The Mégane II Owners' Club

I'm at a max of about 2 months a bulb, and it is starting to get seriously on my nerves, as most times when my local dealer replaces it, the beam pattern is not right (lost of light cast to about 6 feet from the front bumper, not much after that, or a big black spot instead of a nice focused beam) so thats yet another trip back.

I'm starting to hate meganes, this is my second after rejecting the first car, but the fleet hire company made me take on an identical model to the one i rejected... Grrr!

first one died in 2.5 yrs of ownership.
the other hadn't but i replaced in pairs.

Hi AndyL

My first one went at just about two years, every couple of months seems a bit excessive. I notice you say that after the dealer replaces it the beam pattern is not right. As with all bulbs, there is only one way they will fit, ie: they have lugs which fit into cutouts in the lamp surround.

Has your dealer been fitting the bulb correctly? (if they fitted it without the lugs located correctly - always possible, and you would be able to force the clip into position as opposed to it fitting properly) the bulb would be at the wrong angle ie: upside down or similar which would cause premature faliure.

Just a thought, but well worth investigation.

Regards

Rob

Just to add to my last post

Forgot to say that if a bulb is not in the correct position, that would explain why the beam pattern is not right.

Regards

Rob

2.5 years old, not a single bulb failure anywhere on the car...

1 year and 7 months, and they both went on the same night! Spooky eh? But also very scary when you're driving along a country lane. Ended up having to put the front fogs on to see where I was going without dazzling the oncoming traffic too much. Got Renault assistance out to replace them (being a girlie is sometimes a very good thing), and they've been absolutely fine since then. Incidentally we went to 3 garages looking for bulbs, and they didn't have the right size, ended up in a car parts place in Greenford eventually.

Hi I have the same problem. Not enough light from dipped headlights and have to put on front fogs to see. This is on both headlights so thought that was too much of a coincidence but perhaps not. Full beam works well I just bought this car second hand a couple of weeks ago. There is light coming from all bulbs however not enough to see on dipped headlight. Is the dipped headlight a dual bulb and I am only seeing part of it working. Thanks for your help I don't want to start dismantling things when the trouble may be elsewhere

When I got my megane my lights where the same,very dim to the extent I thought the lamps had blown , I had Phillips extream vision 100% plus lamps put in , expensive but very effective and bright , well worth the cost

just replaced my first dip on a 5 year old meg, from what your saying about the beam pattern being wrong i would guarantee that the monkey the dealer is getting to replace the bulb is not fitting it correctly.

the dips on mine a facelifted 57 plate H7 bulbs in the' projector lamp' style unit are a pain to get too, on changing the first i found the following

when removing the electrical connector the bulb pulled out of the holder, i now panic thinking i have broken the retaining clip, as i didnt hear it ping off of any other noises i try refitting the bulb fits tightly and needs a firm pull to release, on checking other side it too has no retaining clip so happy with that please note my car did not have old style clip but new version that you don't unclip check yours first

remove bulb again and disconnect connector, attempt to fit new bulb, this took a while trying to get right orientation, the key tag was around the the 7 o clock position (i always had cars where the dips key tag was at 12 o clock so blundered in trying to get it in at 12) a few times it seemed to go in but at an angle it is this angle that will cause the beam to be incorrect, you can feel with your finger around the out ' side of the bulb to check it is in equally ie same depth in holder all the way round bulb, it will also feel 'right ' as it slots in. once in fit connector

at this point i checked the beam pattern, each bulb should cast a flat line which then casts up to the left i parked car in garage about 3 metres in front of wall, i did this with blown bulb first made sure its flat part of beam was at same height as other side, (the cast off to left will be in different positon as the are not set to converge at this distance) i then swapped out the other side as i bought uprated pair keeping removed good bulb as spare, again i had same drama in refitting new bulb correctly even after lesson learnt from other side. checked beam as before in garage and refitted covers

so, if you beams are off they have not fitted correctly, the key tab on the bulb is not in the usual 12 o clock position but around 7 o clock (ish). i would also summise that if not correctly fitted they would vibrate loose and lead to premature failure other factors to failure are grease from fingers on glass of bulb this can cause hotspot and failure apparently and owing to how tight a space you are working to fit these it is another possibility...

Orangeanorak wrote:Hi I have the same problem. Not enough light from dipped headlights and have to put on front fogs to see. This is on both headlights so thought that was too much of a coincidence but perhaps not. Full beam works well I just bought this car second hand a couple of weeks ago. There is light coming from all bulbs however not enough to see on dipped headlight. Is the dipped headlight a dual bulb and I am only seeing part of it working. Thanks for your help I don't want to start dismantling things when the trouble may be elsewhere

one check beam height adjustment selector, there is a wheel selector lower right hand side on driver position on same panel as cruise control on off switch and for some models the rear door child locks, it has a number of settings setting 0 is the highest, once found bang on lights and adjust you should see beam move. 0 is for normal unloaded car adjusting to higher numbers lowers the beam this is to counteract weight in rear of car tipping the beam up

two if that is not problem you can get your light alignment checked i believe the megs should be set for a 1% drop, i have checked mine before by checking my height against a wall with my wifes megane height, each headlamp can be manually set using an allen key see my post on this link viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9515

three if none of above sorts change your bulbs however the oem bulbs were good for me