Brake light on car replacement.

O

Odea

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Is it advisable when having a brake light bulb replaced on a car to have the other one also replaced. I have been told that if I only replace one then there can be a surge on the other one causing it to blow?
 
Who told you that? I've replaced individual bulbs, without issue. Shouldn't be any surge per se.

Just make sure your brake light bulb is replaced with the correct type - brake light bulb may be a double filament bulb.
 
I left my car in for a pre NCT inspection. It had an intermittent fault with one brake light. When I left it in it was working fine but I asked them to look at it anyhow.
I got my car back and I was subsequently told that they had replaced the bulb. (Not on invoice or list of works completed). Anyhow when I got home the other brake light was not working. When I brought it back I was told that having one brake light replaced but not the other can cause a surge.
 
I haven't heard of a "surge" re brake lights, but am in no way an expert on such ... When you say "intermittent" fault - what was the issue? One / both brake lights not coming on? Would the bulb(s) just became loose, over time?

You can call into a fast fit, halfords, etc & they will replace the bulb for you, if you don't want to go back to that garage. Brake bulbs can be easy to replace yourself, if that way inclined, but for the price of a bulb, just drive into a place like fast fit, it's a quick job.
 
Replacing one bulb and not the other can not cause a surge, whoever told you that was spoofing you.

One bulb failing can cause a surge if the element melts when failing and causes a temporary short circuit.
 
Jazz01 said:
When you say "intermittent" fault - what was the issue? One / both brake lights not coming on?
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One brake light wasn't coming on, the right side. I had a look at it myself, tightened it etc, and I got it back working. I just mentioned it to the garage and asked them to look at it because with my luck it would go again as I was driving out to the NCT test centre.

I got the feeling that nobody bothered to check it. They saw it was working and left it OR they switched bulbs. Put the left in the right and the right in the left.

I couldn't understand that I was having an intermittent problem with the right bulb but when I got home it was the left one that was not working at all.

mathepac maybe they did as you suggested. Maybe it's an old trick of the trade.
 
Odea said:
One brake light wasn't coming on, the right side. I had a look at it myself, tightened it etc, and I got it back working. .
Click to expand...

So, if you can access the bulbs, why not just get two new ones and swap them out. Job done and move on? Whole job will be under a tenner.

And I would normally swap both bulbs. They have both been in, and used, the same amount of time. So when one blows, the other is not far behind. But that's just me.
 
I agree but I wasn't aware of this. It's over 20 years since I had a brake light problem.

The garage should have just mentioned it beforehand or replaced both bulbs.
 
So it sounds more like a connection or bulb seating issue so. Some of these fittings can be tricky, and careless mechanics can damage them.
 
How old is the car? Mine is 2004 but screeches at me on startup and shows a dashboard light if there's a bulb problem, and coincidentally the couple of times it's happened it's been a brake light.
 
The screeching on start-up is 99% likely a loose pulley belt, which can be adjusted in a couple of minutes by anyone with mechanical knowledge.

Leo is correct with the connection issue, common enough especially with older French built and Fiat cars.
 
I once had a problem with brake light bulbs blowing for no apparent reason, I replaced 3 in two weeks. I then got a different brand from a motor factors, no problems since. Can only guess the bulbs I got from my local petrol station were faulty or poor quality.
 
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