I took my car (a ‘98 Honda Civic 1.4i illusion - I bet you’re so jealous) to the garage today. I’ve had a recurring issue with the headlights.
Last week I got into the car on my way home and drove about a mile before I realised that the only lights that were working were my sidelights. Shit. In my defence, I was on very well-lit roads until I realised.
The weird thing was that both headlights had gone at the same time. And the main beam worked. I’ve found out since that the main beam and dipped headlights are different filaments of the same bulb.
I pulled over at the first appropriate place, lifted the bonnet and had a fiddle about. Nothing worked. I slammed the bonnet down wondering what the hell I was going to do - it wasn’t safe to drive home, and it certainly wasn’t safe to pick ‘the bairn’ up from the childminders, so I was about to phone my wife and ask to be rescued. However, when I slammed the bonnet down I suddenly saw the light - my headlights worked!
The same thing happened the following night - no lights –> slam down bonnet –> lights come on. Then the next day, the passenger side suddenly stopped working. But I had one headlight so I continued until the weekend.
On Sunday, I looked under the bonnet in broad daylight and played about with the bulbs. Both suddenly worked. Fantastic.
Last night was a bit different. The only light that worked was the driver-side one. I tried slamming the bonnet down. I tried fiddling with the bulb. But nothing worked. Then when I pulled away from the childminder’s house I had no lights at all. And neither of my two techniques worked. Shit.
Anyway, to cut a long story a bit shorter, I took it to the garage today and they changed the bulbs and the headlights worked. What? Now answer me this - if the bulbs had gone, how come slamming the bonnet down made them last another couple of days? And how did they both go at the same time?
I have a feeling that my less-than-gentle approach to car maintenance might have shot the two bulbs, but the fact that I managed to fix them momentarily suggests that there is a more fundamental issue. Undoubtedly I’ll be on my way home sometime next week and the lights will pack in again. I’m 99% certain that new bulbs aren’t the answer to my problem, but hey, I’m not a mechanic (or I might have tried something a bit more sophisticated than sticking my finger in the light fittings).
By the way, the car shown isn’t mine. It’s just an image I got from the internet of a very similar car to mine. I hope this one is in better condition than mine because they are selling it for silly money.

