Just to chime in with what most similarly cursed folks are saying about the
bizarre mortality rate of headlights that burn out on a4's. Sucker eats
them like candy.

Mine is an 2000 a4/1.8t

Once a headlight burned out in my car I seemed to be replacing the opposing
headlight every 3000 miles. I replace the left and the right burns out
quickly. I replace that right one, and the left gacks quickly.

I followed the advice of folks here and I can say that when I REPLACED THEM
BOTH AT THE SAME TIME (for reasons still unexplained) the car lasted over
15,000 miles before needing a replaced headlamp, and my lights are on *all*
the time (full blast, I don't have the Canadian "running lights" option).

Hope this chime-in helps. Just do them both at once.

Thomas

PS. Because I'm clinically paranoid, I'm going to save up the living bulbs
and try installing them both at a much later date. Stretching my
imagination as to how that would help, but it's often good to rule out
superstition. Perhaps having equally "hurt" living bulbs in both sides
would equalize some analog circuitry, or something similar.

 

"Thomas G. Marshall" <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com>
wrote in message news:YotVb.7952$M8.578@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
>
> Just to chime in with what most similarly cursed folks are saying about
the
> bizarre mortality rate of headlights that burn out on a4's. Sucker eats
> them like candy.
>
> Mine is an 2000 a4/1.8t

I'm assuming you have the standard H7 bulbs and not the xenon D2S bulbs,
correct?

Cheers,

Pete

 

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:24:24 GMT, "Thomas G. Marshall"
<tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote:

>Just to chime in with what most similarly cursed folks are saying about the
>bizarre mortality rate of headlights that burn out on a4's. Sucker eats
>them like candy.
>
>Mine is an 2000 a4/1.8t
>
>Once a headlight burned out in my car I seemed to be replacing the opposing
>headlight every 3000 miles. I replace the left and the right burns out
>quickly. I replace that right one, and the left gacks quickly.

Odd. My experience is the opposite with my 98.5 A4 2.8Q: the driver
headlight lasted until Feb/Mar 2003, and the passenger one just died
last week. Those are the only two headlight bulbs I've had to
replace, and I did replace both myself with OEM bulbs.

 

xymergy@suds.com <xymergy@suds.com> coughed up the following:

> On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:24:24 GMT, "Thomas G. Marshall"
> <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote:
>
>> Just to chime in with what most similarly cursed folks are saying
>> about the bizarre mortality rate of headlights that burn out on
>> a4's. Sucker eats them like candy.
>>
>> Mine is an 2000 a4/1.8t
>>
>> Once a headlight burned out in my car I seemed to be replacing the
>> opposing headlight every 3000 miles. I replace the left and the
>> right burns out quickly. I replace that right one, and the left
>> gacks quickly.
>
> Odd. My experience is the opposite with my 98.5 A4 2.8Q: the driver
> headlight lasted until Feb/Mar 2003, and the passenger one just died
> last week. Those are the only two headlight bulbs I've had to
> replace, and I did replace both myself with OEM bulbs.

The mortality problem with a4 lights is only /very common/, not
/ubiquitous/.

If you do a search through this and other audi newsgroups/forums, you'll see
it come up as an issue, over and over again.

 

Pete <escape2music@hotmail.com> coughed up the following:

> "Thomas G. Marshall"
> <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote in
> message news:YotVb.7952$M8.578@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
>>
>> Just to chime in with what most similarly cursed folks are saying
>> about the bizarre mortality rate of headlights that burn out on
>> a4's. Sucker eats them like candy.
>>
>> Mine is an 2000 a4/1.8t
>
> I'm assuming you have the standard H7 bulbs and not the xenon D2S
> bulbs, correct?

They're H7's. Sorry for forgetting to mention that.

 

"Thomas G. Marshall" <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote in message news:<OtTVb.22347$IF1.13011@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>. ..
> xymergy@suds.com <xymergy@suds.com> coughed up the following:
>
> > On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:24:24 GMT, "Thomas G. Marshall"
> > <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote:
> >
> >> Just to chime in with what most similarly cursed folks are saying
> >> about the bizarre mortality rate of headlights that burn out on
> >> a4's. Sucker eats them like candy.
> >>
> >> Mine is an 2000 a4/1.8t
> >>
> >> Once a headlight burned out in my car I seemed to be replacing the
> >> opposing headlight every 3000 miles. I replace the left and the
> >> right burns out quickly. I replace that right one, and the left
> >> gacks quickly.
> >
> > Odd. My experience is the opposite with my 98.5 A4 2.8Q: the driver
> > headlight lasted until Feb/Mar 2003, and the passenger one just died
> > last week. Those are the only two headlight bulbs I've had to
> > replace, and I did replace both myself with OEM bulbs.
>
> The mortality problem with a4 lights is only /very common/, not
> /ubiquitous/.
>
> If you do a search through this and other audi newsgroups/forums, you'll see
> it come up as an issue, over and over again.

