mx5cartalk.com

Per the title, 99 NB8A, and i'm lucky to get 6 months from a headlight bulb.
Compared to the bulbs it started with when i bought it, which did about 10 years.

I've tried different brands, cheap, expensive, etc, and it makes no difference.

It's always one bulb at a time, and only the low beam filaments.
Generally it will blow when i turn the lights on after the car is started.

tail lights are fine, as are all the others.


Are NB's just crap with bulb life? or should I be booking into an auto elec?

I had a bad run of brake lights from Repco. I switched to Nava from Autobarn and no more problems. But that's the only bulb issues I've encountered.

Voltage issues? I'd have the alternator checked ...

bulb life does differ i.e. buy quality bulbs Philips or Osram hopefully Euro made- not sure if they finally closed their Euro plants and went all China An H4 is a very robust and long lasting bulb- tried and proven for for all least 40 years. Excessive vibration might be a factor but also worth checking if too much voltage as green mach suggested.

Mine had a frayed cable which was earthing out. Worth checking. IIRC it caused other random electrical faults and failures.

Incidentally the first and second series of NB had different headlamps the first I think was H4. You can look up bulb life for Osram and Philips. I really don't think the bulbs are the weak link rather there is another factor as dave said

Just go to a battery shop. They should be able to check your charging voltage in a few seconds for free. If voltage is OK then it's probably suss bulbs. I've found it hard to buy quality Osram and Philips euro bulbs, as per Morlock's post, locally. Most here are just rebranded 2nd quality from elsewhere. I now get all mine from www.powerbulbs.com They've been a good supplier for me.