Low beam keeps burnign out?

[Murdoc]

Had the low beam headlight burn (driver side) out on my 03 base vibe automatic, i replaced both head lights white bulbs cheap yes. only been about 3 days and now the exact same low beam (driver side) blew out again. Anyone have any idea whats going on? have over 105,000 miles never had a problem before with headlights.

[MrHatchWagon]

Were you sure not to touch the bulb when you installed it? I know that can reduce a bulb's life span, but other than that I really have no idea... Hope you find the issue.

[Murdoc]

Wouldn't the hole bulb burst if i infact touched the bulb not just the low beam on the driver side. I'm afraid it's electrical. I don't want to keep buying bulbs. Thing is its not even telling me it's burnt out on the dash. I thought if the headlight burns out the high beam light is on but dim indicating you have a bulb bulb burned out.

[09vGT]

I would try a new bulb. It wouldn't necessarily burst. This time wear gloves or something, that's what I do. I don't think the Vibe is equipped with a burnt bulb warning. The only cars I've seen with a "burnt bulb" warning are more expensive cars; ones with information systems in them.

[MrHatchWagon]

And if that doesn't work, maybe try testing the low beam wires with a multimeter on both sides, to see if there's any variation between the current going through. I have a hard time imagining why that would cause your bulbs to burn out, but who knows.

[Murdoc]

I may have found the problem today, The head lamp socket or plug is burned or experienced alot heat. I can't beieve i failed to notice this when i intially changed the bulb. A coworker of mine whom is an ex mechanic says sometime the socket heats up an melts a seperator inside. He told me to cut of the old plug/socket and wires and replace it with a new one. I'll try and post pics if this works whenever i get to it. Now i need to find a new socket.

[Murdoc]

what a fail......i cut out the old socket connector and out and put a new one in. ok here is the weird part. low beam doesnt work driver side unless i hit the head lamp assebmbly with my fist. If i put the high beams on and back off low beam cuts outdriver side. if i let car sit awhile low beam wont come on driver side unless i hit the head lamp assembly. something is apprently loose i just can't figure it out. I;m so annnoyed maybe i should take it to a dealer.

[Salsa Guy]

Invest in a Voltmeter. Then start trouble shooting. Yes a bad connection can cause all kinds od strange problems.

[Murdoc]

I will attempt again to rewire the headlamp socket connector this weekend. I wish i could see where the wires go to fom the bulb. This morning it seemed to work perfectly fine though.

[Murdoc]

Well possibly the headlamp relay labeled RH along with the burned socket connector may have been the problem. I was messing with the relay and going on day 2 without a problem so we will see.

[Murdoc]

Just an update i played with this problem one last time, rewired the head light socket connector, put a new bulb in and this time i played with the LH relay. It has been a week now and all has worked fine.

[MrHatchWagon]

Glad to hear it! I hope it holds up and you never have that problem again

[quacktape]

I am having a similar problem with my 2006 base model:
Both headlights (well, at least both by the time I noticed the problem) work on high-beam, but not on low-beam -- UNLESS I jiggle them in the socket enough, then I can get them to work... briefly. I thought it was driving over bumps that jiggled them back out of place, but today I would jiggle them until they worked, then work on something else, and when I tried them again (20 minutes later?) without the car moving an inch, they wouldn't work.

Today I tried cleaning the contacts on the bulbs, and that didn't work, so I tried replacing one of the sockets. (Connectors? Sockets? Sorry, I don't know the proper names for things... whatever you plug the bulb into.) The good news was that I didn't manage to break anything, the problem was pretty much the same: Both worked on high-beam, and didn't work on low-beam. (The only difference was that I could jiggle the light with the original socket to make it work, and couldn't get the new one to work.)

Could you explain more about what the underlying problem is and what gave you the permanent fix? (Or could anyone else explain things?) I'm not a car guy, so small words would be appreciated.
Thanks!
-Erin

PS- For the socket I replaced, I just twisted the old and new wire together, then wrapped it with duct tape, because I don't have electrical tape. Like I said, the brights work, but am I going to catch my car on fire or anything?

[djkeev]

Quack tape, did you install 2 (two) new bulbs?

Most likely they both burned out, you didn't notice that you had only one bulb working until the 2nd one went out.

When you tap on it the jarring momentarily connects the broken filament creating light for a second.

Dave

[quacktape]

Quack tape, did you install 2 (two) new bulbs?

Dave

No, I didn't replace them yet. I figured if the bulbs could be turned on, then they couldn't be burnt out. (The plugs are a lot cheaper than the bulbs, so I didn't want to buy a bulb unnecessarily.) But, if you think jiggling would be enough to reconnect the bulb for a few minutes, then I will go ahead and try that.

[djkeev]

New bulbs are the place to start unless you've got a multimeter and you can verify 12volts at the plug.

Don't go making the problem a bigger one than it is. It is most likely burned out bulbs.

Dave