Fried fog light filament

Have the car in getting the (Xenon) headlight checked- it had a milky sort of mist over the cover. I thought (hoped) it would be moisture, and therefore covered by warranty. Turns out the previous owner drove lots with fog lights on and has fried the fog light filament (driver's side only) and therefore no cover under warranty! $2000 sealed unit replacement cost (which isn't going to happen).

Has anyone else experienced/ heard of this? Any advice (the rest of the headlight works fine)

Aarghh!

Yes I have.
Mine went out too. I drive with the driving(spot) lights on quite regulary and fryed the driver side.
I had the car in a minor incident which I thought the front headlights would replaced. Turns out there are specialists here in Australia the specialize in fixing Xenon's. I'm having a few problems though.
Insurance companies will do anything to save a buck! I'm going to persist in getting the light replaced.

Must admit I'm a little peeved. Nowhere in the manual does it mention that the use of fog lights should be limited - thought if they had to be on they had to be on. Being a sealed unit and all, the front cover can't be wiped clean. Barb, who are the people in Australia who do Xenons? If you don't mind me asking, what sort of problems have you had with insurance on this matter? For what it's worth, did you try to argue for replacement under warranty?

Greg
Max Oddi told me about this problem - quite common.
FYI - it is illegal to drive with fog lights on in NSW!
I also agree that this is odd as most European cars have the driving lights on as standard.
Crash

Hey Crash,

Do you have a phone number for Max? Where does he work out of? Thanks

Max Oddi Alfa Romeo Specialist
+61 2 9552 2054
29 Moore St
Leichhardt NSW 2040
Australia

Picked my car up yesterday - 10K km service already!
Also had him install a set of H&R sport springs...
He is also sourcing some other special stuff for me...

Can you post a picture? My Xenons have a slightly misted cover and I am pursuing this under warranty. When you say the fog light has "fried" the fitting, has the bulb burnt out? if the fog light is not suitable for leaving on for a long period, in the UK you would have a case in consumer law that it is not "fit for its purpose"
.

Hi guys, I'm another Otti happy customer.
He says that at the rear of the light the attachment gets really hot and burns all the attachment around the connection. It's a common problem when you leave the driving lights on.
Like Crash said, in Sydney(NSW) it is illegal to drive with the driving lights on but on the GTA you can't pick if there on.
With the matter of my light, I didn't argue. I just wanted the car back brand new. Now, I have had a problem with the Xenon(Driver side out) and I will make some noise. I want it fix no questions asked. I have to bring it to the panel beater on Monday. See what happens.

Originally Posted by The Hat

Have the car in getting the (Xenon) headlight checked- it had a milky sort of mist over the cover. I thought (hoped) it would be moisture, and therefore covered by warranty. Turns out the previous owner drove lots with fog lights on and has fried the fog light filament (driver's side only) and therefore no cover under warranty! $2000 sealed unit replacement cost (which isn't going to happen).

Has anyone else experienced/ heard of this? Any advice (the rest of the headlight works fine)

Aarghh!

$2000 Damn.

Had something like this years ago (2001) with the 147 1.6TS. Not of the xenon type though.

I also liked the fog lights so much, they were constantly on. Not a problem in winter or at speed, but in summer and in a trafficjam, the temperature inside the headlight unit gets so hot some plastic part started producing some kind of vapor (that was the mechanics explanation). It misted the inside of both headlight units. Got it replaced under warranty.

Since then I don't use the foglights all that much. :-)

Here's some pics- they haven't come up so well, but there's (unaffected) right side, misted right side and a close-up of the burnt reflector. Seems there's been some vapourisation of the reflector coating. Pretty poor form in my book, and I'm looking into the warranty aspect.