Can you shed a light on this problem?

[FakeConcern]

About a month ago one of the headlight bulbs on my daughters Clio Mk2 Ph1 blew, when I took it out the bulb was smashed to bits. The headlight seemed to have some water in it.

Today, the same bulb had smashed again & to make matters worse, the dip beam filament on the other lamp had blown as well.

I have replaced both & all are working, but I am concerned that the smashed bulb will happen again, any ideas what caused it?

[ShiningWit]

FakeConcern said:

The headlight seemed to have some water in it.

This.

[steveo3002]

drip of water on the bulb when it was hot ?

[Jimmyarm]

As above, the water caused it.

New headlamp time unless the caps are missing off the back of them.

[FakeConcern]

Thanks for replies everyone!

I thought water on hot bulb the first time, but yesterday it was quite dry. The rubber bung things are still present BTW.

[Cliftonite]

What is the charging voltage (at the battery) from the alternator?

Excessive charging voltage was causing my headlamp bulbs to last around 20 minutes (some shattering!), whilst other bulbs on the vehicle were seemingly unaffected.

This was with a dynamo / cutout arrangement on an old vehicle, but I guess the same fault could happen with an alternator?

HTH.

[Jimmyarm]

Once water gets in, it likes to stay in.

Using the headlamps causes them to heat up, causing a nice humid atmosphere. If it gets humid enough or a drip hits the bulb it will pop it.

If it is cold out tonight, leave the car running with the headlamps on full beam (pointed at a wall) and you will probably see condensation forming on the lens, same thing will happen if it gets sunny enough where you are today.

If you take the headlamps out, there will probably be a load of water in the bottom of them. You can tip this out and dry them out as best you can but usually once the seals have failed it is game over as soon as it rains again.