I started having intermittent headlamp problems around July of 2014. Upon inspection of my headlamps I noticed the plugs had been overheating and melted inside the plug.
The photo of the two plugs side by side are the factory original plugs that I replaced. For some strange reason the passenger side is consistently the worse problem. But, from the dealership, the plug replacements were approx $110 for both. Got the new ones, replaced them.
So a year goes by, closer to 11 months, and I start noticing the passenger headlight acting up. Again, upon inspection I notice the next picture. The plug is melting again because of what seems to be an very hot bulb. Things are tighter right now so I haven't replaced the plugs yet, but I've been driving around with one headlight for about 2 months now. The wires don't seem to get hot, only the bulbs and plugs.
The third photo is of the driver side headlight, and I only included it to show what they're supposed to look like. The replacement plugs came with a little pack of gel that i used, but it seems i didn't use enough on the passenger side, and none at all on the driver side as the plug is now dry inside. The next burning question, no pun intended, is the quality of the bulbs. They are NOT xenon. The bulbs are standard performance 9006 Sylvania bulbs. I'll pay much more attention next time I'm at the store, but as far as I've noticed these are standard cheap-o replacements from the leading auto parts store here in Georgia.
I chalk it up to just plain cheap materials. Maybe i do a lot of night driving, but that's a slack reason to have something like this fail repeatedly in a years time. This is the first vehicle that I've owned, out of the 5 or 6, that has ever had to have the headlamp plugs replaced and now it's asking for it's second set.
Also, I'm no tech. I don't know that the bulbs are "overheating", it may be standard heat levels. I don't know that the electronics aren't failing in some unexpected way. I don't know if i need more of that capacitance gel in the plug, but that's strange anyway. I don't know that the bulbs I've bought are rated for the Ford headlamp plugs. I don't know if there's some weird time limit I should restrict my headlamp use to. All i know is that the factory installed plugs failed after 9 years, which is reasonable, but the factory replacement plugs failed in less than 12 months, all using standard off-the-shelf, appropriate model bulbs.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
click to see larger images
I started having intermittent headlamp problems around July of 2014. Upon inspection of my headlamps I noticed the plugs had been overheating and melted inside the plug.
The photo of the two plugs side by side are the factory original plugs that I replaced. For some strange reason the passenger side is consistently the worse problem. But, from the dealership, the plug replacements were approx $110 for both. Got the new ones, replaced them.
So a year goes by, closer to 11 months, and I start noticing the passenger headlight acting up. Again, upon inspection I notice the next picture. The plug is melting again because of what seems to be an very hot bulb. Things are tighter right now so I haven't replaced the plugs yet, but I've been driving around with one headlight for about 2 months now. The wires don't seem to get hot, only the bulbs and plugs.
The third photo is of the driver side headlight, and I only included it to show what they're supposed to look like. The replacement plugs came with a little pack of gel that i used, but it seems i didn't use enough on the passenger side, and none at all on the driver side as the plug is now dry inside. The next burning question, no pun intended, is the quality of the bulbs. They are NOT xenon. The bulbs are standard performance 9006 Sylvania bulbs. I'll pay much more attention next time I'm at the store, but as far as I've noticed these are standard cheap-o replacements from the leading auto parts store here in Georgia.
I chalk it up to just plain cheap materials. Maybe i do a lot of night driving, but that's a slack reason to have something like this fail repeatedly in a years time. This is the first vehicle that I've owned, out of the 5 or 6, that has ever had to have the headlamp plugs replaced and now it's asking for it's second set.
Also, I'm no tech. I don't know that the bulbs are "overheating", it may be standard heat levels. I don't know that the electronics aren't failing in some unexpected way. I don't know if i need more of that capacitance gel in the plug, but that's strange anyway. I don't know that the bulbs I've bought are rated for the Ford headlamp plugs. I don't know if there's some weird time limit I should restrict my headlamp use to. All i know is that the factory installed plugs failed after 9 years, which is reasonable, but the factory replacement plugs failed in less than 12 months, all using standard off-the-shelf, appropriate model bulbs.
- Phil B., Douglasville, GA, US