Why headlight bulbs keep burning out

My headlights keep burning out. As in frequently burning out…nearly every other month or so I have to replace one headlight or the other. Could this be indicative of a larger problem with my car? When replacing the headlight lamp are you touching the lamp with your bare fingers? When you handle the lamp with your bare fingers it leaves skin oils on the lamp. This creates hot spots on the lamp shortening the lamps life. You might check for a recall on your vehicle.

I think Tester is probably right, the install process is somehow damaging the headlight. Or the store you are buying the lamps may have a batch of bad ones. Even under ideal conditions, the filament can break, leaving you in the dark.

Vibration caused by driving over rough roads, potholes and bumps will reduce the filament lifespan. Other causes of vibration may be due to a fault in your headlight structure. If the bulb is not securely mounted in the headlight assembly, it will vibrate, even under normal driving conditions. Insecure mounting may be the result of a bent bulb socket or headlight housing. Similarly, if the headlight housing is not securely attached to your car, the entire housing, including the bulb and filament, will vibrate while you are driving, shortening the filament lifespan.

Vibration of the headlight housing may occur even if it is tightly attached to your car if one or both of the front wheels are out of balance. If you feel a shimmy in your steering wheel, this could be a contributing cause of successive bulb failures. Headlight bulbs that operate at high temperatures, such as halogen and HID bulbs , use a special quartz glass envelope to withstand high operating temperatures. You should always wear gloves or use a cloth or paper towel if you have to touch the glass of the bulb.

Should you touch the glass with your bare fingers, oil from your skin will adhere to the glass and may cause hot spots on the glass when the bulb is on, resulting in uneven heating and possibly breakage of the glass. Heat is necessary for the headlight filament to emit light; however, the hotter the filament gets, the less durable it is.

Our auto shop proudly serves residents in Colton, CA , and the surrounding areas. Have an after hours question or need a quote? We'll get right back to you! JavaScript is disabled in your browser. For our website to function properly, you must enable JavaScript. If you do not enable JavaScript, certain features will not function correctly.

So what would cause a headlight to keep burning out? Here are several issues that could be the cause: Vibration -- Vibration can be caused by driving over rough roads, the bulb is not securely mounted in the headlight assembly, there is a bent bulb socket or headlight housing, the headlight housing is not securely attached to your car, or the front wheels are out of balance you feel a shimmy in the steering wheel.

Touching the bulb -- You should always wear gloves or use a cloth if you have to touch the glass of the bulb. If you touch the glass with your bare fingers, oil from your skin will adhere to the glass and may cause hot spots on the glass when the bulb is on, resulting in uneven heating and possibly breakage of the glass. Temperature extremes -- Heat is necessary for the headlight filament to emit light; however, the hotter the filament gets, the less durable it is.

If you do an excessive amount of night driving or drive with daytime running lights, the increased amount of time that your lights are on will heat the filament to a higher temperature.

Also, if you drive in cold climates, bulb filaments become more brittle and are more susceptible to breakage, especially if accompanied by vibrations from rough roads and potholes.