# Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying...



## Cmdr Data (May 14, 2002)

The driver side bulb just died AGAIN last night and I have had enough!!















Does anyone know what is wrong with these MkIV platform and is there a fix for it?


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

not sure...i haven't heard of this being a common problem. 
have you checked the voltage or current going to the bulb and compared it to the passenger side?
are you running stock bulbs? are you getting water/moisture inside that headlamp? how long did the bulb last before it died?


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## nater (Apr 10, 2000)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (EternalMind)*

The B5.5 passats (and some NB's) have this problem. If you start looking around on the road you'll see a lot of Passats with one lamp out. 
When I say 'a lot' I'm talking relatively here. But I never thought it was a problem with the Golfs.
Personally, I always thought that the bulbs in the Passat were a defective bunch that burn out.
But if you're having this happen over and over again that's something else - and I would follow eternal's advice on trouble-shooting it.


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## Cmdr Data (May 14, 2002)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (nater)*

It is strange that you guys have not heard of MkIV blowing bulb one after another, cuz on the TDIClub there are tons of people having this problem. Not only do I see B5.5 with bad bulbs, there are LOTS of MkIV Golf/Jetta on the road with one light only. Also, the driver side is always the one that's out...








I'll try eternal's suggestion when it is warmer here in my hood.
BTW, I'm using H7 bulb. Phillips VisionPlus lasted ~18mths, Hella Optilux only good for 6mths.










_Modified by Cmdr Data at 1:33 PM 2-27-2007_


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## nater (Apr 10, 2000)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (Cmdr Data)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Cmdr Data* »_It is strange that you guys have not heard of MkIV blowing bulb one after another, cuz on the TDIClub there are tons of people having this problem. 
_Modified by Cmdr Data at 1:33 PM 2-27-2007_


If it's all over TDi club then what have they said about it???
I just haven't noticed it in other cars than the NB and Passat's.
Maybe it's just a problem with the guys putting the bulbs in the lamps (using their hands







).


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

same here...i don't have a lot of experience with the diesels, but i've never had the problem with my mkIV, nor has any one of my close friends (at least 9 other mkIV cars, although none are diesels and only one is a passat)
i'm wondering if it could something heat or vibration related because of the diesel engine? (although that doesn't explain the passats). is the driver side more subject to heat than the passenger side? maybe the driver side hits a harmonic frequency from the vibration? (i'm just thinking out loud...my first bet is still voltage).


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (EternalMind)*

I like the diesel/vibration theory - maybe try heavy duty bulbs if you can find them?
Cmdr - what bulbs are you using?


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## Cmdr Data (May 14, 2002)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (nater)*


_Quote, originally posted by *nater* »_
If it's all over TDi club then what have they said about it???
I just haven't noticed it in other cars than the NB and Passat's.
Maybe it's just a problem with the guys putting the bulbs in the lamps (using their hands







).


There isn't really an agreed opinion as to why this is happening. Some says their bulbs last forever, some like me, bulb keeps going out from between 6-18mths.

_Quote, originally posted by *EternalMind* »_
is the driver side more subject to heat than the passenger side? maybe the driver side hits a harmonic frequency from the vibration?


I don't think the driver side is subject to more heat than passenger. In fact, diesel engine gives out less heat than gasser. In my case, it always blew when I turn on the light, never during a drive.

_Quote, originally posted by *dennisgli* »_
...maybe try heavy duty bulbs if you can find them?
Cmdr - what bulbs are you using?


What do you mean by "heavy duty bulbs"? Long life bulbs??
I'm using H7 style bulb, 2 sets of stock from VW, 1 set of Philips VisionPlus and 1 set of Hella Optilux since day 1.


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## Padawan (Feb 19, 2004)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (Cmdr Data)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Cmdr Data* »_What do you mean by "heavy duty bulbs"? Long life bulbs??

Sylvania and Philips (and I assume other manufacturers) offer bulbs that are intended to have longer service lives than their standard counterparts. The Philips are sold as "LongerLife", and I believe the Sylvania are labeled "Halogen Plus". 
By the way, this is a rather obvious question, but when you're installing the bulbs, are you taking car not to touch the glass with your fingers, and ensuring that it doesn't contact anything else?


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (Cmdr Data)*

My impression has been the "heavy duty" bulbs were designed for harsher conditions - eg. vibration - and "long life" bulbs were just designed to run longer.
I'd stay away from the Optilux bulbs - and high efficiency bulbs like the Philips Vision Plus will have a shorter expected life than regular bulbs.



