I have a 2004 Cooper S. Noticed last Friday that a headlight was burned out. Handy guy at work that has replaced bulbs in his BMW offered to replace the bulb for me.


I bought the correct bulbs at an auto supply place. Replaced both bulbs, and the one that was originally burnt out still didn't work. It did work on high beams though, leaving us to conclude that the problem wasn't the bulb.


Finally got the car into the dealership today for an electrical test. They just called me to tell me that the problem is the bulb???? And, that the other (brand new) bulb is almost burnt out????


How is this possible? That's what I asked the service guy, and his answer was that the auto supply place sold me bad bulbs. Really????
Now I have to pay $98 for 2 bulbs that I paid $39 for at the auto supply place.


Please tell me I'm not being taken advantage of! I also don't understand why the bulb we replaced worked when on high beams??

 

It is possible that you either got a bad bulb or they werent installed correctly. I would uninstalling and reinstalling the lights. If that doesn't work, get a new set from the store. The dealer's price is out of hand.

 

It is entirely possible that the auto-store bulbs were cheap crap.
Take the burned out cheapo, and return it to that store for full refund!

BTDT with fog light bulbs - I went through a few 5W autoZone samples that were burning out after a few days, then bought a pair of Osram bulbs from the dealer, and they have been OK for the past 6+ months.

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Another thought is that oil from the installers fingers got on the bulb during the install. Any type of oil on the bulb will burn out the bulb very quick.