Ease of bulb replacement in modern cars!
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From: NM on 21 Feb 2010 07:32 On 21 Feb, 11:26, Derek C <del.copel...(a)tiscali.co.uk> wrote: , you > have to get your fingers into a very small hole, Make sure there is some hair round it :-)
From: thomas on 21 Feb 2010 07:43 Its one of the benefits of EU rule - we will soon have to carry a set of replacement bulbs(like most of mainland europe) which we will not be able to fit at the roadside - no logic to it "Derek C" <del.copeland(a)tiscali.co.uk> wrote in message news:8c3eb14d-243d-443a-a607-0d49734c7620(a)u20g2000yqu.googlegroups.com... >I recently had a dipped headlight bulb fail on my Citroen C5. > Unfortunately within 24 hours, and before I could replace it, the > second dipped headlight failed. As it was at night and my car has no > foglights, I had no choice but to call out the AA. > > The AA man said that with modern wiring systems, it is quite common > for a second headlight bulb to fail shortly after the first due to an > electrical surge. > > As the headlight units are hard up against the battery on one side and > the hydraulic reservoir and the pump for the power steering on the > other side, the AA man ended up taking most of the front of the car > apart just to replace two headlamp bulbs. This took about 2 hours on a > freezing cold and very dark night! He said that many modern cars, > including VW and Fords are equally bad in this respect. > > Bearing in mind that my car is of French origin, where it is a legal > requirement to carry a spare bulb set, the difficulty of changing > headlamp bulbs is a dangerous nonsense. Even if I had the bulbs, I > would have no chance of fitting them myself. It might just be possible > if you have a very thin double jointed wrists and fingers like ET! > > In older cars, changing a bulb was about a two minute job. As cars > with blown headlamps are a safety issue, surely cars should be > designed so that it is easy to fit replacement bulbs! > > Derek C
From: Harry Bloomfield on 21 Feb 2010 07:49 Derek C brought next idea : > The AA man said that with modern wiring systems, it is quite common > for a second headlight bulb to fail shortly after the first due to an > electrical surge. Don't believe it, what surge? Where did the surge come from? The most likely explanation is that both lamps were exactly the same age and therefor lasted a similar amount of time. > In older cars, changing a bulb was about a two minute job. As cars > with blown headlamps are a safety issue, surely cars should be > designed so that it is easy to fit replacement bulbs! There is much more under the hood, so space is at a premium in modern cars. Despite this I can change mine in around 15 minutes. I took the time to fit new ones in my car a few days after I bought it, in the comfort of my garage - so I would know how to do it at the side of the road if necessary. -- Regards, Harry (M1BYT) (L) http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk
From: Derek C on 21 Feb 2010 08:24 On 21 Feb, 12:49, Harry Bloomfield <harry.m1...(a)NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk> wrote: > Derek C brought next idea : > > > The AA man said that with modern wiring systems, it is quite common > > for a second headlight bulb to fail shortly after the first due to an > > electrical surge. > > Don't believe it, what surge? Where did the surge come from? > > The most likely explanation is that both lamps were exactly the same > age and therefor lasted a similar amount of time. The second bulb to fail had only been replaced a few weeks earlier, so that explanation is unlikely! AA men have to deal with many breakdowns, so I assume that he had plenty of experience of this problem. > > > In older cars, changing a bulb was about a two minute job. As cars > > with blown headlamps are a safety issue, surely cars should be > > designed so that it is easy to fit replacement bulbs! > > There is much more under the hood, so space is at a premium in modern > cars. Despite this I can change mine in around 15 minutes. I took the > time to fit new ones in my car a few days after I bought it, in the > comfort of my garage - so I would know how to do it at the side of the > road if necessary. Yes, but the under bonnet space could, and should, be designed so that it's easy to get at the headlight units to change bulbs. Easy maintenance seems to be an afterthought for many modern car designs. DC.
From: JNugent on 21 Feb 2010 09:17
Derek C wrote: > I recently had a dipped headlight bulb fail on my Citroen C5. > Unfortunately within 24 hours, and before I could replace it, the > second dipped headlight failed. As it was at night and my car has no > foglights, I had no choice but to call out the AA. > > The AA man said that with modern wiring systems, it is quite common > for a second headlight bulb to fail shortly after the first due to an > electrical surge. > > As the headlight units are hard up against the battery on one side and > the hydraulic reservoir and the pump for the power steering on the > other side, the AA man ended up taking most of the front of the car > apart just to replace two headlamp bulbs. This took about 2 hours on a > freezing cold and very dark night! He said that many modern cars, > including VW and Fords are equally bad in this respect. > > Bearing in mind that my car is of French origin, where it is a legal > requirement to carry a spare bulb set, the difficulty of changing > headlamp bulbs is a dangerous nonsense. I absolutely agree. In France this summer, I carried a full spare swet of bulbs. But it wouldn't have done me any good if one had failed. A dip element went off on my Citroen a couple of days ago. I bought *another* lamp straightaway (not wanting to deplete me street-legal psare set) ans I tried to do the change yesterday. After 30m fiddling about, I gave up and reconnected the existing lamp (which will not move and shall not be moved). It's round to the main dealers in the morning... Grrrr! |