Hyundai Elantra Forum banner

Headlights blowing on 2002 Elantra GLS

9K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  JacksonJ 
#1 ·
I've had my Elantra about 2.5 years... In October, the driver's side low beam burned out - first time since owning the car. I had it replaced during an oil change. 2 weeks later, it was burned out again. Took it to the dealer, they replaced it, and so far so good. Yesterday, the passenger side low beam burned out.

I do leave the lights on all the time, even during the day. Is this just a problem with the bulbs, or a signal of a larger electrical or other problem??
Thanks!
 
#3 · (Edited)
Lot of people are having headlight problems, if you're still within you're warranty, the dealer will replace the blown out one. But only the blown out one. Which makes me mad, cause the lights aren't at the same strength then.

I've started replacing my own, it costs a few dollars, but worth not having to go out of my way to the dealership every time. I've had mine since Feb 03 and had to replace 2 of them so far.

Oh yeah, I usually run mine constantly also. My wife has a Sonata and same thing...both cars are easy to change, as long as you pull the headlight assembly.

Here's one of the newest threads on this issue . . . http://www.elantraxd.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5396
 
#4 ·
if the people doing the oil change replaced the bulb and it blew two weeks later, my bet is that they didn't wear clean gloves when replacing it. they probably got trace amounts of oil residue on it, which will heat up and cause the bulb to blow out quickly.
 
#5 ·
im w/ SPB...ive always been told to never touch a halogen bulb, caus oil can get on the bulb, and will blow it...when i changed my lights a couple weeks ago, i didnt have gloves, but i made sure to only touch the glass w/ a papertowel, and only touch the matted gray area w/ my hands
 
#7 ·
TheWickedestOne said:
Many people with XDs have this problem. It's why I stopped wasting money on PIAA bulbs.
amen, brother. that's why i stick to stock bulbs. hey, they're FREE. they are a WARRANTY item (i've had three replaced already for free). and they're really not bad (brightness-wise) compared with a lot of other car's stock bulbs!
 
#8 ·
also, just to point out that any bulb has a hour life... they only burn for a set amount of time. you don't have daytime running lights which use different designs of bulbs to be run at all times. You are just burning the life of your bulb by keeping them on all the time...

just my 2¢
 
#9 ·
sed, the bulbs in my 93 protege lasted 10 years and never blew out once. granted, i didn't have them on all the time when i drove, but they have had many more hours of "on" time then the bulbs in my elantra. so the longevity of bulbs must vary tremendously between manufacturers. the key is to find the mfr who has really long lasting bulbs.
 
#11 ·
i can't answer that... only the execs at HMA can answer the hows and why's of their decision on that. the funny thing is, the headlight and fog light bulbs are covered under the 5/60 B2B, but all the other bulbs are only 12/12 warranted. go figure... at least it's the pricey bulbs that are covered...
 
#14 ·
I had one go out, and I replaced it. a week or so afterwards, the other one went out. I happened to take it to the dealership while the light was out and the replaced both for free to my surprise. The guy told me that the headlights should ALWAYS be replaced at the same time. When one goes, it puts additional electrical load on the other one. This is why it seems like one goes out not long after the other one.
 
#17 ·
^^^

i don't know why, but that struke me as really funny

that is complete nonsense! lol hehehe

but the point is true, its not like there is a spike in electical current because one bulb burned out... if that was the case, what would happen if my 80 amp fuse blew on my system?? the "higher load" would burn out every piece of electronics in my car lol

shawn :)
 
#20 ·
I was replacing 1 stock bulb every 6 months. I bought some of those HID look a likes and haven't replaced them yet, 1.5 years later. But I will be going and getting something else because they are really starting to bug me, they are not bright enough.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top