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Alfa 147 Lighting Failures

20K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  d92eyj 
#1 ·
Hi all, hoping you can help me here!

I am the proud owner of an Alfa Romeo 147 1.6 Lusso, for the last 4 months. I have recently been experiencing a few lighting failures,

1. My left sidelight failed, 2 minutes later my right sidelight failed. I was able to change the right light easily, but the left sidelight bulb was unable to be removed as the plastic bulb holder was snapped when I bought the car. I have been driving for the last 2 months without a left sidelight.

2. My right brake light failed, which I quickly replaced. I had been driving for 5 miles with my new brake light, when the car notified me that a brake light had failed - I pulled over and closer examination showed that my right brake light & tail light had went - the same one that I had replaced earlier!

3. Without having a spare bulb in the car to change over to, I was left with no choice but to drive on with the failed lights. As soon as I drove off, the car gave me a warning that my right side light had failed!! So I currently have no sidelights, no RHS tail light and no RHS brake light!!!

Can anyone tell me why this is happening?? Is there more power going to my other lights when I have one out?? I am going to book the car in to an auto electrician to get this checked out, but hopefully one of you guys can help!!

Many thanks in advance.
 
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#3 ·
Yeah, don't worry about it TOO much because it's likely to continue. I have it happen all the time. I've replaced my xenons, all 3 fog lights, and other bulbs too. Once it was due to voltage issues when my alternator was on the fritz...other times it was just kind of routine....haha.

Sorry I couldn't be of much help, but if it's any consolation, it happens to most of us...and even sometimes...the bulbs come back on even though they should be tight as they had been just replaced....odd.
 
#4 ·
Blown Bulbs

I've had the same problem since I bought the car, the fron headlights are the easiest to go. I have speed bumps around my area also so this doesn't held these delicate Halogens.
An old bloke said that they blow quicker as there is moisture in the bulb housing and it flashes against the bulb when you hit a bump.
It sounds rubbish , but be said to use a hairdier for a few minutes to dry out the lamp compartment before fitting the new bulb.
I done this about last January and so far its ok,
Just have to replace the Right side light that went last night now.
I never seen a car like this for blowing bulbs, its definitely an alternator/voltage regulator issue I feel.
I went for years in my Honda Prelude without ever replacing a bulb.
Alfa garages are no help at all in Dublin, just look at the Euro sign on your head when you walk through the door. Everything fo rthese cars is expensive.
 
#5 ·
I had this problem on my GT (same wiring as the 147), the GT sidelight bulbs on the JTDM is a bumper off and headlight unit out job and while I got the job down to 30min after MUCH practice, every 3 months was more than boring (but necessary if only to stop the annoying boinging warning notice). The solution I have found is to replace the offending bulbs with LED bulbs (c£10-15 on ebay), these draw low current and in 9 months have been as good as gold. Hope this helps.
 
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