02 New Beetle TDI headlamps

Who is replacing the lamps? How long did the first ones last? Is it the same side going out each time?

The most common cause of very short life is handling the lamp with your fingers as it is installed. That will add a little grease to the lamp surface and that is enough to make a serious difference in the life of the lamp.

It is also possible that there is some sort of problem with the socket of the lamp or the voltage is running a little high on your VW. Check the voltage at the battery with a good meter. Expect something about 12-13V with the engine off and not more than about 14.3 - 14.5V with the engine running. Try revving the engine while doing this test as well. High voltage will also kill lamps.

The DLR's use the low beam lamp at about 70% voltage so the lamp life should not be reduced by much because of them Reducing the voltage by 30% greatly increases the life. You may want to check this out in your garage or at night. Switching the lights on and off should brighten the lamps when the lamps are on and dim them slightly when off (DRLs on). If yours are not dimming a little, that could be a reason as well.

There have also been stores about bad batches of lamps. I don't know if that is true, but you could try buying your next replacement from a different source, like the local parts store if you have been buying from your dealer (you will even save a few $$) or the other way around.

I've seemed to notice more than usual compaints about bulbs in NBs and Passats lately. Not sure why more so in those cars.

It's one thing if it's under warranty of course but if nothing can be found to be wrong and it's just eating bulbs, I don't think I'd get rid of the car over light bulbs. They're about $10 each. That's hardly worth ditching the car over if you like the car.

What I would do is disable the DRLs if it really continues to be a problem that annoys you enough. The DRLs are not required in the US anyway. There's tons of resources on disabling them in late model VWs...google it. If you don't find instructions for a NB on the 'net, Golf/Jetta/Passat instructions should work. Try

for starters.

I don't have a NB, but I have noticed that an awful lot of them are driving around with a broken head light.

Jeff,

I truly believe the DRL's are the main reason for this and the fact that my

01 Beetle still has the original High Beams and Fog Light Bulbs (all of which are H-1 same as low beam) I think proves it.

My 01 has gone through about 4 sets of Low Beams since new, which I understand is about normal for this car for some reason. Other cars with DRL's have some reduced bulb life, but nothing like these. Josephs point about checking voltage is a good idea, mine checks fine, I think its just an inherant problem. Last night I did find the Sylvania H-1 @ Wal-Mart for $4.35, don't know if it was marked wrong or not but I stocked up, at least they are easy to replace. Don't waste your money on the Silverstar by Sylvania, they have the shortest life of all and cost the most.

Good Luck, Butch

Then again, my 02 NB still has original low beam headlights with DRL. I think the DRL get too much of the blame. They may be a part of it, but not anywhere close to what they are accused of. In any case, to date I have not seen any really solid information on why there seems to be a problem.

Yea. More light, less life.

Actually, they don't even have more light, just a higher color temperature. According to Sylvania, the ST bulbs have the same light output (in Lumens) as the XtraVision bulbs. Light output in lumens is weighted according to the spectral sensitivity of the human eye, so the numbers can be compared for bulbs with different color temperature.

Butch

Thanks.

"Easy to replace" in relation to what? The car's still under warranty, so I haven't ventured too far under the hood, but from what I can see unless there's a trick there's no "easy" way to get at the bulbs. I'm used to being able to just get at the bulb from inside the engine compartment (hyundai, honda, toyota from 80s and 90s).

Is there some magic way to get at these little buggers?

thx jeff

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Anton382) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m02.aol.com:

Check out:

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in news:E7BJd.55673 $ snipped-for-privacy@fe2.columbus.rr.com:

Coolamundo.

Thanks much!

jeff

It's possibly unrelated, but I just went through about 4 headlamp bulbs in a couple of months on my '94 Jetta-///.

After the second bulb replacement I noticed a small crack in the glass (left) headlight lens (probably from a rock kicked up from a car in front of me) along the bottom edge. What drew my attention was that I noticed condensation on the inside of the light assy. I removed the fixture and sealed it back up with clear RTV Silicone and it's been fine since.

Just this week I was driving along and hit a pot-hole so hard that it caused the right headlight to burn out. I know for a fact I had both headlights before I hit the pothole (it was a whopper, but I live in RI, which has terrible potholes and worse public works hole patchers...) My tax dollars hardly working, but I digress...

Anyway, just thought I'd share these two instances on the off chance that you may get something from it. By the way I just rolled 205K miles on the car and it gets me to work reliably, despite an 84 mile per day commute, and to think I bought it with 98K miles as a car for school 5 years ago...

Gander

I live in NC now, but I lived in Maine for 36 years. I grok potholes. And ice. And snow. And sand. And salt...

thx jeff