£273 to change a bulb ?
Discussion
CinnamonFan said:
Shakermaker said:
CinnamonFan said:
kev b said:
I have posted this before but it cost £580 to replace a front sidelight bulb on my 2007 BMW E60, £18 for the bulb, the rest for the lighting module and programming/ fitting.
The module breaks if the lights are used with a blown bulb and can only be obtained from a dealer.
Similar happened to me. I have the 2006 E87. £59 for the xenon bulb, new ballast + FRM module and coding to the car + a lot of dealer head scratching/parts removal. Was around £1100 total. The module breaks if the lights are used with a blown bulb and can only be obtained from a dealer.
I would genuinely feel the need to consider taking some form of action against BMW for that. As others have said, Volvo make it a piece of cake to change a bulb, it can be done.
They knocked the labour off the last part change as I spoke to the service manager and said if I knew it might be these sort of figures I'd have left it at the investigation + taken it elsewhere.
Seriously, go to the likes of HID-direct and you can get a high quality replacement, Can-bus ballast (35-55W) and bulbs, to the heat temperature of your choice (4300K-5000K is standard) for less than £100 and to the labour yourself, it really isn't rocket science.
jamoor said:
Impasse said:
Yep, it's usually much simpler and quicker to swap the entire £1500 headlight unit in the event of failure. 
To be fair, LEDs rarely fail, if something does fail it can be repaired as its 50 year old technology, not cutting edge stuff.neil1jnr said:
I am gobsmacked, you two have actually paid over £1000 a piece for changing headlamp bulbs?? Are you millionaires?
Seriously, go to the likes of HID-direct and you can get a high quality replacement, Can-bus ballast (35-55W) and bulbs, to the heat temperature of your choice (4300K-5000K is standard) for less than £100 and to the labour yourself, it really isn't rocket science.
Fitting and coding a new lkm is beyond most diyers though and that is what has failed on these instances. Seriously, go to the likes of HID-direct and you can get a high quality replacement, Can-bus ballast (35-55W) and bulbs, to the heat temperature of your choice (4300K-5000K is standard) for less than £100 and to the labour yourself, it really isn't rocket science.
xRIEx said:
It still makes sense - roadside recovery (whoever the French equivalent of the AA/RAC/Green Flag are) would be able to do the work, but will not have capacity to carry every single type of bulb (or lamp, as a pedantic friend of mine would insist). You bring the bulb, they bring the tools (and the skills, in my case).
Well it sort of makes sense - but the reality is that it doesn't; you'd need to carry a set of HID or LED headlight bulbs - how much will this spare bulb kit cost?Also these trendy shaped LED strings don't come as separate bulbs, they come as a plastic moulding holding the LEDs in the appropriate shape to fit the cluster or mirror housing. Basically your entire boot would be full of spare lights - left and right.
OldGermanHeaps said:
neil1jnr said:
I am gobsmacked, you two have actually paid over £1000 a piece for changing headlamp bulbs?? Are you millionaires?
Seriously, go to the likes of HID-direct and you can get a high quality replacement, Can-bus ballast (35-55W) and bulbs, to the heat temperature of your choice (4300K-5000K is standard) for less than £100 and to the labour yourself, it really isn't rocket science.
Fitting and coding a new lkm is beyond most diyers though and that is what has failed on these instances. Seriously, go to the likes of HID-direct and you can get a high quality replacement, Can-bus ballast (35-55W) and bulbs, to the heat temperature of your choice (4300K-5000K is standard) for less than £100 and to the labour yourself, it really isn't rocket science.
Failing that, research online what you need and how to do it yourself before paying that.
mybrainhurts said:
Don't get that. My current model Volvo V70 is dead easy. Slide out two rods, pull out the whole headlamp unit, unplug the connector, take it inside the house, change the bulb.
What about the tail lights? It took me forever to change them and various other bulbs on my cousins old V70. Not fun at all.jamoor said:
To be fair, LEDs rarely fail, if something does fail it can be repaired as its 50 year old technology, not cutting edge stuff.
What is 50 year old technology? Certainly not the LEDs which are still fairly cutting edge. 50 years ago the only LEDs you could buy would have made a candle look dazzling by comparison.neil1jnr said:
OldGermanHeaps said:
neil1jnr said:
I am gobsmacked, you two have actually paid over £1000 a piece for changing headlamp bulbs?? Are you millionaires?
Seriously, go to the likes of HID-direct and you can get a high quality replacement, Can-bus ballast (35-55W) and bulbs, to the heat temperature of your choice (4300K-5000K is standard) for less than £100 and to the labour yourself, it really isn't rocket science.
Fitting and coding a new lkm is beyond most diyers though and that is what has failed on these instances. Seriously, go to the likes of HID-direct and you can get a high quality replacement, Can-bus ballast (35-55W) and bulbs, to the heat temperature of your choice (4300K-5000K is standard) for less than £100 and to the labour yourself, it really isn't rocket science.
