Electrics: 850: Bulb life

[volvo2]

I’ve just changed a headlight bulb on my 850. Nothing remarkable in that you might think – until I mention that this is the first time on a car 26 years old with 205k miles. I imagine both bulbs are supposed to be changed but I only changed one side. Perhaps even more surprising, is that I see no discernible difference in brightness. The reflectors are still OK by the way. That caused me to realise that most of the bulbs are as old as the car. The only ones I seem to change fairly often, are front sidelights (which often seem to fail), number-plate and brake lights. I wonder if having the headlights on at a low setting (30% I think it may be) prolongs their life. My 18-year-old V70, which has the lights on fully, certainly seems to have got through a few more headlight bulbs over the years.

[tdidave]

I can go with that, and understand it.

I've had my 1998 V70 Tdi for twelve years, and have only just changed a dipped beam bulb. How long those bulbs were in there of course, I don't know. Having said that, I did have to change the reflectors a few years back, they were totally shot and wouldn't pass the MOT.

My friend who has a 2004 V70, which of course has headlights on continually, gets through a few bulbs I think.

Oh.. and funny enough, I've never had a sidelight bulb go..

Dave..

[DaveNP]

I thought this was going to be a question about how often everyone had to change headlight bulbs, I have the change mine so often I always have spares in the car. To be fair it’s a quick job as the access is easy.

[PNuT]

What does having the lights on at 30% mean?

[ITSv40]

Bulb life depends very much on the brand of bulb.

When I had my previous V40 I used to pop into Halfrauds and pick up bulbs as and when needed and as a result I was always changing bulbs - not just the headlights that were on daytime running, but also tail lights and brake lights. It was an ongoing battle to keep a full set in working order. I knew there was a better way, but just couldn't be bothered to change what I was doing.

Then when I bought the current V40 it had full Volvo service history and every bulb in the car was Osram - I understand Volvo use Osram bulbs as standard. I replaced all the headlight bulbs with Osram Nightbreakers and 60,000mls later have only replaced one headlight bulb and a tail light bulb. I have no idea how old the rest of the bulbs are, but seem to just keep going.

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by ITSv40

Bulb life depends very much on the brand of bulb.
...
Then when I bought the current V40 it had full Volvo service history and every bulb in the car was Osram - I understand Volvo use Osram bulbs as standard. ...

I wouldn't argue with the fact that some bulbs are made better and therefore last longer than others, but my Volvo would have come out of the factory with Volvo standard bulbs in it (and there's no reason to suspect someone would have removed working bulbs to put in inferior brands), so why have I been changing them since I got it at about 80k miles and volvo2 has had 6 more years and 120+k more miles. When a bulb manufacturer quotes a life expectancy of a bulb they do it based on a statistical sample and then quote a figure like an average, volvo2 seems to have got the above average bulbs.
A Volvo is of course going to burn through more headlight bulbs than lesser marques because the headlights effectively are always on, the 'dim-dip' feature that's supposed to reduce the power when the headlights are switched off doesn't appear to have much effect, I can quite easily drive at night with the lights 'off'.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by volvo2

I’ve just changed a headlight bulb on my 850. Nothing remarkable in that you might think – until I mention that this is the first time on a car 26 years old with 205k miles. I imagine both bulbs are supposed to be changed but I only changed one side. Perhaps even more surprising, is that I see no discernible difference in brightness. The reflectors are still OK by the way. That caused me to realise that most of the bulbs are as old as the car. The only ones I seem to change fairly often, are front sidelights (which often seem to fail), number-plate and brake lights. I wonder if having the headlights on at a low setting (30% I think it may be) prolongs their life. My 18-year-old V70, which has the lights on fully, certainly seems to have got through a few more headlight bulbs over the years.

are you using the correct volvo 5w sidelight / numberplare bulbs ? They are long life with a little blue blob inside .. Not a lot of people know that including some volvo parts departments who supply standard ones with a white blob !

[volvo2]

I know I am using bulbs of correct wattage throughout but I've never noticed any little blue (long-life) blobs inside. Thanks, I will look out for that from now on.

My experience has been that the fitting itself can be the cause of regular failures. So, I always clean up / bend contacts (to give a firm contact pressure) and apply a drop of copper-ease to help reduce problems.

The 30% (or whatever it is) headlight running I mentioned is what older Volvos had (240s and 850s and maybe more).

[Paul240480]

I think 30% refers to the dim/dip that replaced the day run lamps on circa 91 240/740/940 models. My old Torslanda (240 shape) had the dim dip day runners.

[Watchnut]

My 1999 V70 is still on it's original tail/brake lights I had to change the indicators last year as the "orange" was really fading and it's MOT said that they were ok but required attention (the mot tester said whilst there was an ounce of orange it was a pass, but I changed them and all the paint had almost melted off

I thought this was strange them wearing out as everyone knows Volvo drivers never indicate....or is that BMW's and Merc's?