Hi,

Recently, I bought 2 x blue sidelights for my Focus. And after swapping both stock bulbs with the blue ones, one of them stop working. ( I may have pressed a little hard on the bulb to slot in place)

And to my disappointment, the back side lights stop working as well!

So I went to halfords to have a look, they checked the fuse and all the fuse are working perfectly fine. They referred me to a shop to have it looked at.

So I wondering what might be the problem? If it's something I can fix myself instead of cashing out 100s of pounds.

Thanks in advace.

First step would be to check the fuses for yourself I'd say.

First step would be to check the fuses for yourself I'd say.

I dont know how to check the fuses :(

Definitely check the fuses yourself, pick up a wee multimeter crack open the fuse box under the glove box and check away, worth not checking by eye alone, continuity checker is much more accurate. the fact more than one buggered then the problem is going to be something common to them all, fuses are the cheapest easiest place to check first, have you tried putting the original bulbs back in? no offence to Halfords but if it was one of the regular stores, I wouldn't put much faith in them and it wouldn't be unheard of them taking the !Removed! to make you pay out more then the couple of quid for a new fuse to "diagnose" it, easy to check yourself so defo the first thing to try.

Do the other lights work ok? tail lights, break lights, fog front and back, high and low beam, indicators etc etc....

All the other lights work fine, except the front side and the tail side.

I didn't pay halfords anything, although they used a new bulb which again I didnt have to pay for it.

I have tried putting the original bulbs back in, and still don't work.

Right now I havent got a wee multimeter to check the fuses. How do I check with my eye? What should I be looking for?

Definitely check the fuses yourself, pick up a wee multimeter crack open the fuse box under the glove box and check away, worth not checking by eye alone, continuity checker is much more accurate. the fact more than one buggered then the problem is going to be something common to them all, fuses are the cheapest easiest place to check first, have you tried putting the original bulbs back in? no offence to Halfords but if it was one of the regular stores, I wouldn't put much faith in them and it wouldn't be unheard of them taking the !Removed! to make you pay out more then the couple of quid for a new fuse to "diagnose" it, easy to check yourself so defo the first thing to try.

Do the other lights work ok? tail lights, break lights, fog front and back, high and low beam, indicators etc etc....

Checking is easy with a meter.

under the glove box in the passanger side foot well there is a bunch of fuses, they are attached to a panel that is suspended by two plastic thumb screws, undo and let swing down, im not sure of your car but your looking to find the correct fuse on the top side of that box that come down, on my car its fuse 124 and 125 for left and right and side but yours maybe different depending on your model.

in any case, pull out the fuse, and turn on your multimeter, select continuity checker on it and place the red and back leeds on the two pins of the fuse, it usually beeps when ok, if you don't have a continuity checker on the meter then use a resistance check setting, if its dead it will recording noting, if there is some resistance then its ok.

don't check by eye, some times it can look ok but is still dead, some times it can be obviously blown but using a meter will remove any doubt

It's a ford focus 2008 model.

Thank you. It's time to fine a multimeter.

ok, mines a 1.6 tdci 2008 mk 2.5, for me its position 124 (LHS) and 125 (RHS) 7.5A, in your manual it should list the fuses, their location and rating, the front and rear side lights are connected to the same fuse for each side, are both sides toast or is it just one side?

remember that fuses blow for a reason, make sure nothing is still wrong or you'll just blow another one, pop the bulbs out and make sure the contacts / wires don't touch anything it shouldn't, then replace the fuse if its gone.

ok, mines a 1.6 tdci 2008 mk 2.5, for me its position 124 (LHS) and 125 (RHS) 7.5A, in your manual it should list the fuses, their location and rating, the front and rear side lights are connected to the same fuse for each side, are both sides toast or is it just one side?

remember that fuses blow for a reason, make sure nothing is still wrong or you'll just blow another one, pop the bulbs out and make sure the contacts / wires don't touch anything it shouldn't, then replace the fuse if its gone.

I havent got a multimeter to check the fuse yet, but I will try to find one first thing tomorrow morning. Thank you for you help.

Can I notice if a fuse is blown with the naked eye?

if there is an obvious gap in the wire between the two prongs then yeah. sometimes, depending on the fuse design, you might not be able to make it out though which is where the meter comes to hand. have look for yourself, or if one side of your side lights is working ok, you could swap the fuse over and see if the fault moves with it. remember to make sure the bulb socket you may have damaged is ok first though or you will blow that fuse as well.

How do you remove the fuse? I'm trying to remove it with a screw driver but with hard force it's not coming out. I don't wanna try harder as it might break it.

You usually need a little fuse puller tool, if you pop the cover off the fusebox in the engine bay there should be a little red fuse puller in there that you can use. Failing that a small pair of pliers if you're careful.

With the multimeter you should be able to pick a basic one up pretty cheap these days - tip for continuity testing, before you test the fuse just put the 2 leads together on their own. You'll then either see the resistance reading on the meter change to near zero or get the beep if it's got that feature. Gives you confidence the leads are ok too.

You could always remove the fuse from the working side and try that in the failed side but if you've still got a fault you'll have another blown fuse to replace. And no sidelights at all.

What if the fuses are all fine? What might the problem be then?

First things first, are all side/ tail lights out on both sides or is it just one side? As you look at the car the front left side light and rear left tail light on the same side are tied to a single fuse, a second fuse takes care of the other side.

I'd expect only a single fuse to be blown taking out front and rear on a single side.

If both sides not working is it possible you made the same mistake on that side too or did you check if it was working before moving to the next one?

Just one side not working. Right side. Front and tail not working.

When I put the first bulb in, I checked it to make sure it's working before moving on to the next one.

If you aren't sure of which fuse is which I have links under this post (on a PC) to fuse diagrams.

You require the diagram titled 'Late MK2 and MK2.5'

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its almost certainly a fuse then probably 124 or 125

The problem has been fixed, It was indeed a fuse. Thanks everyone for your help.

Glad you're sorted out.

Those blade fuses are a pain, they can look ok but be blown.

I started replacing my fuses with Blow Glow ones that illuminate when they pop for easy diagnosis.

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Nice one, well there you have it, you learned three things, how not to fit a bulb, how to check and replace as fuse an don't go to halfords for advice! ;)

Is it really that common for fuses to fail - I've never had one go on any of my cars over the years (touch wood that it doesn't start happening now)? I've got a dodgy front indicator bulb connection which comes and goes intermittently, and a dodgy reverse switch which stopped working a while back, but never a fuse so far. If I start fiddling with things that will probably be enough to short something and blow one so I'm maybe better off leaving things as they are!

and before anyone says, I know an indicator bulb is meant to be intermittent - you know what I mean

12v aux socket has blown a couple of times, mostly due to either crap adaptors or as happened the first time I had a drink in my focus, the center console aux socket confidently placed to catch fluid from a toppled redbull can. Had a washer pump fuse blow one winter an thats about it. So I wouldn't say it happens often an usually my own stupid fault but id rather than toast something more important

Is it really that common for fuses to fail - I've never had one go on any of my cars over the years (touch wood that it doesn't start happening now)? I've got a dodgy front indicator bulb connection which comes and goes intermittently, and a dodgy reverse switch which stopped working a while back, but never a fuse so far. If I start fiddling with things that will probably be enough to short something and blow one so I'm maybe better off leaving things as they are!

Think the OP had some problems fitting a new sidelight bulb into it's socket and more than likely managed to short across the live and ground terminals while the lights were powered. That'll blow a fuse no problem.

Least it was an easier (and cheaper) fix than Halfords were maybe guiding him towards