Failing that, research online what you need and how to do it yourself before paying that.
Also to whoever posted above about the bulb causing more damange, the ballast got a drop of water in the electrics and fried it, so it needed replacement and the FRM wont even attempt to fire after twenty failed attempts.
I wish I was a millionaire.
Im about to list it for sale though as I cannot afford that sort of repair costs. Got myself a pensioner spec Micra, in a lovely gold colour..Re my E60 £500+ sidelight, it failed on a Friday, weekends are our busiest time, the bulb was not available easily and the MOT was booked for Tuesday so it was left until then, expensive mistake.
Despite having £30K worth of diagnostic equipment and over 120 years of workshop experience on the case we could not fiix it ourselves to enable an MOT pass without the BMW software, so off to the dealer it had to go.
The car had been trouble free for seven years (full BMW service history) but as soon as it reached 70K miles it started to throw up expensive electronic faults and had to go.
Such a shame as it was a lovely car which we would have kept forever, like my E46 which I still have. I am a serial BMW owner but I will think really hard before buying another.
Despite having £30K worth of diagnostic equipment and over 120 years of workshop experience on the case we could not fiix it ourselves to enable an MOT pass without the BMW software, so off to the dealer it had to go.
The car had been trouble free for seven years (full BMW service history) but as soon as it reached 70K miles it started to throw up expensive electronic faults and had to go.
Such a shame as it was a lovely car which we would have kept forever, like my E46 which I still have. I am a serial BMW owner but I will think really hard before buying another.
i just checked the owners manual for my 2013 Honda CRV and there are simple-looking instructions for changing all bulbs (no mention of the optional xenons, admittely). No bumper removal or anything like that. My old 2004 CRV was also easy to change bulbs on. Not all modern cars are a PITA to change bulbs on.
spreadsheet monkey said:
i just checked the owners manual for my 2013 Honda CRV and there are simple-looking instructions for changing all bulbs (no mention of the optional xenons, admittely). No bumper removal or anything like that. My old 2004 CRV was also easy to change bulbs on. Not all modern cars are a PITA to change bulbs on.
I would say Xenon bulbs are harder to change because all the gubbins are part of the headlight unit. Changing them on my Clio is definitely a bumper off job for sure. Unless you've got the hands of a 6 year old Standard DS2 Xenons should be easy to change *if* it isn't stupidly designed so you can't get to the back of the unit (in which case a standard version will probably be hard too).
The ballast is often on the back of the bulb so twist it off, the unit and bulb come out, pop in new bulb, put whole unit back in and twist to lock.
If accessible there is no reason why a Xenon should take longer to change than a H7.
The ballast is often on the back of the bulb so twist it off, the unit and bulb come out, pop in new bulb, put whole unit back in and twist to lock.
If accessible there is no reason why a Xenon should take longer to change than a H7.
alpha channel said:
It was the coding to the car bit that made me go f
k me! to be honest. Why the hell do you need to code a sodding bulb/lamp/gas light to a car?! No car, no matter how nice/expensive it is, is ever worth that kind of hassle, that's technology for technologies sake.
The cars control module often drives the functionality of the lamp. For example, on a car where it has sweeping indicators, the car has to tell the lamps to flash the indicators if you press the hazard warning light button, as hazards are not allowed to be sweeping;If you open the tailgate on some cars, the tailgate lights go out and the bodyside lamps go brighter;finally, if one lamp fails, the car has to tell the other lamp what to do (this is something to do with regulation, where if a bodyside lamp fails the tailgate one must extinguish, or something like that). k me! to be honest. Why the hell do you need to code a sodding bulb/lamp/gas light to a car?! No car, no matter how nice/expensive it is, is ever worth that kind of hassle, that's technology for technologies sake.Also for LED pixel cars, the car has the cameras fitted that tell the lamps what to do. And sometimes the lamps will be the same for different trim levels of cars, but the cars software turns on the lamp functionality
talksthetorque said:
Z4 Angel eyes sidelights.
Basically to get your arm in the right position you need double jointed wrists and elbows.
and you have to take the wheel off ideally.
I had a go, but it was raining and I don't have a ramp.
In the end I just asked the MOT garage to change it before he MOT'd it.
(see getting a man in thread)
I agree with this, an absolute bBasically to get your arm in the right position you need double jointed wrists and elbows.
and you have to take the wheel off ideally.
I had a go, but it was raining and I don't have a ramp.
In the end I just asked the MOT garage to change it before he MOT'd it.
(see getting a man in thread)
h. Me and a mate tried to do these the other day, and anyone who says they can do this without jacking the car up is a liar I think. Even then it is incredibly awkward and fiddly. And I STILL dont have fully working lights (I had 3 bulbs out) so I've bought some more and we're going to do the whole lot as I don't want to have to do it again any time soon. An absolute nightmare it was... and yet I can imagine some cars are far worse again.I had to change an indicator bulb on my old Civic and that was similarly horrendous. I remember older cars it was a doddle, 2 minute job tops. I'm sure they do it deliberately so you will pay the main dealer to do it.
