2002 ford focus 2.0 liter

[ilovefishing]

working on my mothers car and the passenger side low beam doesn't work come to find out the pigtail that the bulb plugs into is melted. My question is what would cause it to melt? according to oreilys its a 9003 bulb. My fathter put it those blue bulbs last year because with the original bulbs had poor visability. does anyone out there have any suggestions on what type bulb i can put in that would be brighter. thanks for input

[Jeremy airjer W]

If you check the wattage rating for the "blue" bulbs they are normally higher. Higher wattage = higher amperage. The pigtails cannot handle the extra load and burn up. We see this fairly often especially on fords and even more so on the pickups! Replace the pigtail, Make sure the grounds are good and go with the normal 9003 bulb.

[fishing tech]

The blue bulbs are a no no. Ford will not cover damage done by them. Lucky for you that is all that melted. I have seen worse.

[CJH]

Curious......so, are the blue bulbs bad for just those vehicles/makes, case by case, or for all of them??

[Scott K]

Each manufacturer designs their vehicles to operate with factory options. When you start modifing stuff you will start to run into problems. This applies to all mods, on all makes and models. The wiring loom on the vehicles are designed to handle a certain amount of amperage, when you add a higher watt bulb to the original harness it draws more amperage then it was designed to handle and creates heat and can melt or cause a fire.

Ok to answer your question, some models are worse then others. There are ways you can get around this, but it really isnt worth the hassle!

[deadeye]

I personally run the higher wattage ones (high beams only) and have never had a problem. They do say you should put a new jumper harness in when you run a higher wattage bulb, which eases the strain on the factory wiring.

If he got them at a auto parts store they are not likely a higher wattage bulb. Legally, your not supposed to run a higher wattage bulb. Therefore, most big name parts stores do not stock them (they will order them but don't carry them). There are tons of "blue" colored bulbs out there that won't hurt a thing. The differecne in the color of the light is achieved by adding a different gas (xenon instead of halogen) to the bulb and/or using a tint on the glass to filter the light. The sylvania silverstar, and cool blues are ones that are the "blue" color, but not a higher wattage. The silverstars would give you better visibility since they are a whiter light. They have tinted glass and xenon gas which makes them look brighter but are still the factory wattage.(blue really doesn't help visibilty since it on the end of the light spectrum that we have a hard time seeing).

That repair harness/pigtail for the 9003 bulb is like 3.99 and is a common repair part for any car that has that connection. The old sealed beams have the same connection as the 9003/h4 setup and I remember always having to replace them because its not a very positive/sealed connection like the newer styles have. They tend to have a problem arcing out and melting because the connection does not stay tight once the factory bulbs have been replaced.