E46 Headlight Bulb problem

[SpeedIsProgress]

Hi,

Has anyone else found that their E46 gets through an abnormally large number of headlight bulbs? I seem to be changing mine all too frequently.

Just wondering if this is normal, a solvable problem or just poor luck on my part.

Cheers.

[Schermerhorn]

Are you changing the bulb yourself?

If you touch the glass part of the bulb the 'life' of the bulb is significantly compromised.

Change brands. Don't get cheap bulbs and instead get a major brand like Ring. From experience they are the best.

[SpeedIsProgress]

I have been doing it myself, making a point not to touch the glass.

Using Halfords own brand 'super brilliance' bulbs until now.... this could be where the problem lies. I'll try a different brand and see how I get along.

[AdamD]

Would recommend philips extreme 80%+ bulbs, very good output and had long life out of its predecessor (vision plus 50%+).

[Aubrey]

Or buy an HID kit for about £80-90, much better light than normal bulbs and should last much longer!

[waremark]

When I had a Xenon headlight work intermittently on my E46 M3, I was charged, wait for it, £1,050. That's why they call dealers stealers!

[Aubrey]

waremark said:

When I had a Xenon headlight work intermittently on my E46 M3, I was charged, wait for it, £1,050. That's why they call dealers stealers!

Bugger me!!! I hope you complained!

[SpeedIsProgress]

waremark said:

When I had a Xenon headlight work intermittently on my E46 M3, I was charged, wait for it, £1,050. That's why they call dealers stealers!

That is obscene, I was once told by a garage that to pass an MOT I needed four new Lambda sensors; these they said would be £140 EACH plus fitting. With the possibility they would need another £700+ for a cat if that didn't work. Needless to say I told them to piss off and didn't ever use them again.

at another garage my car went through emissions without any work being done... thieving bds

[waremark]

I am ashamed to say I wanted the car back working, I was rather busy, and apart from telling them I thought it was outrageous I just accepted it and paid up. Apart from this though the car was not unreasonably expensive to run.

[Schermerhorn]

SpeedIsProgress said:

waremark said:

When I had a Xenon headlight work intermittently on my E46 M3, I was charged, wait for it, £1,050. That's why they call dealers stealers!

That is obscene, I was once told by a garage that to pass an MOT I needed four new Lambda sensors; these they said would be £140 EACH plus fitting. With the possibility they would need another £700+ for a cat if that didn't work. Needless to say I told them to piss off and didn't ever use them again.

at another garage my car went through emissions without any work being done... thieving bds

Wow, where do you live???

A lamba sensor should be no more than £40. I don't believe any car has 4 lamba sensors (I'm probably wrong though).

Fitting would be, again, no more than £40 either.

Incidently, what car did you have that a catlytic converter would cost you £700? I can get hold of BMW M5 (E39) cats for £550 + VAT.

[SpeedIsProgress]

Schermerhorn said:

SpeedIsProgress said:

waremark said:

When I had a Xenon headlight work intermittently on my E46 M3, I was charged, wait for it, £1,050. That's why they call dealers stealers!

That is obscene, I was once told by a garage that to pass an MOT I needed four new Lambda sensors; these they said would be £140 EACH plus fitting. With the possibility they would need another £700+ for a cat if that didn't work. Needless to say I told them to piss off and didn't ever use them again.

at another garage my car went through emissions without any work being done... thieving bds

Wow, where do you live???

A lamba sensor should be no more than £40. I don't believe any car has 4 lamba sensors (I'm probably wrong though).

Fitting would be, again, no more than £40 either.

Incidently, what car did you have that a catlytic converter would cost you £700? I can get hold of BMW M5 (E39) cats for £550 + VAT.

My car does have four (two before the cat and two after)... But you are absolutely right with the true cost of them!

I live near Winchester in Hampshire and without mentioning the name... the garage is on the main road in Otterbourne.

It's ridiculous, many people who don't know much or anything about cars would have stumped up the cash thinking that doing so was the only way to get their car back on the road with an MOT certificate.

Such a shame that garages will behave like this, but I'm sure lots do it and will continue to get away with it... some of them see it as a licence to print money and doing so gives honest mechanics a bad name in the process. I now drive all the way to London and get friends dad to do any work on my car because I can trust him.

The French are no better, the exhaust on my old car blew whilst holidaying in the med, €800+ they quoted me... I ignored the problem and drove all the way back here dealing with the embarrassingly loud car and subsequently only paid £300 for the same part...