MK4 golf side light

Jan 08, 2011 8 Replies

I've just replaced a h7 dipped beam bulb which had blown on my mk4 golf (2001), lasted 9 years so I'm happy :)



Anyways I changed that with not to much fuss, despite people saying the bumper will have to come off, infact there is plenty of room for a mid sized hand to do it, took about 3/4 minutes. The h7 bulb is at the other end from the side light which has its own back compartment to get at. The problem is the side light randomly works. I haven't touched any connections to it, or anything. I lightly tap the headlight and it come on. All wires are connected tightly and are intact. The bulb is evidently working.



Any ideas why this might be happening... ?


It's got a slightly corroded connector?

The filament in the bulb is broken, tapping the side light causes the filament to "re-attach" its self .See it all the time when I'm testing vehicles.

Just had a double check seems clean. Gave it a gentle sand whilst I was there.

Ahhh ha I shall change the bulb and see if that improves it.

Many failed bulbs can be persuaded to work again by tapping them to re-join the filament. It doesn't last!

New bulb fitted, problem has now gone :) .. thanks Reg. Out of interest in the cra you MOT test with this problem, do you have to fail them or do you pass it and advise of problem or ask if they want it fixed before passing it ?

During the test, we used to tap working lights to see if they flickered,(excluding stop lights & indicators) any non working lights wern't tapped & marked down as a fail.The reason we didn't tap a non-working light was if it came on whilst tapping it, it was deemed as a repair & we are not allowed to carry out repairs during the test.Bizzare I know ! But only in the last few months they have dropped the tapping procedure from the test.

you may or may not be interested, but the whole manual is online

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Ahh thanks for the explanation and link, had a browse its very interesting.

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