Cheap Citroën C6 Project 23: Replacing the Xenon bulbs (plus a bit of steerable headlamp footage) 

Exploding xenon bulbs are a result of finger grease left on the bulb concentrating heat coming from the lamp and causing heat stress cracking. Btw. steerable lamps are simply amazing, pretty sure on my C5 they saved the life of a muppet of a cyclist, who decided to stop just after the apex of a curve at night and fiddle with the chain kneeled INTO the the road, of course wearing black with no lighting. Absolutely no chance of seeing him otherwise

Considering I did 90k over 6 years and never changed a bulb on her they are brilliant! So glad to she her still is giving pleasure and a bit of pain!

I was told at car college many years ago that the grease from your fingers concentrates the heat on the bulb surface and that's why they explode

Damn, these videos are making me want a C6. I know I shouldn't. I know its a bad idea. But, it's a C6!

Never grow tired of the C6. Gorgeous design, and frameless doors look the part. So wish we could go back to the days when cars like this were designed and made.

I used to be a cinema projectionist, the projectors used very high powered Xenon lamps. They had an hour's rating meaning they had to be changed based on time.. They would also make a very loud band when they exploded!!

That is pretty cool with the lights moving left and right. Man they are bright. As a man with big hands, I would have had to take half the car apart to get to the bulb. The locking collars are a pain. I like that the electrical connector comes apart when you are fiddling with it. Nice video, just like if one of us had to do the job.

Yes, the bulb driver units are called ballasts. Back in the mists of time, gas discharge lamps used resistive ballasts, but these days they are usually electronic controllers that are a lot more efficient. Ballasts have to be used because before "striking" (turning on) the gas has high resistance, but as soon as it strikes the resistance drops and it draws a lot more current, which needs to be limited.

Glad the dropped bulb still works. High beam, low beam shutter is amazing.Thanks for the info

This is giving me flash backs to my fight with my transit trying to avoid, doing what the manual said to do.

That’s good news! I was being facetious, sorry bud couldn’t resist it! It’s great content you put on here. Looking forward to meeting you at Rustival.

Can't believe you dropped the bulb 😮

The video was a bit dull to start with but you are now enlightened

Remember trying to change bulbs on a ford C-Max the advice in the handbook - Take to main Stealer! Another one i had issue with was on a Kia Cee'd thats a light out Job! Strangley enough the C4 Cactus was a pretty straightforward affair.

Had to change a light as well shortly after I bought my 240 HDI in 2017. When I got the car I did not notice that the rubber Seal (the black cap) at the back was off and a lot of water got in the light. In this light I think there are three motors and two control units (?) and everything was shot. Citroen quoted me roundabout 2800 Euros for changing one light. I got the light for about 900 Euros and the exchange was easy. Be sure the Seal is in place :-)

Automotive Xenons have an ignition pulse that starts them up. It's usually around 10,000 volts. the actual running voltage though is substantially lower. it's normally between 30 and 80v depending on lamp wattage. oh, and as for lamp explosions - with halogen lamps this generally occurs if the lamp is touched. The oils from your skin will cause the quartz glass the lamp is made from to undergo a process called de-vitrification. In ELI5 terms it alters the structure of the glass and weakens it. This causes the lamp to either crack or explode depending on how hot it was when the glass failed. The same can happen with Xenon lamps as well which is why you shouldn't touch the glass. If you do, clean it with brake clean or alcohol and a clean lint free cloth or shop towel.

Hello. Thanks very much for the mention 👍

I resisted taking my bumper off a Vectra to do a similar job. 2 hours later I took it off in 10 minutes. It seemed crazy but it just worked.

love how a french car, from a country that makes you carry spare bulb kits, has a headlight you have to take the bumper off to change the bulb!!

Did i see a fox sneaking in the edge at the end. Its an amazing car with its Citroen Quirkiness, so much better than the stuff they are doing now.

I have the same turning xenons in my C5 - exactly the same setup, though due to the design half of the headlight does nothing basically 😂 one thing which C6 doesn't have is that C5 has static corner lighting at low speeds with standard H7 bulbs. Driving at night with this car is absolutely amazing. I remember when my parents were ordering our C5 in 2015 it took me 3 months to persuade my father to get the xenons and unsurprisingly after the first night drive said it was well worth to have them. A year later we went to Austria for winter holidays and I remember driving through all the alpine roads with a turning main beam on - I could see everything! Speaking of upgrades- I was thinking about getting a quality D1S LED replacement, they are not that expensive and they work immediately, the only thing I don't like is the fact that xenons need a couple seconds to heat up to work properly when you turn them on.

