Kizashi Club

I was driving down the road and noticed I didn't seem to have enough light from my headlight, and sure enough my low beam went out. I picked up a new bulb for about $16 and began to tackle the project. I was able to change the bulb without removing the bumper, but what a PITA! Luckily I don't have large hands and was able to do it per the manual instructions. I had to undo a few things to get more wiggle room, but was successful. Anyone else lose a headlight? I have never had a bulb go out in other vehicles before, and my car has 45000 miles on it.

The right side gives a little more wiggle room than the left. I had to change the left bulb at around 20,000 miles, which required removing the bumper cover.

Bulbs do go, in the northeast its usually after a couple of years, and usually at Winter's first cold snap.

I had a VW Passat which blew headlamp bulbs around every 4,000 miles. All replaced under warranty.

That's why I put in HIDs when it went out - don't want to go through that again.

~tc~ wrote:That's why I put in HIDs when it went out - don't want to go through that again.

Fingers crossed you just haven't jinxed yourself!

For the halogen users, something like this might be worthwhile trying for longer bulb life:
http://www.philips.com.au/c/car-lamps/l ... ecos2/prd/
http://www.osram.com/osram_com/products ... MP_1013616

I notice neither of those pages talks about the brightness ... Only the life LOL

~tc~ wrote:I notice neither of those pages talks about the brightness ... Only the life LOL

Probably because they're actually dimmer than standard halogen bulbs. It's a small compromise for a longer lifespan IMO. I run the same Philips LL bulbs on cars that I don't want to service as often (friends, family members, etc). People don't notice the reduced brightness and they're happy that the bulbs last longer.

These figures are from Daniel Stern and they're for H1 bulbs, but you can see the brightness and lifespan between bulb types:

H1 (regular): 1550 lumens, 650 hours
Long Life: 1460 lumens, 1200 hours
Ultra Long Life: 1430 lumens, 3000 hours
Plus-30: 1700 lumens, 350 hours
Plus-50 : 1750 lumens, 340 hours
Plus-80/90: 1780 lumens, 275 hours
Blue coated 'extra white': 1380 lumens, 225 hours

Sources:
http://store.candlepower.com/osnibr.html
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... /good.html

Nothing can compare to HIDs though. 3200 lumens and 2500 hours!

Just keep in mind that's for quality HID components. Junk HID kits can be a bigger headache than normal halogens. More to go wrong: Harnesses, ballasts, and bulbs.
This is why I'm big on spending more for a better kit than going for cheap ebay junk like what's in my car from the previous owner (and what do you know? A bulb went out!)
I need to order my Morimotos tonight.

murcod wrote:

~tc~ wrote:That's why I put in HIDs when it went out - don't want to go through that again.

Fingers crossed you just haven't jinxed yourself!

For the halogen users, something like this might be worthwhile trying for longer bulb life:
http://www.philips.com.au/c/car-lamps/l ... ecos2/prd/
http://www.osram.com/osram_com/products ... MP_1013616

Just confirming that the factory bulbs on my Kizashi were the Philips Long Life bulbs.

I wonder if that's what they all come fitted with?

I've got a driver's side that I'll need to change, so I'll check the factory one on mine. I'm guessing it will be the same since the cars were all made in Japan.