jasone36

Friends,

I have a 2002 SC430 which I purchased recently. My driver side foglight bulb burned out six weeks ago, at which point I had a shop replace both foglight bulbs with brand new Sylvania standard "long life" bulbs from Auto Zone (not the ones with "blueish tint" or anything, absolute standard bulbs because I assumed they last longer than any "cool color" bulbs).

Now, six weeks later, the same driver side foglight burned out again. I cannot understand why a brand new bulb burned out so quickly again. The foglights do get turned on every time I drive the car (with the headlights), but still it seems too quick to burn out in six weeks of daily use.

Is there anything that could be causing the same foglight bulb to burn out so quickly? The car has no modifications, electrical, or otherwise. Interesting enough, the reason I did not decide to upgrade to aftermarket xenon/HID foglights is to avoid issues precisely like this one

Any thoughts are appreciated.

braheem

iTrader: (4)

So far all you have is a defective new bulb, Unless the previous bulb burned out quickly.

Jabberwock

When you replace the bulb, check to make sure there is no corrosion in the bulb socket, or loose wires, or any burn or melting in the socket, light fixture and wires, and that the bulb fits well and is secure and firmly in the socket. Make sure connections are all clean and tight - add some dielectric grease to connectors and socket if necessary.

Swishh

This happened to me last year and I think it was because I didnt get the H3 bulb in there flush enough. Im thinking that moisture must have gotten in there. I was trying to change the bulbs out with the front bumper only halfway off so I couldnt get a good reach to the foglight. When the bulb died on me 5 weeks later I was pissed, lol! When I took the burned bulb out I saw that I didnt have the bulb flush in the foglight but I couldnt see this before. Make sure the tounge/tab on the fog light fit into the bulb before you clip it in.

jasone36

Swishh, your explanation is very reasonable. I had the work done at a private non Lexus dealer and I could see them taking the shortcuts you've outlined. A dealer said they'll do the work for $30 parts and labor, and a free car wash

HOODCELEBS

idk mines used to do the same thing

gripau1

Replace them with HIDs at least they will last a long time.

ill eagle

Thats what i did with mine. Just replaced it with hids and i never had any issues with ever since

ill eagle

Thats what i did with mine. Just replaced it with hids and i never had any issues with ever since

V300Graham

I've often come across bad batches of bulbs, If you don't want to upgrade to a HID just yet, then try a different brand / manufacturer of bulb. If you're lucky it may work for a normal service life.

toxic

Well, my 2002 is like a ferris wheel, the running lights go out one at a time. In a 2 year period, I have been around the whole car once. As of today, it looks like I get to start over again. I guess 1 year is all I am going to get out of these factory bulbs.

TOXIC

Harold57

Toxic, make sure that the contacts inside the sockets are in good shape. If they are blackened, you will need to take some emery cloth (or something similar) and clean the soot and arcing residue off. If the contacts are the copper tab type, then you should pull them out slightly to help improve their contact to the bulb's contact. This could be the source of your problem.

Ironically enough, what is hardest on electronics and light bulbs is turning them on because of the stress that is put on them by that action. If your contacts are such that a shock to the car body causes the contacts to lose contact, then an arc will occur and an electrical shock will run through the filament, shortening the life of the bulb. The more soot that collects on the contact, the worse the condition will become.

jasone36

This happened yet again for me... this time the passenger side bulb is out.

The last few times I had an independent shop replace my driver side bulb, I think they took shortcuts. After that, I had the dealer replace that same driver side bulb, 5 months later that bulb is still good.... but the passenger side was last replaced by an independent dealer, so this time around I will bite the bullet and have the dealer do the work

jasone36

Update:

Interestingly enough, my foglights seem to "burn out" often just when getting an oil change at the Lexus dealer.

It seems if you don't mess with it, it's fine, but as soon as an oil change is being done, half the time one of the bulbs comes back as burned out. Strange.

bjhille

To those that replaced with HIDs, where did you get them and which ones do you recommend? I have stock lighting all around so I would like something that looked good with that.

Thanks. Brian