Do Xenons ever blow?

[Wafflesmk2]

Thinking about it, i've never seen a car with Xenons that has a headlight out.

Im talking proper Xenons here, not those cheap bullst aftermarket laserbeam HIDS that chavvy mc chavington has on his clio.

Do the bulbs ever blow? Im guessing not because there's no filament, its just gas isnt it?

[okie592]

rarely, ive seen a couple of volvos with " Pink Eye" which is just before the xenon bulb goes, but i guess this is due to being on constantly with ignition.

mainly they only blow if you touch them. ive seen a x5 with a xenon out, but it could be the ballast

i think the life span is supposed to be something like 1million hours

[morgrp]

The bulbs are around 80quid to replace but they do supposedly last longer than regular - it's usually the control module that fails before the bulb does!

[LeeThr]

Yes, my mate had to replace one bulb on his Clio 172 recently.

And yes it was a factory standard bulb, before the clio - chav stereo type comes out.

[Toaster Pilot]

okie592 said:

rarely, ive seen a couple of volvos with " Pink Eye" which is just before the xenon bulb goes, but i guess this is due to being on constantly with ignition.

- a guy I was working with had one of the bulbs go pink on his 58 plate company Mondeo, it hadn't done a billion miles either. Went in under warranty (well, either Ford or the leasing company paid for it)

[SLCZ3]

Toaster Pilot said:

- a guy I was working with had one of the bulbs go pink on his 58 plate company Mondeo, it hadn't done a billion miles either. Went in under warranty (well, either Ford or the leasing company paid for it)

That is quite interesting, i saw this on a car quite recently, it was dark and so no idea of what car it was, with "pink" headlights and thought it was the latest chav fad.
You learn something everyday!!!

[Fartgalen]

I've had to replace a Xenon bulb on the XC90. I was recommended to buy two since the new one would be slightly brighter.
fk that . 90 quid each ?!

[ReedyAero]

My SAAB has factor Xenons and one was pink when I bought it - They do go, but colour shift first so you have an indication, but they should always be changed in pairs as they do slowly change colour over the course of their life.

Ballast failure is more common I think....

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

They most certainly do, and they also slowly loose intensity over the years (just like all arc discharge bulbs).

[ghibbett]

I've had ballast failure on my E46 330i. Not cheap!!

[Whitean3]

Yes, one xenon bulb on my 911 went a couple of years ago. Got a replacement very easily from AceParts on here (recommended; no affiliation!) for half the price the OPC would have charged- about 80 quid IIRC.

Failures are uncommon, but it does happen occasionally.

[Stuart Davidson]

2005 plate Mercedes SLK with Xenons. Nearside light stopped working. Nothing so simple as the bulb. Whole sealed unit needed replacing including control units etc!

That'll be £600+ sir plus the fitting plus the VAT!

Ouch...!

[cerb4.5lee]

Mines just blown a couple of days ago on my 2009 5 series & i have only had the car 5 weeks so a bit frustrated as i had my x5 17 months & never had one go & that was a 2004 model.

Just means i am using my cerb daily now so its not all bad news.

[halo34]

I had pink issue on my volvo v70 - Volvo wanted silly money but OEM bulbs were available for much less.

Also had a ballast issue on a e46 funnily enough.

I haven't actually seen one go completely mind you, the pink was so noticeable in the end you couldn't avoid replacing it.

[Robscim]

I had the lights flickering on my Phaeton - the garage said it's normal for them to wear out and they needed replacing. I'd not heard this before.

So, £550 later and I have two new bulbs fitted!!! Apparently, the front of the car has to come off to get at the bulbs! Not overly happy!!! It's due to the crash protection at the front.... so they said!

Then the levelling controller went on the blink but they changed that FOC as it had been fine before. Yep, front off again!!

It's the only time I haven't changed bulbs myself!!

Rob

[Willber]

On my A5 one of the bulbs blew, it would fire up initally and after about 30 secs would go out.

They are recommended to be replaced in pairs so that you have a matching colour temperature. I bought a pair off eBay for £45, non-genuine obviously but thought i'd take a punt.

[Goa'uld]

Robscim said:

I had the lights flickering on my Phaeton - the garage said it's normal for them to wear out and they needed replacing. I'd not heard this before.

So, £550 later and I have two new bulbs fitted!!! Apparently, the front of the car has to come off to get at the bulbs! Not overly happy!!! It's due to the crash protection at the front.... so they said!

Then the levelling controller went on the blink but they changed that FOC as it had been fine before. Yep, front off again!!

It's the only time I haven't changed bulbs myself!!

Rob

With issues such as this and engine bays becoming ever more congested to keep the initial cost (but not the servicing costs down the line such as access to timing belts etc)should there not be a set of rules in place covering the ease of access to servicable/vital items?

It's not really on if minor issues like this are going to become garage jobs, fair enough the Phaeton is a special case vehicle but you don't want to start seeing 12grand hatchbacks needing a couple of hundred quid chucked at them to change a bulb.

[LeeThr]

Goa'uld said:

With issues such as this and engine bays becoming ever more congested to keep the initial cost (but not the servicing costs down the line such as access to timing belts etc)should there not be a set of rules in place covering the ease of access to servicable/vital items?

It's not really on if minor issues like this are going to become garage jobs, fair enough the Phaeton is a special case vehicle but you don't want to start seeing 12grand hatchbacks needing a couple of hundred quid chucked at them to change a bulb.

Allready happening im affraid. My mum had a 59 plate fiesta for a few weeks through work as she was travelling to quite a few meetings. The headlight bulb went in it one night. So I had a quick glance in the manual just to see if there was a picture of which way the clips went. The official instructions for changing the headlight bulb was step 1: remove headlight unit. Now im sure about 95% of people who have that car will just read that first sentance and sudenly think they cant do it has to go back to the garage. However I did manage to do it without needing to remove the headlight at all.

[Goa'uld]

That's pretty impressive future profit making for the manufacturer! What about on the continent, is it Spain and France that you have to have a bulb kit with you - how does that work if a)the bulbs are so expensive and b)you can't reasonably change it at the side of the road anyway without also have a hex key kit etc

[LeeThr]

Goa'uld said:

That's pretty impressive future profit making for the manufacturer! What about on the continent, is it Spain and France that you have to have a bulb kit with you - how does that work if a)the bulbs are so expensive and b)you can't reasonably change it at the side of the road anyway without also have a hex key kit etc

Good point, supose you could just carry the cheapest spare bulb kit that isnt even for your car around you. Then when you get pulled tell them you have followed the law you ahve a spare bulb kit with you. But the manufacture prohibits the buyer from actually making the change themselves.