I have no idea why my 1992 Nissan NX2000 keeps killing my LH fog light bulb (H3). I don't know how to diagnose the problem. I did a quick visual check of the fog light area wiring and everything seems to be fine. Is there a way to find out with a volt meter?
Unless you're putting in 6V bulbs, it won't be a voltage problem There's nothing that will make the voltage any higher at one point in the car, so all of your bulks would be frying. I'd suspect vibration at speed, vibration kills the filaments in bulbs. Have someone drive in front and to the side and observe closely while you drive at different speeds at night (safely of course).
Carter
And the number one killer of bulbs is moisture, make sure there is nothing getting inside the housing and making it wet.
How often are you replacing them? Are they mounted firmly to avoid vibration? Are they getting moisture in the housing? Are you careful to keep the bulb clean (as in not even fingerprints) when you install it? Do you have them on constantly or only when there is fog? Need more info!
Bryce
They're going out after just one day. No moisture that I know of...or abnormal amount of vibration. This is happening in the O.E. fog light. Fog lights are on anytime headlights are needed.
The first bulb that went out looked like the filament was intact but the glass turned white. The new bulb was installed with new gloves and wiped with an eye glass cloth before installed.
Glass turning white is a sign of moisture. There should be a vent on the lamp, see if it is clogged.
What they said... moisture and vibration. Make sure the housing isn't loose and shaking, make sure it stays as dry as you can and put a little Dielectric Grease in the socket to keep the rest of the dampness from corroding the contacts.
check the ground at the lamp...it may be shorting near the power line , or vice versa... i had a similiar issue that drove me nuts , turned out to be a bad plug connector where the inner insulation between the power and ground lines had burnt through an was shorting intermittently...
A poor connection at the bulb or anywhere else in the circuit will cause high amp draw and fry a bulb. Moisture kills 'em too but generally the bulb will have a visible crack. The halogens get so hot that when water hits them (even just a single drop) most times they just explode. Since you say it ralphs a bulb every day, didn't mention the bulb exploding or cracking and didn't mention weather conditions as contributing I lean toward a bad connection, particularly on the ground side. Those H3 bulbs will usually ground through the base where it contacts the lamp so make sure that's clean etc. If your voltmeter has a resistance scale you can check for a bad ground easily. Ground one lead to the point on the socket where the bulb base touches and the other to clean bare metal on the body. The reading should be very low, somewhere around a few ohms. If it's over about, say, 10 ohms start checking the ground side of the circuit. Make sure all the connections are clean and tight. You can also use an alligator clip jumper wire from the socket body to a clean metal part and retest as above; if the ohm reading drops a bunch then you are assured there's a ground circuit problem.
On the power side it can be a bit more difficult to test; carefully check the connector inside the lamp assembly. If it's discolored blue or black, that's a very good indication that there is a crappy connection. The connector will get hot and the metal will lose its spring tension, causing an even higher amp draw which yada yada yada. Those cheap hardware store crimp connectors are at fault a lot of the time, they just don't grip tight enough for a really good connection in a high draw/high temp situation.
Jensenman wrote: A poor connection at the bulb or anywhere else in the circuit will cause high amp draw and fry a bulb. Moisture kills 'em too but generally the bulb will have a visible crack. The halogens get so hot that when water hits them (even just a single drop) most times they just explode. Since you say it ralphs a bulb every day, didn't mention the bulb exploding or cracking and didn't mention weather conditions as contributing I lean toward a bad connection, particularly on the ground side. Those H3 bulbs will usually ground through the base where it contacts the lamp so make sure that's clean etc. If your voltmeter has a resistance scale you can check for a bad ground easily. Ground one lead to the point on the socket where the bulb base touches and the other to clean bare metal on the body. The reading should be very low, somewhere around a few ohms. If it's over about, say, 10 ohms start checking the ground side of the circuit. Make sure all the connections are clean and tight. You can also use an alligator clip jumper wire from the socket body to a clean metal part and retest as above; if the ohm reading drops a bunch then you are assured there's a ground circuit problem. On the power side it can be a bit more difficult to test; carefully check the connector inside the lamp assembly. If it's discolored blue or black, that's a very good indication that there is a crappy connection. The connector will get hot and the metal will lose its spring tension, causing an even higher amp draw which yada yada yada. Those cheap hardware store crimp connectors are at fault a lot of the time, they just don't grip tight enough for a really good connection in a high draw/high temp situation.
+1
The wife's van was eating tail lamps. Turned out the sockets were worn out and making bad connections. Replaced the sockets on both sides about a year ago, and haven't had to replace a bulb since.
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