_Modified by dennisgli at 8:38 AM 1-19-2009_


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## Cmdr Data (May 14, 2002)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (Padawan)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Padawan* »_
By the way, this is a rather obvious question, but when you're installing the bulbs, are you taking car not to touch the glass with your fingers, and ensuring that it doesn't contact anything else? 

Yes, I did take care and not touch the glass part of the bulb.

_Quote, originally posted by *dennisgli* »_
My impression has been the "heavy duty" bulbs were designed for harsher conditions - eg. vibration - and "long life" bulbs were just designed to run longer.
I'd stay away from the Optilu bulbs - and high efficiency bulbs like the Philips Vision Plus will have a shorter expected life than regular bulbs.


Dennis, can you give me an example of a "heavy duty" bulbs? Cause I have never heard of this before.
As for staying away from Optilux & VisionPlus cause they died quickly, then my question is... Assuming both bulbs are the same, why does the driver side ALWAYS died before passenger side? Not just performance bulbs, even dealer's stock bulbs which are Sylvania.


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (Cmdr Data)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Cmdr Data* »_
Assuming both bulbs are the same, why does the driver side ALWAYS died before passenger side? Not just performance bulbs, even dealer's stock bulbs which are Sylvania.









i don't know if it's the case in this situation, but typically when one bulb *always* dies before the other one (for example 2002-ish chevy truck DRLs), it's a voltage issue. seeing as how the driver side bulb has a shorter run to the battery, it's possible that it's seeing a higher voltage than the passenger side and that could be eating the life a little bit faster than the passenger side.
if it's happening every 6 months, you might want to consider a long life (LL) bulb to see if it helps. if it's really only every 18 months or so, i wouldn't sweat it much. 
EDIT: one more thought (still thinking out loud)...i don't recall you stating which bulb it was above (although i didn't just reread all of it), but if your DRLs are still enabled, and it happens to be the bulb that is used for DRL, you might have a problem with the DRL circuit allowing more voltage than it should.


_Modified by EternalMind at 4:42 PM 3-1-2007_


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## Cmdr Data (May 14, 2002)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (EternalMind)*


_Quote, originally posted by *EternalMind* »_
i don't know if it's the case in this situation, but typically when one bulb *always* dies before the other one (for example 2002-ish chevy truck DRLs), it's a voltage issue. seeing as how the driver side bulb has a shorter run to the battery, it's possible that it's seeing a higher voltage than the passenger side and that could be eating the life a little bit faster than the passenger side.

Good point on the voltage/amp and wire length to battery, cause my co-worker and I was discussing this same issue today. He has a 2003 Jetta TDI using 9007 bulb and his driver side bulb die all the time, too. During the discussion, he brought up the issue about lenght of wire from battery to driver side is shorter than to passenger. Could extend the length of driver side wire reduce the "stock" introduce to the bulb when it is being turn on??









_Quote, originally posted by »_
if it's happening every 6 months, you might want to consider a long life (LL) bulb to see if it helps. if it's really only every 18 months or so, i wouldn't sweat it much. 

Yes, you're right. I might try a set of LL bulb next time.

_Quote, originally posted by »_
EDIT: one more thought (still thinking out loud)...i don't recall you stating which bulb it was above (although i didn't just reread all of it), but if your DRLs are still enabled, and it happens to be the bulb that is used for DRL, you might have a problem with the DRL circuit allowing more voltage than it should.


I've an euro light switch and no DRL.







I could not imagine how long the bulb will last if DRL is on...










_Modified by Cmdr Data at 10:59 PM 3-1-2007_


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (Cmdr Data)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Cmdr Data* »_Dennis, can you give me an example of a "heavy duty" bulbs? Cause I have never heard of this before.

I think RallyLights.com may carry them.

_Quote »_The generally accepted life of a standard wattage bulb is some 200-300 hours. Of course, some are going to burn out sooner and some are going to last your lifetime -- and that is within the standard distribution of failure for bulbs and is NOT the result of a manufacturing defect. There are "Heavy Duty" and "Long Life" bulbs available which will get you a much longer lifespan - of course you pay more for them and they are available only in standard wattages and a limited number of styles.


