Past couple of weeks I've been meaning to get my sidelight changed (2013 MK3) as it had presumably blown. Stopped working only one side worked.

But suddenly this morning it's working again by magic!

I don't know much about bulbs but I thought these were filament lights obviously something other than the filament is starting to go.

Could this be a problem with the electrics in the car? I know the center console is also playing up, some of the number buttons on the radio display no longer illuminate and a few of the fan control buttons like the (A) start stop, windscreen heater etc, occasionally flicker on and off.

Obviously showing it's age

1st thing I'd try is open your bonnet, identify the sidelight in question, and give it a wiggle. See if it flickers or not and you may be able to see if it simply has a loose connector. You're right, blown bulbs do not heal themselves...

2 hours ago, StephenFord said:

blown bulbs do not heal themselves

That's not entirely true. I've known situations where the broken ends of the filament touched and welded themselves back together.

However Matt's various problems seem more likely to be connectivity-based.

18 minutes ago, mjt said:

That's not entirely true. I've known situations where the broken ends of the filament touched and welded themselves back together.

🤣 You could be right, all you need to do is tip the car onto it's roof, fuse the filament back together for a minute or so, then re-invert the car back to normal orientation!

 

All you need to do is run over a pothole .

Plenty to choose from.

I have seen a sidelight bulb on my Mk2 that had blown and then came back to life after driving over a bump.

These sidelights are the standard 501 5w capless bulbs.

That means the all glass type which push into the holders.

If you can see through the light lenses that the bulbs are starting to look dark coloured, they need to be replaced. This means that air has got inside the bulbs and they won't last much longer.

Tesco Extra sell Osram ones for £2 for a pack of two. That is the cheapest place I have seen decent ones.

Don't bother with some of the cheaper unbranded ones as they don't last long.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/265965644

 

On 9/23/2024 at 10:29 AM, mjt said:

That's not entirely true. I've known situations where the broken ends of the filament touched and welded themselves back together.

However Matt's various problems seem more likely to be connectivity-based.

Seems like the whole headlight backing needs to come off to get to the sidelight, the rubber cap is too small to actually give you room to "operate" on the light itself...

23 minutes ago, mburdett555 said:

Seems like the whole headlight backing needs to come off to get to the sidelight, the rubber cap is too small to actually give you room to "operate" on the light itself...

It might be easier to completely remove the headlight to get at it.

1 hour ago, mburdett555 said:

Seems like the whole headlight backing needs to come off to get to the sidelight, the rubber cap is too small to actually give you room to "operate" on the light itself...

I am unsure what a 'headlight backing' is, but the side light should be easily changed by locating it's position in the headlight unit, where you can simply pull it out. The bulb is only a push fit into the bulb holder... You shouldn't be going anywhere near the 'ribber cap' that gives you access to the dipped beam bulb.

 

There is another rubber cover for the sidelight on Mk3.  Top left here with the arrow on it.

This is the sidelight location relative to the YouTube above...

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

There is another rubber cover for the sidelight on Mk3.  Top left here with the arrow on it.

Yes that's the one and it's quite far in. If I drop it I've had it and i'll be fishing it out by the wires. Assumed it would be easier to take the entire backing off the cluster 

6 minutes ago, mburdett555 said:

 Assumed it would be easier to take the entire backing off the cluster 

Absolutely not! If you think you might drop it (highly unlikely), put an old rag beneath it so if it does drop, it can easily be retrieved...

34 minutes ago, mburdett555 said:

Yes that's the one and it's quite far in. If I drop it I've had it and i'll be fishing it out by the wires. Assumed it would be easier to take the entire backing off the cluster 

It's not possible to remove the backing.

1 minute ago, TomsFocus said:

It's not possible to remove the backing.

At least you appear to know what this, 'backing' is that he keeps referring to 😂

5 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

At least you appear to know what this, 'backing' is that he keeps referring to 😂

He just wants to split the headlight, black part from the lense, but that's only possible by sticking it in an oven to melt the glue and then carefully prising it apart.  Definitely not worth the hassle for a sidelight bulb change.  If he has big man hands then just pay some skinny teenager at Halfords to fit it instead.

4 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

... but that's only possible by sticking it in an oven to melt the glue and then carefully prising it apart. 

I have actually tried that many years ago - my other half at the time was not impressed at the misuse of 'her' oven!

on one side of her Focus Mk2.5 I had a brake light filament fall off on one post of the main stop light bulb

In ford diagnostics it knew all about it - but couldn't be bothered to inform the driver of ANY issue at all - but in its brilliant mind, it turned the power off to all three stop light bulbs as a safety measure - I fixed by replacing one bulb and all three came back to life - the bulb looked good till I gave it a tap and the filament snapped of both posts and rattled inside

got to love the guy that wrote that software - ROSPA Gold award for 3 year old's contribution to society