don't like being told they didn't both blow at once and that they've probably been driving with just one headlight for the last six months...

Funnily enough, one of my headlight bulbs went this morning on the way to work. The other one went on new years eve so I had already used the spare, and halfords wasn't open yesterday. So I had to drive a Cyclops car home tonight. I just bought two new bulbs and have been out in the dark changing it. Had to remove half the engine bay to get to the rear of the headlight.

I have to say I have noticed loads of one eyed cars this year but reckon its just because I am comutting further on unlight roads on my motorbike. It is really hard to judge whats coming at you at times. Bugs me that so many people piss and moan about cyclists without lights when I certainly see many many more cars with bulbs gone than cyclists without lights.

TBF even if I had a spares kit in the car I wouldn't necesarily stop and change it, it's a pain in the arris on so many modern cars, to be completed at leisure, in daylight, possibly with about 50 different tools.

The official instructions to do it on my Forfour start with jacking up the car and removing the wheels 😉

Luckily I have small dexterous hands so managed to do it on full lock.

RH side on my Leon is p155 easy. Flip the bonnet, flip the catches and take the back off.
LH side (as viewed in the direction of driving), needs screwdriver to remove 2 bits of plastic covering the rad hose to access. And a really skinny hand, with no jewelery or sleeves.
Indicator bulbs required a quick google to suss out.

Always have a bulb kit (law here, or at least it is in one of the many countries I drive in), screwdriver, and a torch, in the car.

One lights better than none I suppose, the amount of people that drive at dawn/dusk at this time of year without lights on is frightening.

and in pitch dark too. and take quite a significant distance to realise they've not put lights on. coming out of lit carparks is a classic.

I don't drive much on motorways, maybe once every couple of months, but I was amazed at how bright some car headlights are! I decided to take it easy on the 150 mile trip on Monday and the number of retina burning headlights in my rear view mirror was astonishing. I'm guessing it's xenon or something.
Also headlight configuration on many modern cars (and one type of bus I've noticed in London) make it hard to see the indicator as it doesn't stand out against the main front/ rear light.
Like this on a Golf.
[img] [/img]
and this on the enviro 400 bus
[img] [/img]

It winds me up too, especially on more modern cars that will well you a bulb is out.

My old E46 used to cone up with the relevant symbol to tell you which bulb had died and tell you which side it was. They were easy to change too. Out current BM just gives a bulb out warning but doesn't tell you which light etc and the bulbs are much harder to change.

I check my tyre pressures once a week when I fill up. A lot of modern cars don't have dip sticks anymore and rely on the computer to warn you (unless you bother to use the computer to check it).

Also headlight configuration on many modern cars (and one type of bus I've noticed in London) make it hard to see the indicator as it doesn't stand out against the main front/ rear light.

Yes, that's a design feature that annoys me too. It's easy to spot an orange light flashing on and off. It's much harder to spot a light that alternates between red and redish-orange.

one of the new ford transit light designs is stupid too.
cluster looks broken, then you realise it's actually the design.

I understood that generally people aren't driving around with the other on full beam but that only having 1 bulb working gives an overvolt supply to it leading to it being brighter (and reducing life). It is annoying though and pretty dangerous at times.

I've always been a bit obsessive about headlight bulbs, wanting bright as possible, and spotlamps on 2 cars (rally fan = bobblehatter), live in a very rural area and drive a lot in the dark/low light, pretending to be a rally driver on occasion.........

My first 3 cars took H4 bulbs, which are utter dogshite (clio & 306), but easy to change & notice if one went.

Current car (2003 focus), has H7 & H1, which are a sod to change (passenger side especially), but as you've got 4 bulbs burning when on main beam, losing 1 is
not that noticeable, though you'll still have either dip or main working on that side, and you should notice if dip's out.

My next car (this spring) will have good headlights as standard, faffing about with uprated bulbs is so tedious.

Full beam back in their eyes is a helpful friendly reminder

was driving in Holland in August on the way to the ferry. Around midday on a clear summer's day.
Wondered what the Morse code was to flash the headlights at the guy in front (Ford Asbo, RHD 😉 ) to remind him that he had full front and rear fogs on.

On her indoor s corsa one side you need to dislocate your wrist as for the other side you need bumper off ,also it burns the contacts requiring new headlight at 200 quid a side so it can wait till mot

Full beam flash nah thats for pussys turning your lights off works much better.

Its obvious to me when a light has gone out on my car as that side of the road suddenly goes dark. Keep 2 spares and an assortment of side and brake bulbs in the boot for just such occasions. Pull over and change it and carry on my way takes no more than 5 minutes.

In these days of billion lumen Cree LED bike lights for £5, how come cars aren't all using them?

By the way, I have had the both headlights out at once thing. Driving along an unlit country road. Switched from full-beams to dips only for them both to go pop.

