After over a month, one of my ceiling fan lights suddenly begins working again? what is going on?

Question

My wife and I have a four light fixture ceiling fan in our bedroom. For well over a month now, we have been lighting our bedroom with one light bulb because, seemingly, all the other light bulbs had blown. My wife reached up to pull the light switch tonight and one of the other lights suddenly started working again.

I'm worried about things like electrical shortages. What could have caused the light bulb to come back on? the other two lights in question never came back on. I examined the wiring in those light bulbs and they appear to be legitimately blown (the wire connector things inside were dangling/disconnected).

Any insight would be appreciated.

By the way, this ceiling fan isn't operated by a remote. You can shut the entire thing off at the wall switch. If the wall-switch is turned upward, you can operate it via pull switches.

Answer 1

Take out the bulbs and look into the sockets. Sometimes a bulb that is the tiniest bit loose will burn the contacts in the base of the sockets.  If they are burned, it's either time for new sockets (some are a pain to find) or a new light kit. The whole light kit should come off with just three little screws and the wiring in most light kits just snaps together. Just be sure you have the power off without a doubt, and get a kit that fits your particular fan.  

Answer 2

Sometimes the filament wires inside a blown bulb will come into contact again and work for a while.  I have a bulb in a 6-bulb fixture that works for a few minutes then stops then comes back on again.  I'm thinking it is thermal related.  I keep meaning to replace it, but then forget.  

In a ceiling fan you should use bulbs rated for ceiling fans.  They have heavier duty filaments to deal with the shaking of the fan.  

If you have replaced the blown out bulbs with new bulbs and they still don't work then I would suspect some wiring defect inside the light fixture.  If they work then it was just some bad bulbs.  Since one bulb is working o.k. then I doubt it's a wiring problem in the ceiling fan or in the house wiring.