Dan MAYOH

About 2 weeks ago the left headlight on my 7 month old Dodge Ram burned out. Last night, the right one burned out. When I purchased the truck, I wasn't satisfied with the stock headlights and put in PIA(sp?) bulbs intead. Do PIA's not last? Is there likely to be something wrong with my electrical system that is causing the bulbs to burn out prematurely? In both instances, it was the low beams that went.

leadpants

With my experience you need to make sure that you do not get any oil or grease on the bulb. This means from the time you take the bulb out of the package til you install it, you need to use a clean rag or wear gloves. These bulbs get extremely hot and oil can cause hot spots on the bulbs.

Buckshotmckee

Do you have daytime headlights? Whats the watts on the PIAs? Does the headlight harness look burnt? Your not touching the Bulbs with your fingers?

coobie

I have had the PIAA,s installed for 2 years with no burn outs yet.coobie

bbhzx12

PIAA is pretty good if you've got reciepts and no fingerprints on a bulb and it burns out prematurely they will usually replace it, I've had great luck with PIAA.

XZILR8N

Dan - I experienced the same PIAA bulb longetivity issue as you. I got about 6 months to 9 months out of my first set of PIAA's. However I had my DRL's activated thinking I would rather run at the reduced DRL intensity during daylight as well as saving burn time on my running/tail lights versus full on in day. My PIAA bulbs were/are installed correctly. I am now on my second set of PIAA's and keeping my fingers crossed with about 3 months burn time on them. However, I've come to the conclusion that the solution to our marginal headlights will not be found in simple bulb swaps. Perhaps the real solution is retrofit reflector assemblies that can accomodate projector type xenon HID bulbs with required ballast.

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StrokeThis2500

what u need to do is check for water in ur headlights cause if u have water in there and u hit a bump in the road or what have u the water will splash on the bulb and burn it out a quick fix is to seal the crack or wherever it is leakin on the top or whever and drill a small hole in the bottom of the light casing to drain the water

rjm022

don't touch the bulbs with your hands/fingers. the oil from your skin will prematurely end their life!

Dan MAYOH

Thanks for the replies guys. I had the bulbs professionally installed, so I can only assume that they didn't get grease or oil on them. Unfortunately, I now live about 1,000 miles from where I had the bulbs installed, so there isn't much posibility of collecting from them.

In Canada, we are required to have daytime running lights, so this must put an extra burden on the bulbs. I live in a fairly wet area-about 73 inches of rainfall a year, so water could be an issue. I will see how things go from here on in. I am back to using stock bulbs now.