annoying headlight fault?

[bmc123]

The drivers side (outside/dipped beam) headlight has gone out on me, there was a loose wire somewhere, if I opened the bonnet and "wiggled" the wires it came on - however now it seems to have stopped all together - I suspect a fuse, and will check that as soon as I get a chance - are there any other places I can check while I am in there? any little plugs/sockets that might give a bit of bother?

[joejag308]

Where you "wiggled " the wiring any connections around that area get some WD40 and a nice clean cloth and systematically un clip each connection clean with the WD40 along with the outside of any dirty wiring is about all you can do.......the rear of the headlight units is usually an area which hasnt been touched since the car was new, replacing headlight bulbs can be a right pain in the wotsit .........patience is a real virtue here dont lose your rag if the connections are as hard as a rock, be careful not to break any or you will will have no headlights. One tip when replacing the bulbs is to fit Phillips Extreme bulbs as a replacement, its legal and they do give more light...........Joe

[bmc123]

I've had a look and the fuse is fine (worse luck) I've also tested the bulbs and they are good as well. So, I investigated a little further and found the connections for the bulb to be nothing more than two standard electrical female spade connectors pushed into the plastic holder

One of these looked pretty loose and as they are notorious for being unreliable (in some circles) I think I will replace them (the "furring" inside the connector would be a good sign I need to do that) having no garage here at the moment means I am at the mercy of the weather, and as you all know it is not exactly warm so I am forced to wait until I can access my mates garage or have a look while it is -2 out there. I'll wait I think......

I've already replaced the lamps with Phillips ones, and luckily this connector is easy enough to get at

[bmc123]

Update:

I was finally able to get a look at the problem, and it seems the little spade connectors simply slide back down inside the holder when you try to push the bulb in

To cure this problem I used a little dab of that "hard as nails" stuff to fill up the holes that the spade connectors sit in so that once it "cured" the spade connectors stay put. this has enabled me to get the bulb in, and now I have to attempt to put the ******* holder thing back in again for the umpteenth time - what masochist designed these things?

[BrianG]

Having just replaced a blown dipped beam bulb I discovered an odd quirk about these bulb holders and the P7 bulbs. Although you can put the bulb in the holder either way up, after many attemps to refit the holder in the reflector, only to find it did not click back in positively, I found that if you make sure the flat bit on the bulb base is at the top it clicks in firmly as expected.

There does not seem to be any reason for this - I looked at the mating hole in the reflector for a keyway or similar and found nothing - but it definitely works. Just to check, I tried deliberately reversing the holder of the dipped beam on the other side of the car and found the same thing.