Cue momentary panic as I my brain processed that I was now travelling blind at 60mph.

Back to full beams (to annoyance of oncoming drivers) then realised front fog were the way to go.

(For bikemike: I [i]was[/i] 99% certain both lights were working fine till they went pop. But you've got me thinking...)

Checked in the instruction booklet thing that comes with my Renault Megane when one of the bulbs went - it said don't even bother trying, take it to a garage 🙄

I'd been driving for a while with just the one working, it wasn't that obvious from inside the car.

" I understood that generally people aren't driving around with the other on full beam but that only having 1 bulb working gives an overvolt supply to it leading to it being brighter (and reducing life). "

This is an urban myth I'm afraid; I won't bore you with the O level physics, but the way they are wired means they won't recieve more than the battery voltage no matter how many blow.

HID systems are different again, they run at several thousand volts. Repairing those is not the job for an amateur as that voltage is comfortably enough to stop your heart....

Blown headlights are annoying but my pet hate is brake lights that don't work!! See plenty of cars with the high level ones blown and invariably at least one of the others gone too!!

Oh and a few years ago I was at the motor show with my dad looking at Berlingo/Kangoo type vehicles for him. Got to the Renault stand and the salesman was explaining about the smart computer thingy to my dad when he mentioned the light warning system. He switched it on and it said the rear side light was blown so I wandered round to see how it would be changed. Popped the boot and lifted the cover off and got told by another salesman it needed a special tool (at £86!!!!) to get the cluster off the thing!! We bought a Berlingo instead.

mogrim - Member

Checked in the instruction booklet thing that comes with my Renault Megane when one of the bulbs went - it said don't even bother trying, take it to a garage

Lots of people with failed bulbs must know they've failed, hence the fog lights and main beams to compensate. It's not a case of not checking, it's a case of not caring.

I had a bloke overtake me a while back. I saw he had a headlight out while he was behind me. Then he overtook and only had one tail light, then stopped at the red traffic light with no brake lights. I pulled up next to him and told him and he replied "Yeah,I know mate, the warnings keep going off", while pointing at the dashboard full of warning lights.

Had to replace one last week luckily enough Halfords were doing BOGOF offer on them 😀

I'd be firmly in favour of cars only getting their EU standards (or whatever it must be for cars) certificate required for sale if it was independently assessed that an average member of the public were able carry out basic maintenance and checks in a reasonable time period with a basic level of tools and competence.

Our last car (fiat) required the removal of the wheel, wheel arch liner, battery and battery box to access the near side light cluster and replace the bulb. The workshop manual recommended it was easier if you took the bumper off too but I got away without. That is plain not reasonable. I've wised up now and make sure I know about this sort of thing before considering buying.

Out of interest, can headlights fail gradually? I'm sure mine aren't supposed to be so dim. First car after a 7 year break so can't recall how bright my previous car's headlamps were.

They might degrade, not sure.

These might be worth a go: http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=261278146083

£20 for two bulbs is a quarter of the price of the Halfords +100% ones, although they're often on bogof.

I don't think so. Probably more likely you are surrounded by cars with much brighter lighters or your lenses are old and yellowed/scratched/dirty.

I thought modern cars had a set up so that when one bulb goes the other doesnt go brighter by running off them separate supplies with ballast/regulators? I also don't understand why all cars don't have light out warnings. My old G reg E30 BMW used to tell me when a bulb was out so why don't all cars newer than the mid 90's?

Cars I really hate having behind me these days are Mercs and Audis with their stupidly bright dipped beam. Also cars with lights pointing upwards.

I can't say I've noticed Merc or Audi dipped lights being any brighter or more dazzling than any other car, I sometimes have to dip my rear-view mirror, and it's usually an older car with badly adjusted lights.
And it's not just cars, I was looking out of our studio window at work yesterday, and there was a large artic and trailer driving past with the offside headlight out.

Rather than having just one headlight out, driving along the other night I flicked off full beam and got ... complete darkness. It was a bit pant-filling. 😯

It seems that the switch degrades/dies with age before failing in strange ways, so I have just had to do this: [url= http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f41/steering-column-switch-renewal-77822.html ]clicky![/url]

( note - not my pics )

My old car told me exactly which bulb had failed and it was a humble SEAT. New car has xenons which as far as I'm aware are a garage replacement job. Rear lights are nice and accessible though, its just a little panel hidden in the back of boot.

I can understand why people don't replace them if they have to take the wheel off mind you

Yep, having driven a fair few motorway miles recently I've also noticed this. It was particularly bad on a county road the other month when it was an artic coming towards me with the offside bulb completely out - scared the bejesus out of me when I realised at the last minute!

This also reminds me of a friend who's car had both main headlight bulbs out, leaving him with just sidelights. To compensate he drove around on full beam all the time until we pestered him enough to get new bulbs.

