1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
In a loooooooong time with a lot of cars (mostly SAABs) I've replaced very few bulbs.
Nothing's wrong. You can do preventative maintenance, if you'd like, but you'll want to be very careful. Frankly, if it ain't borke, you can't improve it, when it comes to lights.
Before even TRYING to remove a working bulb, try to get sight of the joint between the bulb's envelope and the brass casing: if it white and powdery or black and crusty, DON'T MOVE IT, don't touch it, don't even clean it.
Probably, the envelope's separated, and the only thing holding it together is unobtanium, evil spirits, chaos-gum or good luck. All are irreplaceable once released.
Otherwise, you might try to release the bulb, clean and polish it's base and tip, clean and polish the electrical contacts, and coat everything with contact cleaner or vaseline. WARNING: vaseline the brass base and the lead tip, but do not get ANY on the glass in between: vaseline is a conductor, and it will short the circuit. A very thin coat is all that's needed, and if in doubt, coat the contacts only.
Polishing is best with a "Pink Pearl" pencil eraser, as it has the greatest abrasive in it. And on the end of a pencil, it is convenient to get at the contacts.
If you're REALLY looking for "forever" you MIGHT experiment with the new LED retrofit "bulbs" though that might be for folks with new cars or serious dreams of longevity. (These LED replacements might confuse the heck out of the "cartoon" display in the dash, reporting burnt-out bulbs under certain conditions, but they're really efficient. Of course, they're also $9 each...)
Hope this helps. BTW: I'm a firm believer in "if it ain't broke, it MUST be improved on" except in this case: too many sessions swearing and pulling rusty broken light-bases out of sockets, and rendering once operable light-fixtures totally junk. (A 500w EHD is a classic for trashing the socket on a change, esp. if the instrument was pointed nearly striaght down for a long time.)
posted by 216.109.2...
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