_Quote, originally posted by *Cmdr Data* »_As for staying away from Optilux & VisionPlus cause they died quickly, then my question is... Assuming both bulbs are the same, why does the driver side ALWAYS died before passenger side? Not just performance bulbs, even dealer's stock bulbs which are Sylvania.

I'm not sure - it could be a coincidence. But voltage, temperature, vibration, etc. are all a factor in bulb life.
I'm not sure I but the "longer wires" explanation. That should only mean a less than 1% difference in the driver and passenger side voltage and I'm not sure that is significant enough to cause the drivers side bulb to always burn out first.
Halogen bulbs can also fail early due to too low a voltage.


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

_Quote, originally posted by *dennisgli* »_
Halogen bulbs can also fail early due to too low a voltage.


very true.


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## fixmy59bug (Apr 9, 2002)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (EternalMind)*

Actually, all electronics can die early if the voltage is too low. Although with the use of Solid State electronics, it is far less common. What alot of people don't know is that as voltage goes down, amperage goes up. I actually didn't know this either until a few years ago when my dad told me. If I am not mistaken, Watts divided by volts equals amps. For example. a 55 watt light bulb:
55 watts divided by 13.5 volts = 4.07 amps being pulled.
but at a lower voltage:
55 watts divided by 9 volts = 6.1 amps.
My dad told me the older nissans would kill the ECM's if the alternator died because the high amperage would fry some of the "non-solid state" electronics.
Back to the topic at hand, If the DRL's are on all the time, it will drastically shorten the life of the bulb. The regular shelf life of a sylvania H7 bulb is 530 hours. Doing some simple math using 4 hours of driving every day that bulb will only last 132 days. Just a hair over 4 months. If you disable the DRL's (quite easy to do on MkIV's) and say you drive the same 4 hours (but only 1 hour is at night), that would mean the bulb will last 530 days. Approximately of course. That is almost 2 years. 
Edit: I see now that the OP is in Canada. Unfortunately for him (or her) DRL's are required by law so they should not be disabled. It would be cheaper to buy long life bulbs and just keep replacing them. Long life bulbs are rated at about 960 hours so approx double the life.


_Modified by fixmy59bug at 12:17 AM 3-5-2007_


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (fixmy59bug)*


_Quote, originally posted by *fixmy59bug* »_What alot of people don't know is that as voltage goes down, amperage goes up. I actually didn't know this either until a few years ago when my dad told me. If I am not mistaken, Watts divided by volts equals amps. For example. a 55 watt light bulb:
55 watts divided by 13.5 volts = 4.07 amps being pulled.
but at a lower voltage:
55 watts divided by 9 volts = 6.1 amps.


Well, no. Wattage isn't constant - so 55watts is the power consumed at the rated voltage. As the voltage goes down so does the current and the power. You can run regular incandescent lights at reduced voltage but halogen bulbs need to be hot to operate properly.

_Quote, originally posted by *fixmy59bug* »_If the DRL's are on all the time, it will drastically shorten the life of the bulb. The regular shelf life of a sylvania H7 bulb is 530 hours. Doing some simple math using 4 hours of driving every day that bulb will only last 132 days. Just a hair over 4 months. If you disable the DRL's (quite easy to do on MkIV's) and say you drive the same 4 hours (but only 1 hour is at night), that would mean the bulb will last 530 days. Approximately of course. That is almost 2 years.

On the MkIV Golf/Jetta the DRLs run at reduced voltage - eg. at 80% of the rated voltage bulbs will last 10-20 times longer.


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

_Quote, originally posted by *dennisgli* »_
Well, no. Wattage isn't constant - so 55watts is the power consumed at the rated voltage. As the voltage goes down so does the current and the power. You can run regular incandescent lights at reduced voltage but halogen bulbs need to be hot to operate properly.

On the MkIV Golf/Jetta the DRLs run at reduced voltage - eg. at 80% of the rated voltage bulbs will last 10-20 times longer.


all correct. only constant power devices (like an HID ballast) have the current go up when the voltage goes down. it's definitely not the norm.


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## wuntunmein88 (Nov 3, 2008)

*Re: Driver side headlight bulb keeps dying... (Cmdr Data)*

Mine went out again 3rd time in 8 years. I'm using Sivlerstar bulbs and read somewhere here that their lifespan is very short. I have 
DRL so that doesn't help. I seem to replace the passenger side more often than driver's side. Notice a lot of MK IV on the road with one headlight and/or tailight.


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