Changing Headlight Bulb

Went to change the headlight bulb yesterday.
The owners manual doesn't explain it very good. I thought I might try to help someone else and make it a little easier to understand.
There is a band which must be unsnapped, then a small plastic lever which must be pushed toward the top of fender. This is a cammed type of lever. This will release the whole headlight bucket which comes out from the outside of car (Not from the inside of fender). It is still a "BEAR" to get out. The plastic is very tight and will take a little prying with fingers only. Then it's pretty straight forward as what you have to do next. *Don't forget not to get any finger prints on the new bulb*

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Hurri,
HurriCainHill.com
AllCarBooks.com

Snip from a previous post;
Fellow Bugling's, I just fixed my headlight low beam and would like to share this procedure with you. First off the dealer replaced my bulb once and I had it in two times since then for a bad connection which left the low beam out. Now over the 24,000 miles so I'll fix it myself and right.
1. There is a plastic, black lever above the headlight assembly. You need
to slide this up to unlock the assembly.
2. You may have a hard time sliding the lever, if so you will see this
little black button/tab. With a screw driver press it in. The lever will slide much easier now. THIS IS THE TRICK !
3. Pull the assembly out. If you did the above correctly, dont be afriad
to use a little elbow grease. Dont pull it out to far! There is a black
connector attached the assembly.
4. Remove the black connector. Pull on the back catch tab to release it.
5. You now have the assembly in your hands. Take the back, black, plastic
cover off. Again relieving the tabs.
6. You are now in the assembly. There are two bulbs. The one closest to
you (not deep in the assembly) is the low beam bulb. The metal retaining
clip that keeps the bulb in place. Push down on the clip and lift it up and over.
You can now carefully pull the bulb out. It will still be attached to a wire with a
black, L shaped piece. PULL THE BLACK PIECE TILL IT DISCONNECTS FROM THE BULB!!
7. Attach your new bulb. Make sure you do NOT touch the bulb. If you do,
clean the bulb with alcohol and dry it off. If you touch the bulb it won’t
last long.
8. Reassemble in reverse order. The headlight housing slides in after putting the
connector on. There is a channel for it to slide in so align it into the channel
before sliding in.
9. Twice now the dealer fixed my headlight. Both times the bulb was OK and only a connection problem.
So I sprayer all connectors with Tuner Cleaner to insure better electronic connection.
10. One less reason not to bring it to an incompetent dealer.


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It ain’t the horsepower it’s the Torque


[This message has been edited by BUG*PWR (edited November 30, 1999).]

Wow, Im surprised the owner's manual explains it at all!... Weren't headlights once reasonable easy for the novice user to change? Perhaps I am showing my age here..

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Ryan

1999.5 New Jetta GL TDI
Atlantic Blue/Gray
..Hoping Santa Claus will
bring it a Wett chip and some Bilstein shocks
for Christmas

Hi folks,

I'm on left headlight number three(@27,600 miles), and I'm starting to suspect that the last one was touched by the mechanic.

I'd like to just buy the bulb myself and put it in, but the description above may need a picture.

I've taken a look under the hood and it almost seems impossible that you could get to the bulb from there.

Does anyone have a picture they could scan to show me where the clip is to open the housing?

Thanks a lot!

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BeetleGo, "whoa!"
White 1998 NB 5-sp
Pretty much bone stock
Mud Flaps/Stone Guards/winter/fogs
------------------
"You said this was a DIESEL?!"

[This message has been edited by BeetleGo (edited December 11, 2000).]

Is it in the manual.

I'll check when I get home.
What a pain in the neck. It's dark when I get home and I'm proposing to do this on the street.

Brrrrr!

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BeetleGo, "whoa!"
White 1998 NB 5-sp
Pretty much bone stock
Mud Flaps/Stone Guards/winter/fogs
------------------
"You said this was a DIESEL?!"

BG, i'm under the impression that the headlamp assembly slides out of the car. In other words, once you're done fumbling with the plastic clips, the entire thing will pull out from the front of the car. It's not like standard assemblies that require replacing a dead bulb from inside the engine bay.

I'm not sure, but that's what I got from reading the previous posts.

Very good information, thanks all!

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Über-Beetle: UPsoluted 2000 Yellow New Beetle 1.9 TDI 5-speed
1987 Diamond Blue Mercedes-Benz 190D 2.5 Turbo (sold, but considering re-purchase)

Dealer charged me 33 bux to change headlight bulb- nuff said

Grrrrr
Headlight blown out again!!!!!!!!
Grrrrr!
Will do it myself this time

My manual says only one thing, and that is to take the car to a dealer anytime you need a bulb replaced. That sounds crazy to me. I am not going to take my car to the dealer to replace a stinking bulb, but the manual gives absolutely no description or help whatsoever! (2000 Golf)

My right turn signal bulb is malfunctioning and only works about 25% of the time. Either a connection or loose bulb, but I am reluctanct to take it to a dealer even though it should be under warranty. I'd rather try to fix it myself. But like BeetleGo I have just a street to work on and it is dark and very cold outside.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hurri:
Went to change the headlight bulb yesterday.
The owners manual doesn't explain it very good. I thought I might try to help someone else and make it a little easier to understand.
There is a band which must be unsnapped, then a small plastic lever which must be pushed toward the top of fender. This is a cammed type of lever. This will release the whole headlight bucket which comes out from the outside of car (Not from the inside of fender). It is still a "BEAR" to get out. The plastic is very tight and will take a little prying with fingers only. Then it's pretty straight forward as what you have to do next. *Don't forget not to get any finger prints on the new bulb*

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Funny, no problem only took 1 hour to change drivers light on 2000 golf TDI