Did both my headlight bulbs burn out at the same time? Or is it something else...?

If you can, wear a clean pair of cotton gloves when you're handling the new ones. IF you accidentally touch them, wipe them off with some alcohol to remove the finger prints/oils.

 

I have big paws too. It helps (and takes only a moment) to remove the two 10mm bolts holding the reservoir to the inner fender and scoot it slightly out of the way.

 

That is a great idea. I will definitely do that this time around. I didn't want to do it last time I changed the bulbs because I wasn't sure how the reservoir was supported other than those bolts and the last thing I wanted to do was spill a full reservoir of washer fluid all over myself and my engine bay or somehow break the washer fluid line.

 

If you only remove the two top bolts the reservoir barely moves. You'll have to jiggle it to get any advantage at all, and there's no risk of it going anywhere. (Make sure you jiggle it back into its correct position to line up the tabs for remounting.)

 

For anyone who cares, it definitely WAS both bulbs burnt out. Whether they went out at the same time or separately, it was still within 24 hours of each other. Honestly the bulbs being blown was the best case scenario. I was not looking forward to replacing any wiring or the steering column switch.

The tester light and new bulbs showed up today. I started by testing the fuses. While they looked ok from my previous inspection, I still wanted to test them. They were fine.

Next I unplugged the bulbs and used the tester on the plugs - for some reason I couldn't get a reading from the female side contacts so I stuck the tester needle in where the wires enter the plug and confirmed continuity both positive and negative with the headlight switch set to low beams. This pretty much confirmed it was the bulbs, so I removed them. Note: removing the top two washer fluid reservoir bolts and shifting it forward helped immensely with replacing the passenger-side bulb. Last time it was an absolute nightmare because I have big hands and that reservoir only gives you about an inch and a half of clearance. Shifting the reservoir gives you enough clearance to actually hold back the wiring harness and plug with one hand wile you move the bulb into/out of place with your other. Piece of cake. The driver-side bulb was actually harder this time because the battery made it difficult to hold the harness/plug out of the way while removing or replacing the bulb. But still not too difficult.

Both bulbs showed damaged or missing filaments for the low beams. That was it. Bulbs just blew. I certainly wasn't expecting just 6 months out of these bulbs, but I suppose I should be glad they lasted that long. I replaced them with the same kind, and if these blow in another 6 months I'll swap to a longer lasting bulb.

The whole operation took me about 20 minutes total. Not nearly as bad as I remember it being last time. Next time I'll probably just check the bulbs first before freaking out thinking it might be something more serious.

Anyway thanks everyone for their help. For anyone curious, the bulbs that burnt out were the

$33 Philips RacingVision GT200 H4 car headlight bulb +200%, set of 2 White

Philips RacingVision GT200. And the tester I bought was

$22 AWBLIN Automotive Test Light 3-60V DC Digital LED Circuit Tester, Heavy Duty Light Tester with Voltmeter, Auto Bidirectional Voltage Tester Electric Test Pen

this Chinese noname one.

 

I surmised it was that..thinking about it, they're both on the same amount of time so it's not like a turn signal bulb which in theory one could be used more. Good work and the best (easiest) end result.