Xterra head light burns out twice, couple weeks

[coffeeman]

Hi all.

I have 04 Xterra. 92,000 miles. Lights worked till now. Replaced one and burned out in 2 weeks. I'm searching ideas. Some saying there is a ballast for headlights.. I didn't realize ballasts need replaced.

Can one of the group explain how these lights work? I searched net. Seems these days net help is, Ask Joe the mechanic for just a few $$. When looking for some thing on net it takes
10 minutes to get through Amazon ads alone. Then regular ads and for pay help sites. Next time I go to Yahoo home page, I'll be sorting through 10 ads for Xterra headlights??

Can't beat 'em & they won't let you join 'em??? Cheers......Coffeeman

 

[Industrial Toys]

Glad I'm not the only one that finds on-line garbage frustrating.

A ballast is either just a transformer or electronic power supply that makes high voltage and supplies a bulb that has a gas rather than a filament. The gas then glows very brightly when the high voltage is applied.

Are you sure your vehicle uses ballasts? If they were just Halogen, I would have asked if you touched them. Apparently, greasy fingers causes hot spots and possibly early failure.

 

[s219]

Yeah, if you touched halogen bulbs with your bare fingers they will fail pretty quickly. Need to keep them clean. Use a clean cloth or clean gloves when you handle them.

 

[coffeeman]

Yeah, if you touched halogen bulbs with your bare fingers they will fail pretty quickly. Need to keep them clean. Use a clean cloth or clean gloves when you handle them.

the bulbs were the no touch bulbs. i was real careful to not touch. used paper towels Of course maybe I touched them. Even possible the parts store may have contaminated. just wondered if there is a ballast in my lights. I just heard about ballasts in car lights. But maybe I got it wrong?? Info like my friend who knows someone who has a neighbor who........ I don't have any facts.

Cheers....Coffeeman

 

[LittleBill21]

provide the part number of the bulb you used. its pretty easy to see if its a HID bulb (kind that uses a ballast)

 

[thatguy]

we had a Honda CRV that went through headlights about every 4 to 5 months - never figured out why though - but it bugged me that other ppl never have to change a headlight

brian