Hello

How long should the brake light bulbs last for? I've got an intermittent brake light failure but the last time the bulb was changed was May. It seems to be every 3-5 months when i get the bulb failure message. Although the bulb hasn't completely blown yet but its on its way again!

Phil

not sure, but id say years normally!!

about 2 years ago my car went through so many bulbs... in 6 months, i had had 4 rear brake light bulbs 3 rear foglight bulbs, 2 reverse light bulbs, in the end i replaced them with osram bulbs and they have been fine ever since.

i have now replaced every single bulb outside with either philips or osram, and replace indicator bulbs with chrome bulbs, i have als replaced every interior bulb too except the map reading lights lol

rat20v said:

about 2 years ago my car went through so many bulbs... in 6 months, i had had 4 rear brake light bulbs 3 rear foglight bulbs, 2 reverse light bulbs, in the end i replaced them with osram bulbs and they have been fine ever since.

i have now replaced every single bulb outside with either philips or osram, and replace indicator bulbs with chrome bulbs, i have als replaced every interior bulb too except the map reading lights lol

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As i seem to be going through a lot of brake light bulbs, i have thought about upgrading them.

Do the Phillips and Osram headlight bulbs make a big difference? Are yours white or blue? I quite fancy upgrading my headlight bulbs with a nice white light! So its just a standard replacement then, the car doesn't throw a wobbly and beep at you

Phil

Are you sure the bulbs are blowing ?
i had a similar problem i replaced blubs quite often
as i know there has been a few problems with the plug that goes on to the rear light , the plug has a poor earth and melts the plug , loosing its contact , well makes it loose , what will flash up brake failiar ,
to fix it i cleaned the board up and tinned the little pin but to give the plug a better contact .. and never had the problem again
well that was my problem anyway

philipb82 said:

As i seem to be going through a lot of brake light bulbs, i have thought about upgrading them.

Do the Phillips and Osram headlight bulbs make a big difference? Are yours white or blue? I quite fancy upgrading my headlight bulbs with a nice white light! So its just a standard replacement then, the car doesn't throw a wobbly and beep at you

Phil

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yeah the uprated bulbs do make a difference - I have Osram in mine, nightbreakers I think, lovely bright white but not dazzling and a longer reaching beam - well worth upgrading.

jatkinson said:

Are you sure the bulbs are blowing ?
i had a similar problem i replaced blubs quite often
as i know there has been a few problems with the plug that goes on to the rear light , the plug has a poor earth and melts the plug , loosing its contact , well makes it loose , what will flash up brake failiar ,
to fix it i cleaned the board up and tinned the little pin but to give the plug a better contact .. and never had the problem again
well that was my problem anyway

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When they have been changed, the old bulb filament had blackened. The bulbs haven't actually blown, i've always replaced them when the fault appears. When the fault message appears my wife has jumped out and checked the light and it was out. However when the fault disappeared the light was on. I'll try what you suggested.

Phil

I used philips cool blue side light bulbs they give off a nice white light, and I used osram cool blue, and they give a very nice white light, the foglight bulbs in the front are osram night breaker+ and the high beams are philips. the indicator bulbs were the chrome ones, cant remember there name, but make sure you get the the offset pins. the rears i run osram, foglight and brake light bulbs the chrome bulbs in the indcators, and reverse lights iu am bout to upgrade to smd with resistors, i have the smd with resistor as my number plate lights, and also all the interior lights are smd with resistors including the glovebox lol.

i think the headlight bulbs costs afew quid

front

£15 osram cool blue bulbs
£15 osram night breaker plus foglight bulbs
£15 osram nightbreaker plus high beams
£8 philips ice blue side light bulbs
£6 chrome indicator bulbs

Total front
£59

£5 chrome side repeater bulbs
£15 fiat panda side repeaters

Total Side
£20

rear

£6 chrome indicator bulbs
£5 osram foglights
£5 osram brake lights
£5 smd numberplate lights

Total Rear (so far)
£21

so exactly £100 to do every bulb

also be prepared for bolts to snap, I had a few, I re tapped the headlight upper bolt, and the rest I drilled out and fitted new rivnuts and new bolts, think i had 3 snap on me, but there were already about 4 snapped from previous attempts by someone else, but i fixed them too, even fixed my under tray back on with bolts using ali rivnuts