I have an '02, and I've been having issues with the bulbs in my headlamps burning out every 4 months or so. I've never had a car with this issue before. It seems I'm replacing a bulb as frequently or more frequently than my wiper blades. I dont think it would be caused by a short, because wouldn't that just blow the bulb quickly? If anyone has any insight, please let me know.

 

What watt bulbs are you running?

 

It could be if your fingers touch the bulb while installing the oils from your skin dramatically reduce the life of the bulb. Also what brand are you using? I've noticed the cheap generic bulbs have issues lasting.

 

I've been using Sylvania's, i'll check the wattage tomorrow.

 

Contrary to my personal experiance I have heard of others not being able to get the Silvaynias to last more than a year, if they aren't working for you you may want ot try a new brand. Phillips has a new product out that supposed to be extra bright, but I haven't been able to find anything beyond their marketing to back it up.

 

Most of the blue tint/HID color bulbs do not last very long. Most have lives in the tens of hours. This can be attributed to a number of causes, from burning the filiment hotter to make up for the reduction in light output from the tint, the the tint itself degrading the bulb envelope much in the same way as handling the glass with bare fingers can.

If other exterior bulbs are short lived, check the alternator voltage. You should not see more than about 14.8 volts, anything higher tends to eat up incandescent lamps.

 

I use the Sylvania's (the silverstars) and get about 6 months out of them. I am absolutely sure I don't touch them (thanks to Drew's - MotorOn's - instructions on how to change them some months ago). I really like the bright white light they provide, so I put up with the short life.

 

WOW I have never heard of having to change headlight bulbs at 4-6 months or even at 1 year. Most cars I have owned have been traded at 5-7 years of age with the original bulbs still working. Are you guys modding headlamps w/different bulbs? I am just curious why you would have to replace them so frequently

 

You and me both, bamatt!

 

I use the Silverstars currently, but somehow I seem to be the only person I know who can make them last multiple years. The ones in the MINI are coming up on a year, the ones in my Moms MINIvan are a little over a year and the ones in my last car that still gets rare use (mainly just to charge the batt. since the MINI has been around) has had the bulbs work flawlessly for 3 years after buring through the autozone OE replacement in weeks. I easily do 90% of my driving at night so its not from lack of use.

I do plan on upgrading to even brighter lights and adding a yellow film to the headlamps after I add fogs and driving lights but that is still a ways down the road.

 

I assume your talking normal H7 Halogens.

If thats the case, any normal H7 from a reputable maker has a life of about 550 hours. Now its depends upon how much you drive at night

If you change the Color (try to look like a Fake HID), then your down to about 350 hours ... BIG difference.

If you run 65 watts vice the normal 55 watt bulbs, then your talking about 250 hours.

You play, you pay

 

You still haven't explained my situation.

 

Sure it does. Remember, all things most likely fit a normal curve.

Lets make the numbers easy and say the average H7 last 720 hours instead of 550. So if you drive 2 hours a night, every day, on average they last a year.

But that's "average". Few actual bulbs hit that number. However, many will fall within one standard deviation of that.

So if you look at any normal curve, assuming 550 hours avg, there are going to be some unlucky people who get 100 hours out of a bulb and some really lucky ppl who get 1000 hours ... you just got a lucky bulb.

Its not no different than your engine. You don't really think each and every MCS engine comes with the factory with exactly 168 bhp? There is no way they could afford such tight QC. Somebody on MINI2 dynoed a bunch of cars stock and saw variances from like 150 - 170 hp. You got to be on the lucky side to get a good one. One person on NAM was very disappointed with his dyno numbers but he could have easily had one of the bad bunch.

 

But I'm consistantly getting in the 1+k hour range on 3 cars, everbody else is consistantly falling into a 250 hour or less witht he same brand, wattage and type bulb. Its 1 of 20 people, and the other 19 have gone through multiple sets of bulbs with the same results, which makes it closer to 1 in 25-30 when pulling from multiple threads on this topic. Its defying statiscal probability.

 

I still don't get how come all of you have to replace your bulbs out so often I mean in 25 years of driving I have never ever ever had to replace a single headlight bulb. Maybe you guys should see if Toyota, Honda, Pontiac, or Chevrolet (my previous line-up in life) have some OEM bulbs you can buy to fit the Mini cause those babies burn forever

 

There are four makers of quality halogens, ...

1. Narva RangePower +50and RangePower+30,
2. GE Night Hawk,
3. Philips Vision Plus, and
4. Osram Silver Star

Those Osrams are NOT the Silvania superstars ppl seem to be buying here. These are the European Osrams superstars.

If you buy one of these, your going to get longer life and more vision. If you buy autozone special for $3.99 ... your going to get what you pay for.

I bought the Phillips Vision Plus, about $45/pair if I remember right

 

But we are all using the Sylvania H7 55w bulbs, which are better than stock even though they don't make your list of "quality bulbs" which go for $40 a pair. And providing a list of other brands doesn't explain the drastic variations n results. I hated the OEM lights always seemed like they were running at 50% brightness.

 

I guess your lucky

 

well atleast we've solved one of my major concerns that i may have a short somewhere or a surge in power to cause my bulbs to shat the bed. Looks like i'll have to just buck up and deal with the short life until my bulbs burn out again after the holiday season and purchase a step up from the 'superstars' to give those a run and check the life expectancy of 'em.

and i wont handle them with my hands anymore.