Glitter lamp problem

[Taco-bob28]

Hi. I hope somebody can help me with this. My brother has a blue-green glitter lava lamp he got a few years ago. He doen't use it much but recently he redid his bedroom and moved it into my room. I turned it on seeing if it still works and it did...sort of. It only lights up about a quarter of the way up the glass. The top part of the glitter lamp is a dark color and you can barely see the glitter moving around but the bottom part looks perfectly normal (the glitter is visible and the liquid is a bright green/blue color). I don't know if I have to replace the bulb or get a new lamp or what! I looked to see about the lightbulb but the glass bottle does not want to come out of the base....I am so confused with this lamp, I don't know what to do with it. Please help if you can.

[Taco-bob28]

It has not been into contact with any type of food or liquid and the cap is on tight. It has been on a chest of drawers in my brothers room away from most human contact.
I'll try to get a pic on soon.
Thanks for the suggestion.
-Taco-bob

[Taco-bob28]

Thanks for the help. If this doesn't work I'll let you know.
-Taco-bob

[Taco-bob28]

I managed to get the base off with some patience and some gentle wiggling but the bulb seemed to be in fine condition. It was the right size and gave off plenty of heat. The liquid in the bottle looks fine too but it still will not light up all the way.... Is the liquid just faulty? It is a very deep red color at the top when the light is on but it looks green in daylight like it is supposed to. Any suggestions?

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

can you see the top of the liquid? this may sound silly but i was wondering if indeed it is not a fault with the liquid, but the bottle? have you tried tipping the bottle slightly when on and see whether the colour change stays in the top part, or moves with the liquid?
probably a ridiculous comment by me, but I was just curious.
Post a piccy :)

[Taco-bob28]

I don't know what make this lamp is...sorry. My brother got it a little while ago so I have no idea. I will be sure to post a pic soon though.

[Modulo '70]

Would love to see a pic of your lamp, i'm sure your problem will be solved. There are some of the best lava brains in the business here - Unfortunately i'm not one of them but i'm trying to learn.

[Taco-bob28]

Here is a picture of the lamp. I hope you can see the problem.

[Taco-bob28]

It looks like this as soon as it is turned on and consistantly stays the color in the picture. I don't know where it was purchased... Is there any way to fix it?

[Taco-bob28]

The bottle is not discolored and the thing looks normal when held up to bright light or even in a bright room! It just turns discolored, like in the photo, when the lamp is turned on. This is a very very perplexing problem :)

[Taco-bob28]

Is all I have to do is change the bulb?

[Taco-bob28]

okay. I know that my brother's other lava lamp (a small one I got from WalMart during the Christmas season) has overheated at least once (it made a burn mark on his desk) so I can throughly believe it overheated at some point. Will it return to normal if it has overheated before?

[Taco-bob28]

oh well, thanks for all the help but I think it is done for. I might keep it just for the two tone effect though.