Had the steerable headlamps on my C4 VTS180….miss them!😔

The halogen will go pop due to the grease on your fingers. Grease can get very hot which effects the glass. It causes a hotspot.

Loved the night drive at the end. Very filmic. Great music. 😊

Really informative, thank you. That drive to Hill Head really showed off the turning headlights!

The steering headlights works astonishing well, almost like having a little person under the bonnet turning them for you and if said small person had some spare lamps they could change them for you, except there's not enough room for the smallest person, OK forget that analogy entirely 🤐

Did I mention... I have a couple of SMs... :p and am definitely getting one of those hoodies!

I have been told that only low quality Halogen bulbs are really affected by dirt on the glass. The better ones that have a higher grade of glass are not supposed to. Is probably not a bad idea to try to keep them clean anyway though for other reasons.

💡Shine💡, big Citroën! Good job, Kitch! See you soon - Martin

C6 design and tech is something else. Such as those side windows that go Up N Down 🥁 when you open/shut the C6 doors. Enjoyable upload Rich. 😄

My father in law had one of these in the 90s. I had a Renault Clio Baccarat. Remember following him on roads over the France Spanish Mediterranean border to go to restaurants and it was hard to keep up with the thing. He said he had to go to a dealer to get the headlamp bulbs changed, kind of a boast as he knew I liked to fix my own cars. Now have a Mitsubishi Outlander with hid's and have changed the bulbs.

nice work! Love the night time driving vibes at the end.

I have the same cornering lights on my Peugeot 508, but with D1S. I’m also facinated by the flap thing for high beams. Mine also has an extra flap (think it’s the same on C5 X7) to alter the beam pattern from right hand drive to left hand drive. It removes the «step» with higher beam on one side, so the beam pattern becomes completely flat and not blinding oncoming traffic. Only operated by a little lever beside the bulb!

I replaced the HID bulbs on my 2011 Honda accord. "How difficult can it be?" It took the better part of an hour and I ended up with cut knuckles and bruises all over my hands and forearms. Glad I don't do that kind of thing for a living.

Thankfully, the sidelight bulbs are easier. I did have to pull the bumper to change the HIDs though. It was not quick. Incidentally, I don't put the windows down with the switch. Have all the doors open when disconnecting the battery and they are weathertight if you close them with battery disconnected. Appreciate the patience for the shot at 1:28.

By coincidence I have also never changed Xenons and I've been meaning to, as one on our Saab 9-5 bulbs has been switching off more often. Saab also say to remove the bumper, however, on my standard-lit 9-5s, I'm also able to change the bulbs w/o bumper removal.. albeit with some skinned knuckles. So this video has given me confidence to finally change the xenons! Cheers!

Scots for doing the gearbox would be 'dain the gear bokes'

Xenon headlights do fade over time. So whilst the left one may have still worked, it was still worthwhile to replace it. Not to mention they might've been a different colour. Probably my only grudge with xenons, the fact that they sometimes differ in colour slightly from one to another. Thanks for another C6 video ^-^

Wow ! youve still got her then! Priceless that moment when you dropped the bulb😂 I remember the struggle replacing my C5 Mk2 facelift headlamp bulbs they had a big alloy box on the base of them and the headlamps were about 18 inches deep to the bulb mounting it was a bumper off excersize and even then a pair of very long pike hook pullers aka forceps were very helpfull to get the bulbs in place. I did try using an old sunvisor mirror at first like you do when you have bolts on the back of an engine but it wouldnt have any of it. Citroen imprroved headlamp bulb changes with later models fortunately, now the change time is down to about ten minutes, I think the EU laws about the gaps between the grill and the engine for front end pedestrian collisions has created more space behind the headlamps to do the job.

Great video, very interesting ref the dipped and main beams. I have the same lights in my 3008 (I assume the same innards just a different shape obvs! 😂), but I don't find the beam of light goes too far from the front of the car, I know they are auto levelling as I can see them adjusting, but wondered if you knew of a way to manually adjust them so I can heighten the beam?

My old Saab 9-5 took approximately 45 seconds per side to change the headlamp bulbs.

