2010 Outback Low Beam Lamp Replacement

[vp146b4]

I bought the replacement lamp before I looked to see what the job entailed. The manual says to remove the wheelwell liner. What are the exact steps required? It's the driver side low beam. Do I turn the wheel in as far as it goes first? Do I have to remove the wheel to make room? Do I have to remove the entire liner, or just enough to get my hand in and see the back of the housing? Do you need to get both hands up inside the wheelwell? How do you loosen the clips? Are they a half turn left, or what? Once I've got the back plate of the fixture off, does the old lamp twist off or just pull it back firmly? I know to wear gloves and not to touch the lamp with my bare hands. What else do I need to know? It's all about the details until you've done it once, or you know exactly how to do it the first time. Thanks ahead of time.

[AWD Flyer]

Your manual has the step by step. I haven't done it on this car yet, done it on similar setups and it's pretty easy.

[Bassman]

Unfortunately, it is a bit of a job to replace a low beam head lamp bulb. It is best to remove the fender liner completely - - this gives you as full access to the lamp as is possible without completely removing the complete head lamp assembly (a REAL pain). You don't have to remove the wheel, but you may want to turn them fully to the right to ease in removal of the clips located toward the front of the liner. Some of the clips use a phillips screwdriver to loosen them a quarter to half a turn - - then you just pull them out. Other clips can be pried out gently with a flat bladed screwdriver alternately placed under each edge of the clip. Be sure to keep track of which clips came out of each hole - - some are different sizes. It is a really tight fit and indeed a one-handed job, particularly on the driver's side to get at the low beam lamp. There is a cover which fits over the bulb housing to keep out dirt and moisture; that has to be removed first to gain access to the bulb. Replace the bulb, then the cover, and then replace the fender liner and install the retaining clips.

Hope this helps.

[taiguy]

i tried doing it the "official" way by going through the wheel well after removing the liner. no go for me. i could barely get one arm in there much less my head to see what was going on. there's a clip you have to disconnect (and then later reconnect) and I'd say it'd be impossible for me one handed. to anyone who can manage this, props to you.

by far the easiest solution is to just completely remove the plastic bumper. it's at most a 15-20 min job. half the push pins you have to remove, you'd have to remove to get at the wheel well liner anyways. with the bumper off you can remove the entire headlight house very easily and then change the bulbs in the open with both hands.

it was a necessity going with an aftermarket HID system as I had to mount the ballasts as well however, the lack of frustration and cleanliness of the install makes this the preferred route.

[Ali_pine]

'Time wise' you should still be under warrenty....

'Mileage wise' Who knows.

Headlights should be easy to replace. Why are they making it so difficult???

Had a GM product before the OB where I could not get access to replace headlights. Needed the 'special tool' available at the dealer.

[Peaty]

Here is a how to to get to the fog lamps, it's from my Legacy but it should be similar. The low beams are up higher than the fogs of course. I had a heck of a time when I upgraded my low beams. Getting the twist on cover was a bugger for some reason on the drivers side. It was just a difficult angle for me to get it lined up.

http://www.scoobymods.com/showthread...010-13788.html

[travis8798]

I attempted this very job last night....it did not end well. I followed the owners manual and removed enough of the wheel well liner to access the lens assembly. This is NOT the way to go about things because you can either reach in or see in, but you won't be able to do both. I strongly recommend taking the time to achieve better access.

Subaru's overly simplified explanation for removing the retaining "spring" resulted in me breaking the PLASTIC latch that holds it in place. Now it looks like I have to drop $225 for a replacement lens/housing all because of a $0.99 plastic part.

[vp146b4]

Originally Posted by travis8798

I attempted this very job last night....it did not end well. I followed the owners manual and removed enough of the wheel well liner to access the lens assembly. This is NOT the way to go about things because you can either reach in or see in, but you won't be able to do both. I strongly recommend taking the time to achieve better access.

Subaru's overly simplified explanation for removing the retaining "spring" resulted in me breaking the PLASTIC latch that holds it in place. Now it looks like I have to drop $225 for a replacement lens/housing all because of a $0.99 plastic part.

Travis8798,

Which retaining spring are you referring to? How do you recommend to remove the spring now that you know what not to do?
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Peaty]

If it's the spring I'm thinking, you don't remove it you just unhook it and swing it out of the way. I've attached pics to show what I mean. Granted this is for an 02 OB but the idea is the same. From my how to here:

http://www.scoobymods.com/showthread...my00-1246.html

[NSTiG8]

I just did this. I installed 4500k hid for low beams and 3000k (yellow) fogs. Turned out perfect but took me about 5 hours, Ive installed 4-5 hid kits before. These are the most difficult ones I've done.

My opinion, the wheel liner route is absolutely ridiculous, unless you have adult length arms with 5 year old sized hands. I have long, thin fingers and skinny long arms, it was miserable. I tried this for an hour and ended up removing the whole air intake to get to the passenger low beam. The drivers side, I ended up removing the whole headlight assembly and found that MUCH easier and less frustrating then the suggested method by Subaru.

I'm pretty anal about mounting my ballasts and igniters also, so removing the entire assembly made me happier in the long run.

The front bumper removed pretty much the same as my 05 STi, so it was easier for me.

Good luck!