| Author | Message | ||
     Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 573 Registered: 6-2009 |
One can apparently melt lenses with ones that fit. The passenger side cabin lamp was clearly the wrong one. I can't remember if I'm responsible for this or not, but the damage is done. You can see when the thing is on that it's significantly brighter than the one on the driver's side. It must throw off a lot more heat as well since it's partially melted the lens. Since one of my earliest issues with this car was mysterious problems with the door switches and bulbs blowing I could very well have planted the seeds of this destruction. Make sure that your bulbs are not only the correct size, but the correct wattage. Brian, who will put "find a new lens" on the list - but near the bottom | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 497 Registered: 1-2008 |
The simple way to avoid this is either to fit the 'correct' bulb instead of brighter and hotter ones or preferably fit the brighter but much cooler LED bulbs. The upside of the extra cost is that LEDs have a much longer lifespan. They are available in a wide range of fittings including the 'festoon' and all other types used in many car's internal courtesy lights. Although the headlight bulbs sit behind proper glass rather than a plastic substitute it's better to fit Halogen bulbs which run hotter and much brighter, but don't transfer this heat to the lens(e). I have replaced the old sealed beam units for visually identical bulb type units taken off a BMW of the same era (sorry I do not recall the precise model) which has enabled me to fit 100 watt Halogen bulbs. Although not exactly legal in the UK The Old Girl has passed the annual roadworthiness test 3 times without a murmur from the tester. One of my other cars was almost undriveable after dusk using just the normal H4 twin filament bulbs on dipped beam. Since changing them for Halogen 90/100 watt units I can now see where I'm going. The difference is that the headlights are now white rather than the yellow tint they used to have. This even extends to the small sidelights which have been similarly uprated. |
