OMG seriously?

Kinja'd!!! "itschrome" (itschrome)
02/27/2017 at 12:27 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!0 Kinja'd!!! 20

My fiances 2012 Malibu is going to be the death of me! It blew it’s 3rd head light in under a year as of last night.

Last march we had both head light changed, when the passenger side blew. Then in January of this year it blew the drivers side head light. My mechanic tells me this is fairly common as there are faulty from the factory headlight connectors.so he swapped them both with new aftermarket connectors and replaced both head lights again for good measure.

How ever last night we are driving around and a notice there isn’t any light on the passenger side. hop out and sure as shit the damn thing is dead. WTF! I hate this car so much.


DISCUSSION (20)


Kinja'd!!! diplodicus > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 12:28

Kinja'd!!!0

Are you using a healthy dose of dielectric grease on the contacts when installing?


Kinja'd!!! PotbellyJoe and 42 others > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 12:30

Kinja'd!!!4

Stop licking them before installing them.


Kinja'd!!! Tekamul > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 12:31

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Is it a moisture problem? If water gets in that connector, it doesn’t matter how fresh it is.


Kinja'd!!! itschrome > diplodicus
02/27/2017 at 12:32

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I wouldn’t know. this stupid car requires you put it on a lift to do headlight swaps. Stupid modern car design requires the whole front clip and the wheels on the the side of the blow light and the inner wheel cover be removed to replace the fucking head light. So I have not done any of this work my self and I would trust the mechanic to use what ever was needed, he does really good work. I’m just going to blame chevy for being stupid on this. I hate this car soo much.  


Kinja'd!!! PatBateman > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 12:33

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Probably need to refill the blinker fluid.


Kinja'd!!! itschrome > Tekamul
02/27/2017 at 12:33

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not sure. taking it back to mechanic this week end for him to figure it out. I hate this car too much to go through the effort it takes to check the headlights and it’s connectors. at this point it’s all covered by his warranty so he’ll figure it out.


Kinja'd!!! itschrome > PotbellyJoe and 42 others
02/27/2017 at 12:34

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but they taste like snozzberries!


Kinja'd!!! itschrome > PatBateman
02/27/2017 at 12:35

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damn it, i forgot to check the blinker level fluids!


Kinja'd!!! JGrabowMSt > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 12:39

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Until youre saying head GASKET, youre going to have to step down.


Kinja'd!!! JGrabowMSt > PotbellyJoe and 42 others
02/27/2017 at 12:40

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You mean to say this procedure isnt 100% necessary?


Kinja'd!!! diplodicus > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 12:41

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Ya if you’re mechanics doing it I would assume they use dielectric grease. I just had to do lights on a 2011 Sierra and read that the connectors are known for blowing bulbs if they aren’t properly greased. Not as much of a pain in the dick as GM cars but you still a pain in the ass for something that should be so simple.


Kinja'd!!! CalzoneGolem > JGrabowMSt
02/27/2017 at 12:52

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My Haynes manual list this as a step.


Kinja'd!!! Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 12:59

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Welcome to Protege5 life :)


Kinja'd!!! TheTurbochargedSquirrel > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 13:16

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Subaru Legacys (and Outbacks) have had an issue where they eat passenger side headlights since at least 1998. I don’t know if they have addressed it with the current generation but it was still a problem on the 2014s.


Kinja'd!!! cluelessk > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 13:25

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My Cobalt loves to burn bulbs.

9007 bulbs? They have a shorter lifespan cause running lights, low beam and high beam are in the same bulb. With high beam having its own filament.


Kinja'd!!! itschrome > cluelessk
02/27/2017 at 13:25

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from my understanding those also have the same faulty connectors. have you ever tried replacing them?


Kinja'd!!! Dave the car guy , still here > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 14:12

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A 2012 Malibu has H11 bulbs. Get ceramic pigtails to splice in if they aren’t already and make sure nobody touches a bulb before install. In fact clean them with rubbing alcohol before you install them and if you even think you’ve bumped the glass with your skin clean them again. Also make sure there is no condensation in the headlamp housings. Be certain to buy long life versions of the bulb , not the extra bright or standard ones if you want to get the most life out of any.


Kinja'd!!! duurtlang > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 14:29

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How hard could it be to engineer a car which doesn’t wear out bulbs prematurely? It’s such simple and cheap tech.

My 17 year old Italian built French car had its headlight bulbs changed once in my 4.5 year 125k km ownership and the lights are on all the time. All taillights other than the license plate lights are still from the previous owner.


Kinja'd!!! Eric @ opposite-lock.com > itschrome
02/27/2017 at 16:09

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Malibus are garbage, just like everything GM, but especially Chevy cars. Be glad it’s at least a relatively modern one. I was once the caretaker of a 2004 that blew through bulbs of every kind faster than I’ve seen with any other car, ever. In spite of living in SoCal, it also had so much water intrusion that I could swear it was a flood recovery from Hurricane Katrina (but they owned it before the hurricane hit, so we know it wasn’t) and everything electrical was corroding so there were all kinds of intermittent problems.

That car taught me that I really should go with my gut instincts when I learn someone bought/drives a terrible car.


Kinja'd!!! JGrabowMSt > CalzoneGolem
02/27/2017 at 17:51

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I knew I couldnt be the only one!