My old car told me exactly which bulb had failed and it was a humble SEAT.

My Vauxhall tells you it's got a light out too. Although replacing the bulb is still a job for the garage as you have to remove various other bits to get to the light cluster.

Cars these days are specifically designed NOT to be worked on by the home mechanic. Gone are the days when I could take a carburettor out using just a spanner and a screwdriver (which I did on an old Renault 5). On my car the only accessible bits are the windscreen wash bottle and the oil filler/dipstick. Everything else is under vented sheets bolted over the top of it.

Still doesn't excuse the total lack of care that most drivers seem to have over their cars.

Out of interest, can headlights fail gradually?

Mine have blown a few times. All but one has been while in the Alps in winter, on ski trips. So my guess is that temperature may affect them too. Pure speculation, though.

Off skiing next weekend, so I better double check the bulb status again.

Out of interest, can headlights fail gradually?

Some cars have a plastic lens which can become opaque after a few years, you can either replace the entire unit, sometimes just the lens or apply a polishing compound and attempt to remove the scratches etc, VW's and some Audis have this problem - i dunno bout other marques?.

It should be stipulated in the driving test that you need to have a basic knowledge of essential maintenance before you can pass your test, the girls at my work drive about with blown lights, bald and/or deflated tyres, ripped windscreen wipers and have absolutely no knowledge of correct tyre pressures or where to fill the washer bottle, top up the oil etc. And they drive with the mindset that Bumpers are there to be used to bump stuff with.

My Meriva's front lights are just about accessible, remove a few screws, pull unit away a bit, a bit of scraped skin and swearing it's done. BUT - the car actually failed the ITV (Spanish MOT) because on bulb was at a dodgy angle. Not easy to screw it in perfectly straight when your are holding it with your finger-tips and your arm is bent at strange angles and skin is being scraped from your hand by the bodywork. Had to get garage to do it properly.

I'd be firmly in favour of cars only getting their EU standards (or whatever it must be for cars) certificate required for sale if it was independently assessed that an average member of the public were able carry out basic maintenance and checks in a reasonable time period with a basic level of tools and competence.

I totally agree. It makes a total mockery of the laws in France that you have to carry a spare bulb if said spare bulb is completely useless to most people. The irony being that most of the worst offenders are French - though to be fair my old 406 was dead easy and doable without tools in a couple of minutes (current Mondeo far more of a pain).

A while back a friend of mine asked me to change a sidelight bulb on her Polo, she wasn't entirely sure how to get at it.
Not surprised, it was impossible for me to actually get my hand into the space and undo the bulb holder!
I spent twenty minutes, and all I ended up with was a couple of bloody gouges and no replaced bulb. As above, it should be a requirement that [i]all[/i] bulbs necessary for driving safely at night are easily replaced without tools, in the dark, at the roadside; not in a fully equipped garage workshop!

Mine's a nightmare to do the bulbs on... For £4 extra halfords can do it for me.

I have to continually check the oil as it wants 1l every 7-800 miles.

GB

Surprisingly my citroen c5 is a dodle to change bulbs on. My old alfa 155 was reasonably easy but a friends 155 was a nightmare. Same car same engine different panel above the lights. Got to love alfa for build consistency.

My mum took her car to Halfords to take advantage of their "We Fit" offer. They admitted defeat and returned the money.

One of my headlamp bulbs failed recently and I was aware of it immediately, perhaps because I drive on unlit roads quite a lot. It was a pain to fit the new one, as someone mentioned earlier, with a smart ForFour it's really difficult to access the bulb without jacking the car up.

Cars these days are specifically designed NOT to be worked on by the home mechanic

This is not true.

Modern cars often have more cramped engines, because there is more pressure on space and more stuff under the bonnet than there used to be. There is only an engine cover on some of the cars I've had, but this pops off without any tools.

You could service your carb years ago. You can still service or replace your injectors. You might need an extra tool in the form of diagnostic software, but they aren't expensive and they are really useful.

pretty much.
quite a few things need a reset or tweak in the ECU too, but even the AA bloke can do that in 2 mins by the side of the road (possibly partly due to EU legislation forcing mfrs to make ECU interfaces standard?).
TCS (swiss version of AA) had to do that when I had a coil pack go belly up. Looks like quite an easy user change too, apart from the ECU bit.

EU regs now require all new type approvals to be capable of bulb change in
<5mins with no specialist tools. For once the EU do something useful.

I wouldn't let those halfords monkeys near my car but their offer is reasonable compared to main dealer and if they completely cock it up then you can be assured they will pay the bill for main dealer to put it right.

(rally fan = bobblehatter)

So... just me that jinxed themselves by replying on this thread? Got in the car last Weds night & noticed the OS front had blown 🙁

Luckily its very easy to change at home (just) so I won't incur the wrath of any STW'ites