H7 glass is blistered.

[2004PassatTDI]

I was wondering if anyone has experienced the above. If so, what was the fix?
I replace the original OEM head light bulbs several years ago with the Silver Stars, and was very happy with their performance. When one burnt out last March, I replaced both with the next grade up (don’t recall the name, but the tops were coated a gold color). I was not very impressed with the gold top bulbs and thought that they were a lot less bright than the OEMs. After about a month of driving around I pulled them out to take a look at them. They both had what looks like blistered glass adjacent to the filaments. Thinking that they must have been defective, I returned them to the auto parts store and they gave me a credit. I purchased the Silver Stars again and put them in. Same thing happened the moment the lights turned on.
Note: I have changed many high intensity bulbs and know to take great care to avoid touching the glass prior to installation. After removing the bulb and noticing the blister, I did not take the same level of care. That is why you may see the smudge on the glass in the following picture.

Thanks for comments and suggestions.
Ernst

 

[speed185187]

hmmmmmm, I have no idea

 

[Lee_Taylor]

Is there any possibility they are counterfeit? I have only used oem and Philips vision plus bulbs but I have never seen anything like that. It almost seems they left out the halogen gas. I take it these are main bulbs and not used as DRL's? Since the blisters are both in the same position it seems it must be a factory defect and not something you have done.

 

[owr084]

Any time you have a projector bulb or any other type of bulb that gets really hot (halogen, etc.), you have to absolutely, positively make sure the glass is free from contaminants when you install it. The most likely source of contamination is the oils on your own hands. Use microfiber clothes to handle the bulb. If you contaminate it, use rubbing alcohol and micro fiber clothes to clean. Let it air dry.

The contaminants form a localized hotspot, leading the glass to weaken and bulge out.

Strange what lessons stick with you over the years. I learned this one as an AV boy working with 16mm projectors over 40 years ago...

 

[compu_85]

are you SURE you didn't touch the glass as you were installing them?

-Jason

 

[2004PassatTDI]

Is there any possibility they are counterfeit? I have only used oem and Philips vision plus bulbs but I have never seen anything like that. It almost seems they left out the halogen gas. I take it these are main bulbs and not used as DRL's? Since the blisters are both in the same position it seems it must be a factory defect and not something you have done.

I doubt that the bulbs are counterfeit. I purchased them at the local AutoZone. They are the DRL/headlights.
It looks like the filament got so hot that it softened the glass to the point where the internal gas pressure blistered the glass. This has happened with the 2nd set of Silverstars and the Silverstar Ultras. Since they were purchased from the same store, could it be that OSRAM Sylvania had a bad batch of glass, or too high internal pressure?
The battery is the original. The voltage to the bulbs is 13.5 .
I went to AutoZone and picked up a pair of Xtravision bulbs, but hesitate to install them. The PIAA high beams work great, so I’m not going to swap those bulbs to the headlight position.

 

[2004PassatTDI]

are you SURE you didn't touch the glass as you were installing them?

-Jason

100% SURE! I’ve replaced many in my day with no issues. Having this happen to the last 4 I have installed ………….

 

[05_passat_tdi]

I have used silverstars in cars in the past and have not seen them bulge out. I have not seen any bulbs do that for that matter. But if you want lights that are super bright, convert your lights out to HID/Xenon bulb system. I recently did and the lights are awesome their only problem is that they take a minute to warm up like those compact fluorescent bulbs.

 

[PlaneCrazy]

I have had interesting issues with bulbs in the past. In my 2002 Accord, I noticed that the high beams were very dim to say the least, and the glass was considerably darkened. I think these too were coated bulbs.

Recently I changed the bulbs on my wife's B5.5 and noticed discolored areas on the glass. I too take great care not to touch them.

My guess in your case is that something in the manufacturing process, perhaps a grain of dirt, got lodged between the glass and the coating, causing perhaps a tiny air bubble and when the glass got hot, the air expanded and caused the blister.

I would avoid coated bulbs. I have since settled on OSRAM Hyper bulbs. They are basically H9 bulbs on H7 bases:
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=1197

They are 65 watts instead of 55 (not enough of a difference to screw up wiring), and are roughly double the lumens compared to regular H7s. The difference is not as big as halogen->HID, but it is an improvement.

These bulbs are not coated and unlike coated bulbs or some high-performance bulbs, have normal life expectancy.

Not a huge difference, but this is what you'll see:

Standard low beam:

Hyper low beam:

Standard high beam:

Hyper high beam:

Side-by-side (Hyper on the right)

 

[johnboy00]

My Silverstars did that.

I think most people end up changing out the bulbs before they get that bad. The fact that the bulb housing is black indicates that there was very little light getting out of the bulbs. I knew my bulbs were dim but never realized how bad they were until I switched cars with my wife and noticed that my headlights looked more like flashlight beams.

Mine lasted only about a year (25,000 miles).

A HID kit is the way to go .... our projector lenses throw a great beam. The only drawback is that you have to pull your DRL relay and may need to swap back to regular bulbs at inspection time.

I got mine from this passatworld group buy. At $50 bucks you can't beat it.

http://www.passatworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296032

 

[05_passat_tdi]

I didn't have to disable my DRL's. I am using a separate relay to power the lights from the battery switched by the headlight circuit. So whenever the headlights are on, they are on at full power. Works great! However, the projector beams seem to create a shadow right at the "kink" in the beams.

 

[DPM]

2004, were those bulbs used as DRLs? I'm thinking the lower voltage of the DRL function is insufficient to activate the halogen cycle; tungsten then plating out inside the quartz envelope would then absorb much more energy than the clear quartz...