Megane headlight keeps blowing

beefiron

Hi,

I have a '07 Megane and my 'dims' keep blowing. I've had to have at least 5 replaced in the past 12 months, and the right one is gone again now. The dealer (the car is under warranty) have only charged me once to replace a bulb and have done the rest for free, but the warranty is up in February, and I'm convinced that there's an underlying problem.

I dropped it in to them just before Christmas last year (when both were gone at the same time) and they said that there was nothing wrong, and the most recent time it happened, they just said that that happens with those bulbs, but frankly, I'm not buying it.

Is anyone else having this problem? The car is a '07 Renault Megane 1.5dci estate.

Thanks.

jonno23

Just in regard to the Megane, did anyone see the Fifth Gear piece on changing a front bulb a couple of weeks ago? It took a professional mechanic 45 minutes to change the bulb in a Megane; meanwhile the presenter changed a bulb in a Golf in about a minute. They showed that you need to remove the front wheel to access the bulb through the front wheelarch.
OP, it must some electrical problem, they need to sort it for you before your warranty expires, could get pricey otherwise.

Stevie Dakota

'Professional mechanic' indeed. I've watched it done by Renault guys in 5 minutes, it's not easy and you need to know what you are doing, but 45 minutes is a joke.

slimjimmc

+1

Driver side is the most difficult with all the plumbing in that area. Not particularily comfortable but doable in 10mins. You can get any bulb without removing the wheel although it can be difficult to get a good twist on the the indicator bulb holder.

Passenger side is much easier if you undo battery cover (2x M10 screws) and come in from above, 5mins tops (did 1 two days ago)_.

Pehaps the 5th Gear piece was dealing with HID bulbs?

slimjimmc

jonno23 wrote: »

Just in regard to the Megane, did anyone see the Fifth Gear piece on changing a front bulb a couple of weeks ago? It took a professional mechanic 45 minutes to change the bulb in a Megane; meanwhile the presenter changed a bulb in a Golf in about a minute. They showed that you need to remove the front wheel to access the bulb through the front wheelarch.
OP, it must some electrical problem, they need to sort it for you before your warranty expires, could get pricey otherwise.

Found it

Not a great advertisement for Green Flag, their guy didn't even lift the bonnet to take a peek. Just worked of the owner's manual instead.



(BTW : Vicki Butler-Henderson ... Mmmmm)

Guy:Incognito

first comment under video wrote: »

Mike 9 September 2008 16:53

I changed the samea headlamp bulb today in around 3 mins ,my 08 car was however blue....this must be easier than the silver models.

You should have bought a blue one OP.

VH

slimjimmc wrote: »

Found it

Not a great advertisement for Green Flag, their guy didn't even lift the bonnet to take a peek. Just worked of the owner's manual instead.



(BTW : Vicki Butler-Henderson ... Mmmmm)

changing bulbs via the wheel-arch is not uncommon and has been around for years - i remember changing an indicator bulb via the wheel arch of a car way back in 1996 or so.

DannyBuoy

I had this prob on my 04 model, blew about 2 or 3 dipped beam bulbs a year, it wasn't over charging and couldn't afford to pay dealer hundreds to chase such an intermittant fault. Have an 07 now and its blown 2 since I got it about 8 months ago. I've gotten kinda handy at changing them! Certainly less than 10 mins either side, always now keep a spare H7 bulb in glove box. Looks like its a "feature" of the Megane...

BrianD3

Could be the bulbs or the way they're being handled. My Laguna used to blow a dipped headlight bulb about every 3 or 4 months but since I bought a load of LIDL and ALDI bulbs I don't recall replacing any of them in well over a year and my dipped lights are usually on for several hours a day. The bulbs from LIDL and ALDI come in a hard plastic case which may protect them from being thrown around and badly handled.

Oh and in case anyone thinks it's a Renault only problem - with the dark evenings closing in and more people putting on their lights just take note of all the cars of all makes going around with a blown dipped headlight bulb. I did some counting before and found that around 1 in every 10 cars that I met on any given journey had one blown dipped headlight bulb. Also, there are plenty of car models (including Toyotas and Fords and others) on which it is a pain in the arse to change a bulb.

Kashkai

I've a 05 Megane hatch and never had to change a bulb yet - though now that I've tempted fate, I'm off to buy some spares

knuth

Just lock the wheel to one side, pop open the cap under the front arch and change the bulb.

All this '45 minutes' is nonsense. Takes ~5 minutes if you have a clue.

Would probably be even quicker getting a child to do it.

slimjimmc

I believe this is more an issue of bulb quality rather than vehicle.
Then there are those super bright bulbs that promise +25% extra light. Surely the brighter they are the hotter they get and more liable to snuff it?