Lights have blown fuses seem OK??

[Ruddmeister]

The main lights (when I say main I mean dipped) blew last night, got in the car, started it, turned the lights on, they came on for a nano-second then went out. Parking lights and High beam still work.

Looked at the fuses this morning and both 15amp fuses look ok??? they are the see through type and the wire inside looks fine, does this mean they are OK??

If it's not a fuse what is it likely to be??

 

[Ruddmeister]

OK I have taken my garage to the most dubious garage in Birmingham (Colliers Rover Garage pretending to be Seat )

The service guy seemed to think it was just the bulbs?, however each bulb is individually fused......Anyone heard of this? How likely do people think this is???

 

[dalepearson]

Hmm does sound odd, do they have a spare bulb they can test?

Just a point though, if you go back there, prolly best to take the car to the garage, as taking your garage along again is only going to confuse them, lol

 

[Ruddmeister]

Just a point though, if you go back there, prolly best to take the car to the garage

Feck Orf I'm stressed

 

[TheOtherSimon]

The the high beams work, thn all the wiring though the headlight switch is fine. It could be the indicator stalk - which is where the feed splits into high and low beams.

The garage is right, the low beams have separate left and right fuses.

I have not heard of both bulbs going together, but the way that they flicked on for a fraction of a second is symptomatic of dying bulbs.

At least you don't have to take the bumper off to replace the bulbs (like on HID Golfs...)

Simon.

 

[Ruddmeister]

Well I don't know how two individually fused bulbs blow at the same time, but they did.......replaced the bulbs and everything was OK.

I assume they are fused so this doesn't happen, so either it was Fluke or the Fuses are too highly rated.

Not normaly too much of a problem unless like me your 100miles from home, and it's dark

 

[andyb1203]

I had the same

I had the very same problem last night ... went to halfords and got 2 new bulbs and both now okay (well once I can figure out how to clip them back in). Surely it isnt usual for both bulbs to go at the same time ?

 

[TheOtherSimon]

It's pretty unusual for two bulbs on separate circuits, with separate fuses to both die at the same time. It would be a really bad design if it was supposed to do that.

That said, you can think of things - really big potholes - that would shake both sides so hard that the filaments break.

Simon.

 

[Ruddmeister]

It's pretty unusual for two bulbs on separate circuits, with separate fuses to both die at the same time. It would be a really bad design if it was supposed to do that.

That said, you can think of things - really big potholes - that would shake both sides so hard that the filaments break.

Simon.

Yeah except when mine went I had moved three yards accross the car park at about 5mph tops.

Bad design or overrated fuses IMO, most of the other lights etc rated at 10 or 5amp, these are rated at 15amp .

Then again it could be the light bulb fairies

 

[TheOtherSimon]

Then again it could be the light bulb fairies

That has my vote.

15A ?!! That seems very high for a 55W headlight bulb.

At least it's fixed.

Simon.

 

[Ruddmeister]

That has my vote.

15A ?!! That seems very high for a 55W headlight bulb.

At least it's fixed.

Simon.

Perhaps Pedro at the factory didn't have any red ones left and couldn't be bothered to walk to the stores to get some more, so he put some blue coloured fuses in instead

 

[StevoWarby]

Had the passenger one go a couple of times - probably due to the damp in the headlight.

However a couple of weeks back, the passenger one went, followed by the drivers the very next day.

Dealer just said it was bulbs and a bit of a coincidence.

Stevo

 

[Blandit]

mines went recently, i think the handbook on my 53 toledo says 10A fro the main beams, not 15A?

anyone think the same?

 

[TheOtherSimon]

10A sounds like a better size.

A 10A fuse will blow at around 14A - which is about 150W. Should be about right for a 55W bulb.

Simon.

 

[Blandit]

thanks mate.

can anyone have a look at their manual and confirm that the main beams should be 10A each?

it would be nic eo thave a second opinion

 

[Steve221]

I think a misconception with electrical fuses is that they are there to protect the load (Bulb, fridge, television, etc) But circuits are actually designed to protect the wiring leading up to the load from overheating and melting. Much better to replace a lamp than the wiring to it.

Does this fuse also feed any other lamps? or is it just the headlamps, consider that the main beam is 55 watts, this doesn't develop much current at 240 volts but at 12 v it draws a considerable 4.5 Amps. If it is one 15 Amp fuse for each headlight, does that include sidelight and high beam? High beam is another 60 watts which is another 5 Amps, there is around 10 Amps that require protection, obviously a 15 A fuse will be required.

Also, does the sidelight or the headlight aligning motor run from this fuse aswell or foglights?

This, however doesn't explain themselves blowing at the same time except for a surge when the first one blew that was enough to persuade the other one to go aswell. Seems a bit unlikely as they were on seperate circuits.

 

[TheOtherSimon]

It's one fuse for each of left / right, full / dipped - so four fuses for the headlights. Plus one each for left and right sidelights (though they run both the front and rear sidelights. Same as all cars. The headlight aiming motor is a separate fuse, off one of the general accessories fuses. The foglights are yet more fuses, this time split front / back.

On a Leon, the full beams are 55W, same as the dipped beams. They will draw much more than 4.5A when your first turn them on. And you can draw much more through a fuse than you think - you can pull 125A through a 100A building fuse for a surprising length of time.

I think it was just coincidence they both went at the same time.

Simon.

 

[vern]

They are rated @ 15 amps for spike start up current in very cold weather,voltage drops with a duff/very cold battery/engine, Voltage goes down amps goes UP, overkill imho, and simon is right coicidence, BTW steve hope you keep your bad luck and dont pass it on to me

 

[faydo]

The main lights (when I say main I mean dipped) blew last night, got in the car, started it, turned the lights on, they came on for a nano-second then went out. Parking lights and High beam still work.

Looked at the fuses this morning and both 15amp fuses look ok??? they are the see through type and the wire inside looks fine, does this mean they are OK??

If it's not a fuse what is it likely to be??

It says 10A in my Seat manual, but i have the 15As and my bulbs both blew at exactly the same time today as well.

 

[CupraMVR]

If its the first time the headlights have gone it maybe they both ran outter life together,they both were put in together and used the same about. So its possible that both could blow at the same time and not blow a fuse

(just an idea)