I own a 2004 S80 Premier; about a year ago I started blowing through low beam lights. Most of the time they are on the passenger side but occasionally one will go on the driver’s side. I get about 2 months out of a bulb. I have had no accidents, I do not touch the bulbs as I install them. When you look at the back you can see the bulb shorted out or something like that. I have tried expensive ones and cheap ones and the time to failure is the same. Any one have any ideas?

I too have gone through a fair number of headlight bulbs since owning my S80. Not sure what the exact cause is, but the way they are held in there with that stupid little wire clip seems very hokey...like it's not very secure and probably jiggles over bumps. My guess is that's what makes them blow so fast.

One time when one side was blown the dealer replaced both sides for me at no charge, they said they were aware that the bulbs tended to blow out very quickly so I think it is a known problem to them. That was some years ago but maybe check with your dealer and see if they have any fixes/suggestions by now.

Other than that just be sure that the bulb is inserted in the correct way (as I recall there is a notch that must be aligned so the bulb socket sits flush) and make sure that clip is on securely.

LOL.

I have had a V70 as well as a S80.

the V70 was by far worse for this problem, only partially making up for it by the delightful admonishment of "check dip beam". My wife and i got a kick out of that.

The S80, likewise is a low beam monster, but without the endearing anglophilic prose, simply "check low beam".

I always thought they must have too much voltage, but I figured the cure would likely be worse than the disease.

So.... I started buying the bulbs in bunches of 4 off the Internet to save money.

I started having the same problem in January....regularly. I bought the car in 2005 and never had a recurring problem like I have these last few months.

I've replaced front headlights -both High & Low beams- about every other month.

On the passenger side, the plastic connector clipy thing has disentegrated and I now have to attach each wire individually to the light blub. The driver's side clip has held up.

I'm now using Sylvania SilverStar H7ST High Performance on all four headlights. Hopefully I'll get to December before these blow.

Buy them on the internet from Kragen's and pick them up at the local store - you will find that they are cheaper. Especially when you go on-line and look for internet discount coupons. You can get up to 10% off when spend over a certain dollar amount and you enter the right code.

Not sure if this will help with the bulbs going out, but I lost all lo beams. There is a resistor shunt under the drivers side dash. This burns out and it causes the low beams to go out "check dip beam failure" lights up on the dash.

This part has 5 teeth that looks like a large fuse. I posted it under a dipped beam failure post.

This is my original post:

The part that I replace was a resistor module part number: 9442190

This resistor still worked, but the plastic had melted on the 2nd pin.

Be careful pulling it out. Gently use a flat head screw driver to pry it out.

The resistor cost $13.00 from the dealer.

I hope this helps anyone with this problem. (dipped beam failure).