Short life span on my VW headlights

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wavinwayne

wavinwayne

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I replaced the low beam bulbs, which also serve as the daytime running lamps, on my '00 VW GTI approx 3 months ago. I used Sylvania H7 bulbs. Both bulbs burned out on my drive home yesterday.

What would cause such a short life span on these bulbs?

p.s. Replaced with same bulbs last night. Will monitor life span.
 
wow, that is short.

The lo-beams for my 2004 saab 9-3 also serve as DRL, and they both failed within a month of one another, in March/April.

The part saab uses as an H7 bulb is the Philips LongerLife 2x H7 which is part 12972LL

Some bulbs arent made to as high a quality standard. My father has had problems with sylvania in the past, I know for certain...

They sell these bulbs at saab dealers and at taliaferro imports - genuinesaab website. You can search online. The bulbs arent very expensive either. They are made in Germany, unlike many f the others which are made in Hungary or Slovenia,from what I recall.

JMH
 
Yeah that is short. Maybe you got a defective bulb. I don't know if the bulb was accidentally touched with bare hands and how it affects lifetime of the bulb.

My 02 Jetta uses 9007 (high/low beam together) and still have the original bulb. I rather have separate low and high beam like your Golf/GTI.
 
Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
I replaced the low beam bulbs, which also serve as the daytime running lamps, on my '00 VW GTI approx 3 months ago. I used Sylvania H7 bulbs. Both bulbs burned out on my drive home yesterday.

What would cause such a short life span on these bulbs?

p.s. Replaced with same bulbs last night. Will monitor life span.

Right now there is a 2-for-1 sale on Osram Silverstar H7 bulbs from
http://www.powerbulbs.com/product_detail.asp?prod=84

Four bulbs for around $33, and quick delivery anywhere in the world for free. Stock up now!
 
silverstar should be even shorter life... right? And they are quoted in GBP, so the prices shown need to be multiplied by 2 to get USD.

JMH
 
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Osram is not well-known for reliability and consistency, the best so far in the market is Philips, you can get the Extreme Power for high brightness or Long Life for extended life.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
silverstar should be even shorter life... right? And they are quoted in GBP, so the prices shown need to be multiplied by 2 to get USD.

JMH

They are not a long-life bulb, sort of medium-life I think.

The price for four bulbs, about $33, is not much more than Autozone or Kragen or Walmart charge for two bulbs. That's why the Powerbulbs deal is so good right now.
 
Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
Both bulbs burned out on my drive home yesterday.


That's really weird. Did they both quit at the same time?
 
Originally Posted By: oilyriser
Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
Both bulbs burned out on my drive home yesterday.


That's really weird. Did they both quit at the same time?


They were both working when I pulled out of my garage early in the morning, and they were both dead when I pulled back into the garage. I don't know if they died at the same moment. Probably not.

Also, I never touched the glass on either light that died early, and I wore rubber gloves just in case. Still, neither the gloves nor my fingers ever touched the bulbs. I think they're just not made to last very long.
 
Do VWs have relay for the headlights? If it continues, wiring/checking the relay may be needed. US standards for automotive bulbs are longer (like six times 5W5 vs 194A for dashboard in my case -if I'm not mixing up numbers). Tests are relating to the average life of about 50 lamps, so when it comes to the bulbs probability factors are big. If you could substitude a similar bulb with a US production chances are it is better.
 
Yes, they have relays.

Keep in mind, a standard H7 bulb has an average life of 500 hours. Add on top of it DRLs, which uses the low beams at approximately 90% power. So yes... life for the low beam doesn't look that great when you count the calendar days.

The only real way to improve the "calendar life" is by disabling the DRLs, which is very simple to do.
 
I PM'd WavinWayne and mentioned to him that low voltage either due to a corroded headlight harness, dirty connectors, or a bad battery could be a possibility as to what caused short bulb life.
 
Originally Posted By: 97prizm
I PM'd WavinWayne and mentioned to him that low voltage either due to a corroded headlight harness, dirty connectors, or a bad battery could be a possibility as to what caused short bulb life.


On WavinWayne's car, the low voltage is caused by the DRL load reduction "relay". With a standard H7 bulb getting about 500 hours of life (average).

Like I said, Disable the DRLs, and it will still last about 500 hours on average, but in terms of calender days, it seems a lot better.
 
Originally Posted By: Tornado Red
Right now there is a 2-for-1 sale on Osram Silverstar H7 bulbs from
http://www.powerbulbs.com/product_detail.asp?prod=84

Four bulbs for around $33, and quick delivery anywhere in the world for free. Stock up now!

This special deal is still going on, I guess until they run out of stock. I think it's about 1/2 the price at Walmart, but I don't know for sure since Powerbulbs is the only place I buy headlight bulbs from anymore.
 
To disable the DRL's just pull the headlight switch and cover or bend down the pin labeled TFL.

Here's how to remove the switch, push in on switch and turn counter-clockwise.
 
Originally Posted By: ourfamo4
To disable the DRL's just pull the headlight switch and cover or bend down the pin labeled TFL.

Here's how to remove the switch, push in on switch and turn counter-clockwise.


I used another method to disable the DRLs. Pulled the #173 relay from under the dash. The parking brake indicator will not light up on the dash so you plug in a mini 10 amp fuse to the bottom 2 pins where the 173 relay plugs in. Found this out on another forum worked just fine.
 
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I had the same problem with a VW New Beetle that I had. A Sylvania rep told me the Halogen bulbs must be operated at full voltage to get long life. He said the lower DRL voltage was a killer.
I think it is unique to VW, as my Toyota with high mileahe, never had an issue with bulb life.
 
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