Thought I would upgrade my headlamp bulbs to a whiter xenon-style look and went with Phillips Bluevision Ultra for both dipped and main beam, plus some blue W5W sidelight bulbs. Overall very pleased (powerbulbs.co.uk).
Also decided to change the orange indicator bulbs to Osram Diadems, a bargain at £10 a pair....or so I thought.
Fitting is a real pain in the a*se, with sharp plastic surrounds preventing you getting any decent torque on the bulb holder. Sorted the drivers side and then moved over to the passenger. Even less room there so decided to remove the air filter and housing to give me better access. This holder would turn, but not come out and when I eventually got it to come free, I thought I'd nailed it.
However moments later when I put the new bulb back in and 'locked' the holder in place, it became apparent that all was not how it should be. Now the bulb holder housing, part of the headlamp assembly, is rotating with the bulb holder, meaning that the metal contacts, don't connect, and that the indicator doesn't work. A hour or so of fruitless turning and pushing came to nothing, so took it to the dealers today for a quick look.
They were helpful and agreed with my diagnosis of the problem and said they'd take a closer look on Thursday when the car is in for it's MOT. However they said that if a new headlamp is needed, a fitted price would be in the region of ......£270!!
In fairness to them, they will be looking to see if they can fix the housing but to get the headlamp out they need to drop the bumper so it's going to be costly whatever happens.
It shouldn't be this difficult or costly to change a bulb should it! And a headlamp unit shouldn't fail on a 4 year old car.
Anyway, jumping the gun - they may be able to fix it....I'll let you know.
Also decided to change the orange indicator bulbs to Osram Diadems, a bargain at £10 a pair....or so I thought.
Fitting is a real pain in the a*se, with sharp plastic surrounds preventing you getting any decent torque on the bulb holder. Sorted the drivers side and then moved over to the passenger. Even less room there so decided to remove the air filter and housing to give me better access. This holder would turn, but not come out and when I eventually got it to come free, I thought I'd nailed it.
However moments later when I put the new bulb back in and 'locked' the holder in place, it became apparent that all was not how it should be. Now the bulb holder housing, part of the headlamp assembly, is rotating with the bulb holder, meaning that the metal contacts, don't connect, and that the indicator doesn't work. A hour or so of fruitless turning and pushing came to nothing, so took it to the dealers today for a quick look.
They were helpful and agreed with my diagnosis of the problem and said they'd take a closer look on Thursday when the car is in for it's MOT. However they said that if a new headlamp is needed, a fitted price would be in the region of ......£270!!
In fairness to them, they will be looking to see if they can fix the housing but to get the headlamp out they need to drop the bumper so it's going to be costly whatever happens.
It shouldn't be this difficult or costly to change a bulb should it! And a headlamp unit shouldn't fail on a 4 year old car.
Anyway, jumping the gun - they may be able to fix it....I'll let you know.
![[:@]](/forums/styles/seatcupra/oldforumsmileys/furious.gif "Furious [:@]")
as this will fail the MOT.
