DIY: 2000-2004 Headlight Bulb Replacement

[Brucey]

I don't have the intake tract, come to think of it. I could see that getting in the way.

[wilsonhp]

Originally Posted by H61

How is it “way easier” to remove the entire lens than to give the rear lens assembly a ¼ twist, remove and replace bulb? Took me less than 3 min. I never removed the entire lens but I can not imagine it takes less time than that. Either way, glad it worked out for you.

It takes a minimal amount of time to remove the assembly, and the visibility and access and resulting understanding can be priceless.

[srpuywa]

holy crap - lot of comments on this subject! The write up was very good, I have large hands, wear bifocals and there are only 3 fasteners holding the headlight assembly in place.

i didn't break anything - lose any clips or wires, etc....

sheeesh.....

[Mootsfox]

Well I just replaced my low beam. My passenger side low beam went out, and I decided to do both at the same time since the other is probably on its way out.

Picked up these:

Amazon.com: HELLA H83115001 H1 12V/55W Halogen Bulb: Automotive

Amazon.com: HELLA H83115001 H1 12V/55W Halogen Bulb: Automotive

Same brightness as OEM, and super cheap.

I did my passenger side by taking the whole assembly out and the driver side by just opening the white part.

Passenger side took me about 10-15 minutes, never done it before so the white plastic clip under the housing threw me off.

Driver side took about 2 minutes, even with the battery right up against it and it being 30ish degrees out meaning my hands were frozen by this time, there is plenty of room to install a fresh bulb properly. Either way it's pretty **** easy. Thanks for the write up!

On a similar subject, anyone know what bulbs the fogs use?

[AWDFTW]

2000-04 fogs are 9006.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally Posted by triangleman

The manual makes it look like you can just unscrew the little white caps on the backs of the headlights and swap them out. I'm not sure what they were thinking, because it's darn near impossible to joggle the stupid things free.

That's exactly what I did and they're as easy as in ANY car...which is to say you might skin your knuckles a bit, but there's definitely enough room there for anyone's hands. You were probably reefing on it at some odd angle rather than applying a twisting force only. Actually I found it was easy to simply push the top of the cap to one side.

The only extra step I took was removing the intake tubing to access the passenger side, which involved loosening 2 10mm bolts.

[flipjarg]

Originally Posted by 1 Lucky Texan

what holds that white cap in place? friction?

Yeah, that thing is in there tight... to my surprise, all I had to do was just twist it off.

Originally Posted by Brucey

I've replaced both low beams in my car now. Neither required removal of the headlight assembly.

I replaced my high and low beams recently and did NOT have to remove the headlight assembly either. Just twisted the white cap off as well. No problem. But now if we ever have a smashed headlight assembly, we know how to remove that too!

[pso728]

I found that pulling the whole assembly out is a PAIN.....its wedged in there pretty good. Anyway I replaced my low beam and now the light is barely on.....very dim at best and the high beam isn't working at all. I didn't check the high beam prior to replacing the low beam so I don't know if it worked when the low beam went out or not....I know it worked prior to that. Anyway.....anyone have suggestions?

[pso728]

Originally Posted by pso728

I found that pulling the whole assembly out is a PAIN.....its wedged in there pretty good. Anyway I replaced my low beam and now the light is barely on.....very dim at best and the high beam isn't working at all. I didn't check the high beam prior to replacing the low beam so I don't know if it worked when the low beam went out or not....I know it worked prior to that. Anyway.....anyone have suggestions?

Update:
I checked the new low beam and messed with it to make sure there was no short anywhere...this resulted in all of a sudden both low beams now seem dim. I replaced the high beam as well and that still wont work and both low beams still are dim. Its got to be a ground somewhere or something..its driving me nuts!!!

[Old Blue]

Hey, thanks for posting this thread especially the pics! I just had to replace a burned out headlamp on my '03 and the info posted here made the job a 10 minute job. Thanks.