14 year old bulb blows

Sheesh man, use the "R" gear on your transmission!! :-PPP I just prey to whatever God(s) exist that my car lasts as long as yours is!! :-)

'Face, a majority of the bulbs in my '71 T/A are still the 34 year old originals. I'm still using the factory Guide PowerBeam headlights.

They sure don't make bulbs like they used to ... I see "new" cars with burned out bulbs all the time.

Cleever,

$19 for a third brake light bulb? What kind of car is that on?

I've seen cases where the glass of the bulb turns silver or black on the inside, thus not letting much light shine through so that warrants replacement of the bulb.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~291,332 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan

When one thing blows,,,every thing else follows...

Try going back to the dealer to see if there's a recall. Perhaps you got a bad batch in your car?

I read in the Guiness book of world records of a fire hall that had a light on for close to 90 years if I recall correctly. So... I'm thinking that after only 14 years of intermittant use there's gotta be something defective there and hopefully there should be some kind of warranty coverage.

14 years ain't bad at all. I take it that you don't drive over may potholes.

Me too...every day. I wonder why? Hmmm... ;-) Although I can't remember the last time I had to replace a burned out bulb either.

Except halogen bulbs where the "halogen cycle" redeposit the burned-off filament back onto the filament leaving the quartz glass clear throughout it's life.

Exception? Yes, halogen bulbs will get dark/mirrored inside is if they are driven by under-voltage conditions where their bulb wall temperature cannot reach the proper temperature for the halogen cycle to function. However, running them at rated voltage for a period of time will clear the interior surface again. Darkened halogen bulbs are often seen in high beam DRL implementations where the driver hardly ever uses the high beams for their actual intended purpose...so the halogen bulbs rarely, if ever, reach the necessary temperature for proper halogen process to occur.

Try that with a Volks or an Audi !

| >>Original 1156 backup light bulb blew this past weekend. | >

| > 'Face, a majority of the bulbs in my '71 T/A are still the 34 year old | > originals. I'm still using the factory Guide PowerBeam headlights. | >

| > They sure don't make bulbs like they used to ... I see "new" cars with | > burned out bulbs all the time. | | | Try that with a Volks or an Audi ! | |

Yea, a friend of mine has a "new" retro-Beetle. He's been through three sets of headlamp bulbs in two years (approx 30K-35K miles). Although he blames the DRL function as the main cause for the short life span...it could be cheap bulbs as well. VW runs the DRL at full voltage too, which can't help with bulb life. The 1st time it happened it was during the summer. They both blew sometime while driving during the daylight hours. The 1st time in a long while he went to use the car at night, no headlights. The next time it happened he got a ticket for failing to properly maintain his vehicle (only one of them was blown that time...the cop wouldn't have known if both were burned out since it was daylight at the time he was issued the ticket). So, now that lighting is used more than ever on some cars, checking their operation is even more critical than ever...once a week at least (do it along with the weekly fluid level and tire pressure check)

Just pay attention to the Jetta and Golf, year doesn't matter, 1 out of 10 have a tail light or brake light burnt or dim

LOL! I'm actually getting new low-beam bulbs as part of a recall on my '99 Regal! Now, if I could get 14 years out of these new bulbs on my car which is already 6 years old...

Roger

I didn't pickup your post Harry, but yeah, the 3rd Eye (Center Brake light) bulbs were, when I replaced them 19.99 a pop.

It's my 90 Oldsmobile cutlass supreme. This was 3 years ago .. dunno if the price has changed since then.