Any durable headlight bulbs?

My 2005 Subaru Legacy eats headlight bulbs like they are M&Ms. Once in a while they last over a year, then they go out every 3 months. I started using the dielectric grease on the last few rounds and I though it was helping. But bang, another one just went out. I don't remember the brand of the last one, maybe Sylvania. It seems like the more expensive e.g. better and brighter bulbs crap out faster than the cheaper less luminous bulbs. I remember both headlights going out at the same time on my brother's Legacy once, is this Subaru/model specific. No other electrical problems of any kind.

Do you leave the headlight switch on when you turn the car off?

Filament breaking, or other failure? As for filament failure, brighter bulbs generally do not last as long. Says so right on the package. Basically because the filament is thinner, resulting in hyper heating it to make it brighter.

I was watching a show that looked in to this. Wheeler Dealers maybe? And they showed that you are better off with the pricer OE headlights for both over all light. The expensive ones are engineered to work with the reflectors better giving you more light and better focused light versus the cheaper ones that do not get the filament position correct so the focus of the reflectors are not optimized. They also looked at the non focused lumins and the quality of glass used. It was interesting.

If longevity is the primary concern, I'd imagine LED bulbs would outlast traditional ones by a wide margin. No idea how well they will work with your reflectors, however. In spite of starting a thread on these here a while back, I have not yet gotten a set to try out for myself.

Experienced this w/Protege 5. Talked to the dealership parts person who was a former student. Told me to use the OEM bulbs. More expensive, but they did last longer than parts store bulbs.

Somebody on GRM recommended Sylvania Xtravision bulbs to me a couple years ago. Haven't had to replace one since, FWIW.

Some of the fancy ones actually say on the package that they because they are high performance, they will last less time. One of them even says the average car uses headlights 100 hours a year and you should only expect that amount of life from their bulbs. Unfortunately quality control is so tight that I had 2 silver star bulbs go out on me within minutes on a dark cloudy night.

XLR99 wrote: Somebody on GRM recommended Sylvania Xtravision bulbs to me a couple years ago. Haven't had to replace one since, FWIW.

I read years ago that these are the SilverStars without the tinting to make the light appear more white. I typically buy them as they seem to throw a little more light than standard bulbs at half the cost of the Silverstars, and for some reason they seem to last longer than the SilverStars.

I have never had any luck with "upgraded" bulbs. The longest I ever got with one was in my 96 Impala. I forget which bulb it was, but it was the best Sylvania before you get to the annoying blue ones. There are like 5 steps, stock - super annoying, and I think I was the middle grade.

One blew in a few months. The other one has hung on for a little over a year, but I don't drive it much.

Bottom line: whiter light = hotter light = short life. I went back to stockers.

In reply to ssswich

I probably do leave the light switch on fairly often. The Subaru turns off the headlights when you turn off the ignition, so I certainly do that a lot. What is the theory there?

Regarding the OEM bulbs, that never even occurred to me as an option. I head to the dealer for a takata airbag fix on Mon. I will get some bulbs if they have them on hand. Definitely worth a shot.

I am not completely surprised that brighter bulbs don't last as long but I thought that would be 3 yrs vs 5yrs not 5 months.

When I bought the 96 F250 last December I replaced the fogged plastic headlight housings. Both lights worked but you couldn't see crap. When I later pulled the bulbs before tossing the housingS I found standard Sylvanias with a 1996 date stamp. In other words, Im fairly sure they were the 230k mile original bulbs

Have you checked the ground circuit for high resistance? I have good luck with regular bulbs, most tend to go at least 85K miles (GM car) and a few went past that.

My Fairmont has non-halogen sealed beams. The car is an 80 with about 172k. They may be original, but I've had the car for 10 years, and haven't blown one yet. I drive the car to work in the summer, and I work second shift, so they get used. And, Compared to a lot of newer cars, they actually work really well. I'll probably cry a little when one of them blows out.

are you touching the glass bulb with your bare hands when installing? something about the oils on your skin will greatly shorten the life of the bulb. best practice is to clean the bulb with alcohol before installation and do not touch the glass.

I would like to point out that a new halogen bulb will last far longer if you don't touch ANY part of the glass to your skin (or anything else, if possible) when un-packaging and installing. The tinyest bit of dirt of any kind on the glass will create a hot spot that will eventually micro-fracture the glass, releasing the inert gasses, and blowing the bulb.

DOHH, Old beat me to it

For my 96 F-150, I like Wagner Night Defense. They drive a little yellow, but they are very bright. They are real nice for rain and fog. The yellow also helps with not being high-beamed all the time.

old and wind are correct. The glass on modern aero headlight lamps is very thin and any dirt or oils from your skin can affect how it sheds heat. As the dirt or oil grow hotter than the glass, it builds up a "shot spot" that can cause the lamp to deform and eventually blow.

You might also want to clean them before you install. I recommend pure alcohol (medical) with a lint free cloth.

ultraclyde wrote: When I bought the 96 F250 last December I replaced the fogged plastic headlight housings. Both lights worked but you couldn't see crap. When I later pulled the bulbs before tossing the housingS I found standard Sylvanias with a 1996 date stamp. In other words, Im fairly sure they were the 230k mile original bulbs

I'm pretty sure my Mazda has one of the original sealed-beams in it, too. The other one went at around 220k.

I see everything has been covered in-thread, but there's a special note about bulb voltage. The kind of filament used in headlight bulbs is kinda goofy in that low voltage burns them out faster. The way I understand it, some of the filament evaporates when turned on, and it re-condenses on the filament after it's shut off. But at lower voltages, the bulb doesn't get hot enough and the material condenses on the inside of the bulb. So a bulb run at perpetually low voltage will not only burn out faster, but get dimmer over time as the inside of the bulb gets coated with a dark layer.

Problem came to light back when GM decided to give everyone daytime running lights by running the high beams at half voltage, instead of making special Canada-only headlights with dedicated DRL bulbs.

Nowadays they just turn the lowbeams on, or have dedicated DRL bulbs...

I haven't had to replace an OEM bulb in I don't know when. Over 10 yrs ago at least.

Knurled wrote: I'm pretty sure my Mazda has one of the original sealed-beams in it, too. The other one went at around 220k. I see everything has been covered in-thread, but there's a special note about bulb voltage. The kind of filament used in headlight bulbs is kinda goofy in that low voltage burns them out faster. The way I understand it, some of the filament evaporates when turned on, and it re-condenses on the filament after it's shut off. But at lower voltages, the bulb doesn't get hot enough and the material condenses on the inside of the bulb. So a bulb run at perpetually low voltage will not only burn out faster, but get dimmer over time as the inside of the bulb gets coated with a dark layer. Problem came to light back when GM decided to give everyone daytime running lights by running the high beams at half voltage, instead of making special Canada-only headlights with dedicated DRL bulbs. Nowadays they just turn the lowbeams on, or have dedicated DRL bulbs...

Is that low voltage thingy the reason that you sometimes see a chromey-looking bulb?

+1 on voltage check (right at the bulb, with the bulb lit), sometime in the 80s or 90s somebody figured out you can save a couple bucks by using the absolute bare minimum wire gauge throughout the car, including the headlight circuits, age doesn't help matters. The fix is buying/building a harness from heavy wire with it's own relays.