I've had my
987.2 Cayman
with HIDs since Oct '13. Got it at ~26k miles, it now has about 62k miles on it. Virtually all my miles have been with the low beams on as driving lights. In the 36k miles of owning it I've had low beam bulbs burn out 3 times, which equates to around 350 hours life at failure. Until now I've always replaced in pairs (mainly to keep the colors the same on both sides), and I think its the passenger light that keeps burning out. Its easy to replace with tools in the tool box, but its not something I want to spend time on. Any thoughts on a cause and cure?
Just a check - did it come with factory Xenons? Or is it a HID-kit?
If it is factory litronic, take it to a dealer and hope they can sort it out under som form of warranty becuse they should last way longer than that. If it is a HID-kit well what did you expect? My bet would be a poor (as in substandard quality) ballast.
My bad, it's the factory halogen bulbs, not HID/Xenons (at least I got the "h" right). It's all stock OEM. Car has 62k miles so out of warranty. Only elecrical item not OEM is a
Pioneer
head unit (using Loi's
Suncoast
dash kit) to replace the CD-R-30. Light's gone out in the hot summer as well as the cool SF Bay Area winter.
i just got a Duratech, would that be helpful in diagnosing the cause?
Duratech=Durametric...having a bass-awkwards spell-corrected typing hell day ��
Haha, the mentioning of HID was what caused my reaction in the first place.
Anyways now we know that they are halogens 350hrs is not that bad. I would call it quite normal actually. To give you an idea there was a test of 55W halogens made by a local car magazine: a standard Osram bulb had an average lifetime of 358hrs. The quality of the bulb really makes a difference. No-names were far worse at around 200hrs. Some long-life bulbs made it to an impressive 1000hrs. But you also have to factor in that halogens lose their output with age - I would rather replace often and keep as much light on the road as possible than have something last long but with poor output.
I don't know what bulb type you are using, but if it's European spec I bet H7 would be the bulb type. And those are known for short lifespan due to the design of the bulbs (made for high luminosity in a compact format as possible). I doubt durametric will help you, but maybe measuring the voltage with a voltmeter when car is running could perhaps determine if the bulbs are getting more than normal voltage causing them to burn out more quickly. Especially since you mention replacing them in pairs to keep the color the same; color differences on halogens could suggest voltage issues. Unless you are using tinted bulbs in which case that could be the cause as well - they tend to wear out more quickly.
To sum up - I don't think you are experiencing anything unusual, just normal wear and tear.
Interesting, I didn't know that their life is so short. Oh well, I've found its safer to drive with DRLs than lights off, so I'll deal with the easy changing 1-2 times a year. Thanks for the info...
GW:
Late to this party I know, but....
Another thought... How is your battery? If you get low voltage to those bulbs, they blow faster. Long-life Halogen sounds like the ticket for you...and using DRLs or fogs only (that's what I do and I replaced my halogen fogs with LEDs to better match color of my Xenons.)
Yet another thought is that you can't touch the bulbs when you install them. They don't last very long if you do.
:cheers:
on a daily driver, assuming about an hour per day that works out to be about 1-1/2 years of halogen use per bulb which seems pretty low.
i would get the harness/clip/mounting for the side that's giving you the issue checked out in case there is an issue?
Sixisenuff, it's the original battery, so 4 years 62k miles. Might be getting close, but there's been no indication it's about to fail. Still starts fine after sitting ~2 weeks. I'll keep an eye on it though.
eyeofhetiger, I'm figuring 34k miles @35mph average is 1000 hours in 20 months.
sorry Greg, missed the part about it being used as your driving lights.
then +1 to sixisenough recommendation on keeping finger oils off the bulb.
