Changing a headlight cluster bulb in moderns cars should be an easy process. However for some cars, it’s a long and drawn out process, sometimes involving the removal of bumper/body trim in order to gain access…as my brother-in-law with the UK’s most popular car, the Ford Focus reliably informs me.
When my wife told me her 51-Plate Peugeot 307’s left-hand indicator was flashing faster than normal, I though to myself “new bulb required”. I had a spare, so I set about extracting the old bulb in order to replace it. Accessing the passenger-side front light cluster is easy: all of the bulbs are in easy to remove holders that have two contact points “making” the connection for the bulb’s power. Annoyingly, it was one of these contact points that had mysteriously (read: poor design, noted by Peugeot, but not a free-of-charge fix) worn out. If my memory serves me, this is the second time this part has been replaced in the 3 years we’ve owned the car.
Here’s the offending part:
I decided to purchase a replacement bulb holder. We had a poor customer service experience with Evans Halshaw: they insisted that the part they sold me was the correct part, it clearly wasn’t. I paid cash for the part, when I asked for a refund I was offered a cheque (the excuse being, no cash was held on site…well, duh, how do you give customers change then?) Since I’ve started ranting, Evans Halshaw could make their Parts department a little bit more approachable: a door bell in the sales area isn’t too obvious…nor was the 15 minute wait for service all that appealing. Luckily I had another larger cheque to pay in to the bank, otherwise it would hardly have been worth paying a cheque for £3.84 in…coupled with two trips to the dealer and the waiting time.
After a little bit of DIY with some solder, the existing part refused to work. So today, I popped into our local Peugeot dealer, Hardie of Dunfermline, who had replaced the part previously. Top marks to the chap (Charlie) in the Parts department, he knew exactly what the part was and how to replace it. For the sum of £3.84 he sold me what Peugeot claim is the replacement part (it doesn’t fit “out of the bag”) and told me which bits of the new bulb holder that I had to remove in order to fit it. The replacement part is numbered 6215.46.
Comparing the two parts below, we can see that the new part has a protruding edge going clockwise from the left-hand contact point (marked with an arrow). The old part doesn’t have this protruding edge.
You may enjoy some mileage with a Stanley knife, however I didn’t. I used an old soldering iron to remove the protruding edge as can be seen below. There is a an edge between the contact points marked 1 below and a similar edge marked 2. There’s also an aligning edge marked 3: you may think that this matches the aligning edge on your old part, however it doesn’t, remove it too.
Anyway, I’ve blogged this fix because I heard both dealers come out with the phrase “oh yes, common fault…” Hopefully it has helped you with your poorly designed French car indicator problems. Given the number of hits my Audi A4 – Replacing the hazard / indicator relay blog entry gets, I should be selling indicator parts!
Technorati Tags: Peugeot, 307, indicator, bulb, holder, replacement, hazard, 6215.46
Craig Murphy Auto and repair botch jobs, for Manufacturers inferior parts 🙂
quite interesting how you were charged 3.84 for the wrong one and 3.84 for the new one .doesnt that tell you you had the right one to start with? .there is only one part no since the 307 was launched and i still fit load of these .you just get it lined up right and you DO NOT NEED TO MODIFY..just plug in and go..
@peugeot The first part was notably different from the original part, the metal contact points didn’t align. Yes, I was surprised that the cost was the same, but a visual inspection revealed that it differed significantly from the Evans Halshaw part. I was able to insert the original (faulty) part “on-demand”, so user error can be ruled out!
If you’re fitting loads of these, it does suggest extremely poor design, don’t you think? Are you using the new part number 6215.46 in all your replacements?
i just found this site we have a 307 and live in R.O.I. the same fault was on our car and the dealer told us we needed to replace the whole light including the head lamp it cost about E200 to do this, the same fault has now appeared on the drivers side so i think i will be fixing it myself this time. thanks for bloging this info
I thought it was blown bulbs but found it to be the metal contact. Prised it out (as they get pushed flat when fitting)and it worked for a bit. Most recent attempt the metal contact fell off! Joy of joys.Now looking for replacement part – and now even that seems a pain!!!
Guys,
Had same problem on my 51 plate 307 thought i’d check the nearside lamp fitting (off side kept failing) and discovered you can’t swap the units over as the alignment was different…..so no need to butcher the lamp fitting like Craig has done just make sure you ask for the right side replacemant.
Hope this helps any frustrations and wasted time :0(
£3.84? Bargin price. Living in ROI – €14 for it, think I’ll go to Halfords.
Hey Craig,
Thanks so much for this post – I did exactly what you documented and it worked beautifully. Our Peugeot dealer was quoting us AUD$655 to repair….and with your help I’ve done it for AUD$18.
…oh, and I had a great time whittling away with my stanley knife 🙂
Troy.
@troy – glad it was of use to you!
@Pasiphae90 – I still struggle to believe that these fitments are “keyed” to the side of the vehicle. I was able to remove and re-fit both *existing* sides without any problems, the problem was fitting the *new* replacement part! Surely one of the two Peugeot dealerships that I visited would have known that the part is keyed? Neither did!
I have a 307 year 2002. Both of my front indicators have filed. I replaced both bulbs without success. I then called into a peugeot dealer and was told that I would have to replace both of the main headlamps. I have since purchased these from 24/7 and was going to get these fitted when I came across your site. I cant do the job myself but will order the parts suggested I will then be left with two headlamps which were a total waste of money. I will never trust a dealership again.
Craig, great article. I made the required modification on the weekend and it worked great. It seems that the offending bit is what you refer to as the ‘aligning edge’ or ‘No3’ in your photos. It wasn’t until I removed this did the indicator start working again. Thanks again.
Thanks for the info! my bulb had gone but when i replaced it it wouldnt work. checked this blog, then prised out the contact with a small screw driver. now works!
thank again!
Had this exact problem, but I found that sanding down the burnt area and then building it up again with solder was enough to get it working again for me.
@tom – yeah, I tried that too, didn’t work for me…my solder skills aren’t the best!
Great tip, had all the same issues as described in your blog, followed the described fix and now works perfect. Thanks.
Craig, absolutely fantastic post. My indicator has been playing up for a couple of months and I just jiggled the bulb to get it working again. Finally decided I should get it looked at, and was expecting a bill of ~£200. Then I found this, spent just over £5 on the spare at my Peugeot dealership, 15 minutes with a stanley knife, and ta-daaaaa the indicator works properly for the first time in months. Thank you so much
I added some solder to the worn away contact and bingo in worked, not sure how long it will last though! Thank you Craig, you saved me a trip to the garage and the associated costs.
many many thanks for your posting here, i have the new indicator holder and will set to work with the knife. cross fingers it will work.
Before going to all the expense, try to lever the contact metal outwards slightly. Metal gets lazy after a while and fails to make contact that is what had happened to mine. After, it worked perfectly.
Hi, Believe it or not but this part is also on the Citroen C8 and the holder on the front off side has the contact worn away to hardly nothing so we get random fast flashing indicating a blown bulb. Thanks to your blog post I’m now prepared to fix it if the part is different.
Thanks
6215.46 – is the part number for Peugeot 307 I (after 2004 year). With Valeo headligths.
6215.56 – the proper number for ALL Peugeot 307