I like your "Man changes lightbulb" videos. The first was a triumph of minimalism. This one had a bit of a foreboding of doom hanging over it: when you said that the official method was first to remove the front bumper, but you weren't going to do that, I had this fear that Citroen know it's a pig of a job, and they'd only suggest something as extreme as that if it really was the easiest way to do it. About 9:00 I think you had a glimmer that maybe something like that was the case. But the whole thing did not, thank goodness, unroll in its inevitable way like a Greek tragedy. You got off lightly with just dropping the new bulb--I've been binging on Time Team recently, and in one episode an archaeologist runs up excitedly with a (small) coin, and instead of demonstrating it to the cameras, drops it in the muck. These little moments of unexpected fail that take the place of the feared catastrophe are like signs that sometimes the universe takes pity on us. But maybe Citroen had something to learn about design for maintenance.

The LED headlights on my Mazda MX5 steer round corners like that great isn't it 🙂

Pillow less doors is the term Subaru used Imprezas have this nice.

I had this on an old car with xenon lights, it was the light processor on the headlight not the bulb, the new bulb worked for a while and then failed again.

Second post. They are only pulling 35 watts per side, so run cooler than a 55 watt Halogen. That's why headlamp washers have to be fitted as they do not get hot enough to melt snow, Led also. You have a lightning flash in permanence inside the thing. Halogen and old fashion filament bulbs create heat, and the light they give off is a by product.

Citroen were still innovating in the C6 to do with the headlights there're probably a lot more innovation in the C6 l don't know about but with more tinkering on your C6 l will find out

It’s criminal how difficult motor manufacturers have made it to do something as basic as changing a bulb!

I was waiting for the battery to go flat sitting that long with headlights on. So the little flap in the headlights is an early version of how matrix LED headlights work.

One question.. Do you own a SM?

On my mk3 focus you have to remove the headlight to replace a blub and it has a black box on the back of it that has a clip on it and there a pain in the ass and there normal halogen blubs in mine as well but I am running osram night breakers now

😎😎😎😎👍👍👍👍

Do you think the light output increased? Also. Did you change your parking lamp globes? If so. What did you use? They do look super white and bright

It's a win right 🙂

Did my VW Pheaton front lights a few years back, lights must come out which means the whole front like the Citreon

It's certainly a more intelligent solution than, say, Peugeot tried with the 207 - a second H7 bulb at an angle to the other lights.

Looks like you're not having a lot of luck with light emmiting objects! Lighten up mate 😂

Bad hubnut possibly breaking your torch😊

Don't say it, don't even think it. "How hard can it be?".

It’s called bi xenon

There is light at the end.....

How popular are aftermarket LED bars in the UK and in Europe in general? Finland and Sweden seems like every other car has them.

"It had pink eye"

Of course, the instructions are only the manufacturer's opinion....

What bulbs did you put in please? LED? Mine are allegedly ok but seem dull. Some on eBay say 3x brighter which seems the way to go. Do you have a view please? ( 3x better than mine!)

Aren't you meant to wait three minutes after open the boot before removing the battery terminal. I understand this is so the BSI is a sleep when you disconnect the power else you could cause issues with the BSI.

I thought you sold this a few months ago?

Why things such as those headlamps that follow the steering and heated windscreens are not mandatory safety items, is beyond me.

My merc cls has the same window system, they eat regulators

Which bulb has gone?😎🤣

Considering the absolute ballache it is to change bulbs on some cars, especially those where you need to remove a bumper to take the headlight out to change the bulb... What's the point in carrying spare bulbs as mandated by some countries on the continent? And to further that thought... If your car is entirely LED lights whereby you need to replace the whole lamp rather than a bulb, do you still have to carry spares in the car? 🤔

Same design of flap thing is with the Freelander 2 later models. The dip shutter shrouds the lamp which causes it to overheat if you try to upgrade the lamps. Ended up with molten glass from the lamp imbedded into the reflector plastic. Fiddly job........

Changing a bulb on a car should be a five minute job that anyone can do. It is a legal requirement that all of your bulbs are working. Why do car manufacturers make it so difficult to do on most vehicles. This should be something that you can do at the side of the road.

😊 Bulb changing: GREAT. Driving around demonstrating new bulbs: BORING

Another ball ache.

I've spent 25 minutes watching a bloke I don't know changing headlamp bulbs on a model of car I will never own and some random driving action. Have I been hypnotised or had some strange hex put upon me? Or do I need some sort of therapy?

That's the exact same ballast found on VW golf mk5. And just to make you feel better. I had the exact same nightmare as you had with those damn plastic connectors. Stupid design

Ever replaced the headlight bulbs on a Vauxhall/Opel Insignia? IT'S A B!!TCH AN ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE

Compare your struggles to replace the bulb with the ease of replacing a 2CV headlight bulb! And they call this progress!

No correlation between ian using something containing technology and it breaking? That seems like wishful thinking.