How to replace a head light? help please

[German Villa]

My left low beam headlight is out and it seems impossible to get too it from the hood...how do i replace the bulb? Frustrating!!!! i take motorcycles apart and i can figure out how to replace a bulb...LOL. thank you!!!

[mfanatic325]

Turn your driver side wheel outwards (to the left), and access the back of the headlights from the wheel well (fender lining). There should be an access flap there that you can open to reach in and change out any bulb(s) you need.

[German Villa]

Awesome. Thank you!!!

[misterawa]

How funny, my passenger side headlight bulb went out today.

[mfanatic325]

haha and I plan on swapping out my bulbs for something with higher Kelvin temperature =P

[German Villa]

well i was able to get to the lining....then what LOL i just couldnt figure our how to get to the bulb....embarrasing but true. looks like i will be bringing it to the stealer to change the bulb...

[misterawa]

Avoid the stealer. The instructions are in your owner's manual.

[mfanatic325]

There should be two flathead screw locker things that you need to turn in order to flip open the square-like access panel in the fender lining. I remember that's what the owner's manual said. So all u need is a flathead. Everything else comprises of taking off the covers to the bulbs & twisting and pulling the bulb out, etc.

[German Villa]

Thank you guys. I first need to buy a manual, the car didnt come with one and have not been abel to find one for less than $100 on ebayl.
I was able to open the lining but behind it is not what i expected, there is a black cover with a metal brace which if pulled down, should be able to pull the cover.. however it didnt work.

[zKnuds3712]

If i remmeber correctly the metal brace gets pushed upwards(someone correct me if I am wrong) If you are doing the drivers side then the left side of the cover would get pulled away first as there is a tab on the right side holding it in. There is a rubber gasket around it so it can sometimes can be hard to pull off though(nothing to hard, so dont try and wedge a screwdriver in) Once that is off you will have access to almost everything inside the headlight.

[mfanatic325]

This is all for driver side application:

The manual says...
1. Pull the wire clamp past the catches (downwards).
2. Flip the headlamp cover open and remove.

The two main headlight bulbs will be accessible hereafter, with the low beams closest to you, and the high beams farthest from you.

1. Turn the bulb socket counter-clockwise and take out.
2. Remove and replace the bulb.
3. Re-insert bulb socket and reinstall headlamp cover in reverse order.

[German Villa]

Thanks a lot bro.

[mfanatic325]

Were you able to get the light bulb swapped? I'm going to be doing this tomorrow when my new bulbs come in

[mfanatic325]

Oh man, just tried the swap this morning on my driver side only. What a pain in the ass
Taking everything off and out wasn't a big deal, but putting everything back together sure was a bitch and a half

1) for anyone that's going to do the swap, be careful to make sure the bulb is sitting flush in the housing, then secure it with the two spring pins.
2) the square box that attaches to the back of the light bulb is spring-loaded inside, so it needs to be compressed enough as to allow to twist and lock into the bulb itself.
3) replug the wiring that goes into the square box
4) there's yet another spring pin that wraps around the square box.
5) Then the primary hard plastic cover needs to slide back into place. This requires a certain angle and some slight force. If it does not sit flush, then you won't be able to relock the wire clamp back onto the cover. This is probably the toughest part of this DIY aside from the square box that locks into the bulb.

G'luck! Lemme know if you have any questions. I consider myself somewhat an expert now in the lowbeam lightbulb swap business

[misterawa]

I agree, changing the bulbs was a pain in the ass. The hardest thing for me was to get the damn pin that holds the bulb to stay in place. I also had to remove my wheels to give myself enough space, since my car is lowered. This wasn't a fun project.

[esqu1re]

I'm going to be replacing my xenons in a few days; is this anything like replacing the xenons on an e46 as per the video below? Obviously, we access it behind the wheel well and not from up top, but I'm wondering whether our setup is similar to this. Thanks.

[fercho]

hey my 2 front headlights went out at the same time but i have no idea how to change it do you know how to change the bulb??
thanks

[mfanatic325]

Originally Posted by esqu1re

I'm going to be replacing my xenons in a few days; is this anything like replacing the xenons on an e46 as per the video below? Obviously, we access it behind the wheel well and not from up top, but I'm wondering whether our setup is similar to this. Thanks.

The video doesn't work, but yes, the innards are similar to E46, with wiring going to a metal square, which acts as the igniter I believe and which also holds the bulb tightly. There are several tricky parts to the Z4 swap which have already been documented in this thread above, especially in my posts.

Originally Posted by fercho

hey my 2 front headlights went out at the same time but i have no idea how to change it do you know how to change the bulb??
thanks

Read through the posts I made in this thread and try it out yourself. If you still have questions, feel free to PM me. I'd be glad to help you from there on