Headlights??

I have replaced my several bulbs more than twice this year. Anyone else have this issue???

Hi Mike:

We've had our Sprinter since March of this year and I haven't replaced anything yet.

Seek

Howdy Mike -

We've had our Sprinter for nearly a year and a half and put roughly 12,000 miles on it. We have yet to need to replace a single bulb inside or out.

No bulb replacements during the nearly 12,000 miles we've had our Sprinter .... since October 2005. Very strange to have had to replace so many bulbs.

If you run a search on YahooSprinterVan, you will find a similar set of experiences - some vans with lots of replacements, others no particular problem.

PoolMike:

Do you have DRLs?

Seek

Poolmike;
Maybe weather related hot to cold?

Hello Richard, PoolMike, others -

We drive (and camp in) our Sprinter year round. Our home base is in the Boston, MA area where we get everything from hot and humid to plenty cold. During some parts of the year we will get a fairly broad range between high temperature and low temperature during a 24 hour period.

We have driven our Sprinter up and down the East Coast (Canada to the Florida Keys) but we have yet to take it into desert areas. Are the folks who are encountering bulb failures located in desert climates? Maybe the heat of the sun during the day followed by the sometimes very dramatic shift to cold temperatures at night is playing a role here?

Just a thought
I had a Mb 100 van kept blowing them out especially the front and rear fog lamps heat and out side temp in winter did effect them switched from single filiment to double filment and they never blew again.
Maybe the bulbs blowing on the Sprinters could be the H7 upgrades? these tend to blow on a regular basis
Richard

Since May '05 I have replaced 4 tail light bulbs, 3 brake light bulbs, I have now officially lost count of headlight/foglight bulbs. I drove the van today for ~80 miles with a my volt meter attached to the alternator, it had a low reading of 13.7v and a high of 17.1v. I spoke with the guys at the local starter/alternator shop, they said 17.1 *shouldn't* blow bulbs

And no, I don't touch the filament when installing them

I'm no expert, but 17.1 volts is not good. Anything over 14.5 volts would send me to diagnose the voltage regulator and alternator for failure. Many of my electronics would not like 17.1 volts... Al