Right on. Both of my A42.8 Q's have gone through headlights like mad.
The 97 was worse though and knock on wood, the 2000 seems to have
stabalized recently.
The funny thing is to read this over and over and have the dealership
say (with a straight face) that it is "very uncommon". Right, just
like cam cover leaks "never happen".

 

MGC <sharpedge0@LYCOS.COM> coughed up the following:

> "Thomas G. Marshall"
> <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote in
> message news:<OtTVb.22347$IF1.13011@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>. ..
>> xymergy@suds.com <xymergy@suds.com> coughed up the following:
>>
>>> On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:24:24 GMT, "Thomas G. Marshall"
>>> <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Just to chime in with what most similarly cursed folks are saying
>>>> about the bizarre mortality rate of headlights that burn out on
>>>> a4's. Sucker eats them like candy.
>>>>
>>>> Mine is an 2000 a4/1.8t
>>>>
>>>> Once a headlight burned out in my car I seemed to be replacing the
>>>> opposing headlight every 3000 miles. I replace the left and the
>>>> right burns out quickly. I replace that right one, and the left
>>>> gacks quickly.
>>>
>>> Odd. My experience is the opposite with my 98.5 A4 2.8Q: the
>>> driver
>>> headlight lasted until Feb/Mar 2003, and the passenger one just died
>>> last week. Those are the only two headlight bulbs I've had to
>>> replace, and I did replace both myself with OEM bulbs.
>>
>> The mortality problem with a4 lights is only /very common/, not
>> /ubiquitous/.
>>
>> If you do a search through this and other audi newsgroups/forums,
>> you'll see
>> it come up as an issue, over and over again.
>
> Right on. Both of my A42.8 Q's have gone through headlights like mad.
> The 97 was worse though and knock on wood, the 2000 seems to have
> stabalized recently.
> The funny thing is to read this over and over and have the dealership
> say (with a straight face) that it is "very uncommon". Right, just
> like cam cover leaks "never happen".

I am covered with the battle scars left from fights with the ******** at
dealerships. It seems that they are all uniformly sleazy, regardless of the
manufacturer.

I definitely hear you there.

 

MGC <sharpedge0@LYCOS.COM> coughed up the following:

> "Thomas G. Marshall"
> <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote in
> message news:<OtTVb.22347$IF1.13011@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>. ..
>> xymergy@suds.com <xymergy@suds.com> coughed up the following:
>>
>>> On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:24:24 GMT, "Thomas G. Marshall"
>>> <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail. com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Just to chime in with what most similarly cursed folks are saying
>>>> about the bizarre mortality rate of headlights that burn out on
>>>> a4's. Sucker eats them like candy.
>>>>
>>>> Mine is an 2000 a4/1.8t
>>>>
>>>> Once a headlight burned out in my car I seemed to be replacing the
>>>> opposing headlight every 3000 miles. I replace the left and the
>>>> right burns out quickly. I replace that right one, and the left
>>>> gacks quickly.
>>>
>>> Odd. My experience is the opposite with my 98.5 A4 2.8Q: the
>>> driver
>>> headlight lasted until Feb/Mar 2003, and the passenger one just died
>>> last week. Those are the only two headlight bulbs I've had to
>>> replace, and I did replace both myself with OEM bulbs.
>>
>> The mortality problem with a4 lights is only /very common/, not
>> /ubiquitous/.
>>
>> If you do a search through this and other audi newsgroups/forums,
>> you'll see
>> it come up as an issue, over and over again.
>
> Right on. Both of my A42.8 Q's have gone through headlights like mad.
> The 97 was worse though and knock on wood, the 2000 seems to have
> stabalized recently.
> The funny thing is to read this over and over and have the dealership
> say (with a straight face) that it is "very uncommon". Right, just
> like cam cover leaks "never happen".

Actually, one of the things that I kept hearing (which does actually exist
as a potential cause of early lite failure) is that there "must be" humidity
in the light cavity requiring me to blow a hairdryer or heat gun into it.

Ignore that advice, drop the hairdryer, and replace BOTH filaments at once
with new ones.