CinnamonFan said:
kev b said:
I have posted this before but it cost £580 to replace a front sidelight bulb on my 2007 BMW E60, £18 for the bulb, the rest for the lighting module and programming/ fitting.
The module breaks if the lights are used with a blown bulb and can only be obtained from a dealer.
Similar happened to me. I have the 2006 E87. £59 for the xenon bulb, new ballast + FRM module and coding to the car + a lot of dealer head scratching/parts removal. Was around £1100 total. The module breaks if the lights are used with a blown bulb and can only be obtained from a dealer.
It did require 2 new rear number plate lights of the LED "they'll last forever" variety though!
Years back I remember a work colleague being gutted by the bill he got for changing a halogen bulb on a 53 plate A4, because it was a bumper off job! Vorsprung durch technik, or is that trousers down mate?
He was even less impressed when the turbo was f**ked at 55K miles just out of warranty! (He got shot at the first opportunity and bought a BMW)! Thankfully my current E86 doesn't have Xenons so a cheap and relatively easy fix if required I hope - even if it does seem pretty dark at night on unlit roads!
Just have to drive slower, or pay more attention! Just out of curiosity, but do those French plods know if the car has Xenons or will a bulb set with an H7 do the job? Looks to me like they may be being tasked with something they cannot comprehend?
jjr1 said:
GrizzlyBear said:
When I buy a car I look around for things like how hard is it to change a bulb, it is the sort of thing that is only going to be hard if the manufacturer wants it to be. I walk away from cars with unnecessary costs like this. Do we really need headlights that bright - all we end up doing is dazzling drivers coming the other way.
I can believe £273 for a BMW bulb, the question is why customers put up with it?
Yep the first thing I did when I bought my £50,000 car was check where the light bulbs were in case of replacement?I can believe £273 for a BMW bulb, the question is why customers put up with it?
We tend to keep cars a long time, and once they are out of warranty I will do some of the maintenance myself, £250 implies it will be a pain.
I would rather spend a few pound on a bulb change than £250, because even in a £50K car you still have a question £250 to change a bulb! also a £50K car will be a £1k shed eventually. Or do go to this pub:
dci said:
A few people I know would happily pay that just so they can go to the pub and brag about having £250 to spend on a bulb.
J4CKO said:
Really, the government and Police should make a song and dance about this, Rospa as well, it is it so expensive and hard to change a safety item
I agree entirely, but haven't you worked out yet?the Gov is not on your side; they want you to be a spendthrift, they want you to replace your car regularly etc. If your bulb fails it will get picked up in the next MOT and you will have to pay to have it replaced.Who you really need on your side is the media who could publicise that you might end up spending £1,100 on a E87 or a few pound on a super mini. Why do the headlights need to be that different?
CinnamonFan said:
I have the 2006 E87. £59 for the xenon bulb, new ballast + FRM module and coding to the car + a lot of dealer head scratching/parts removal. Was around £1100 total.
So cars will end up being scrapped due to a blown bulb! That is a ridiculous situation to be in.my sister was charged £180 by a VW main dealer in London about 7 years ago to change a brake light bulb on her Passat..... a 5 min job I might add. This was on top of the £350 minor service they charged her for.
Unfortunatley she only told me after she paid them.
I advised her to never go back to that dealer and she didnt.
Unfortunatley she only told me after she paid them.
I advised her to never go back to that dealer and she didnt.
These modern beemers are crazy. I cannot comprehend that a simple task like changing a bulb results in a trip to the dealership and a massive bill for re setting the electronics. I've just changed both zenon bulbs on my 996, it took 20 mins for both of them. I'd do it in half that time if I did it again.
Open the boot, pull back the carpet, remove a rubber grommet, take the special tool (in the car's tool kit), stuff it into the hole left by the grommet, turn the nut 45 degrees and the whole headlight unit pops out. Remove two little screws to remove a protective cover and there are the main bulbs.Click off the connector and the bulb is free to remove. Replace the bulb and put it all back together. There is also a nut to swap over to driving on the right when on euro trips. When I get back from France, I'll take out both headlights, swap them back for driving on the left whilst on the chunnel.
I hate cars that have been designed to be complicated to maintain, it smacks of lazy design and engineering.
Open the boot, pull back the carpet, remove a rubber grommet, take the special tool (in the car's tool kit), stuff it into the hole left by the grommet, turn the nut 45 degrees and the whole headlight unit pops out. Remove two little screws to remove a protective cover and there are the main bulbs.Click off the connector and the bulb is free to remove. Replace the bulb and put it all back together. There is also a nut to swap over to driving on the right when on euro trips. When I get back from France, I'll take out both headlights, swap them back for driving on the left whilst on the chunnel.
I hate cars that have been designed to be complicated to maintain, it smacks of lazy design and engineering.
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