Bulb replacement

[baby141]

One of my lights is out on my 2002 venture. It is a front left light. There is only one bulb in there and the plastic shield cover is white. How can I get to it to replace it myself?

thanks

['97ventureowner]

Is it your headlight or side marker light? Both can pretty much be accessed by unscrewing the 3 bolts that hold the headlight capsule in place. Gently pull the capsule away from the van and you can get to the headlamp bulb. The side marker light is in the other part of the headlight capsule attached to it. That bulb should just come out by gently twisting on the bulb housing to remove and get to the bulb. Getting the whole assembly back into place and properly aligned can be tricky, but can be done , sometimes after many attempts. You can check to see if everything is properly aligned by looking at where the headlamp capsule attaches to the chassis. When you remove the bolts and assembly. you will notice a mark left on the chassis where the connection points are, from grease and dirt and whatnot. It leaves a "clean area" where it re-attaches. To make sure it is properly aligned for the bolts to go back on, make sure you locate the points where the bolts go through in the same place as before, and cover the clean areas again. This is how I have done it in the past and it works quite well for me. There may be other ways of doing it so I'm sure they too will get posted on this thread. It may sound difficult, but it's fairly easy. (Unless you are trying to do it in the middle of winter outside, or in the dark .)

[GregA]

Originally Posted by baby141

One of my lights is out on my 2002 venture. It is a front left light. There is only one bulb in there and the plastic shield cover is white. How can I get to it to replace it myself?

thanks

'97 did a good explanation.

Here are some pictures that might help show it as well.

Headlight & Turn Signal Assembly

Take Care,

['97ventureowner]

I'd like to add to GregA's posted link where it says careful not to touch the bulb and get oil(s) from your fingers on it. You can safely clean any rsidus on the bulb by a lint free cloth dipped in rubbing alcohol. gently clean the bulb and you should be all right. I've had my assemblies off more times that I can remember and I wanted to add that be careful lining everything up before you tighten down the bolts. It's possible to tighten down the bolts somewhat but the assembly may not be perfectly aligned in the slots, or the two pieces(side marker housing and headlamp capsule )may not be together just right.You can be pretty much sure you did it right when it is easy to tighten the bolts without resistance. If you can't get the bolts to tighten all the way or you feel some resistance while tightening the bolts, stop and recheck the alignment of everything. This comes into play especially as the vehicle gets older, and you may have taken the assembly off a few times, and the parts may have some wear and/or slop in them.

[serial]

Speaking of headlights... I've got an '03 Venture and out of the 10 or so rigs I've owned... it has to have the worst headlights. It's charging fine... there are no issues with the van (right now anyways)... just brutal lighting.

Every other light seems to work just fine with the proper brightness. What could be the problem? Usually either the bulb is good or it's not... so I can't see it being the bulbs. They also appear to be aimed properly. They've been like this since I bought it used 6 months ago.

Any ideas?

['97ventureowner]

There have been complaints before and even on this forum about the headlights in these vans not being bright enough.I'm not sure if it's the reflective background behind the bulb or poor bulbs themselves. I do know that the lenses become cloudy over time from dirt and debris, and also from UV rays from the sun. One of my vans' lenses are now a yellowish tint because of UV ray degradation. When I had the lens covers off to repair the capsule, I gently and I mean GENTLY clean the inside of the lens and try to clean the reflective material behind the bulb. Try cleaning a corner first to see if the reflective material is damaged and may start to come off. If it does stop. Maybe you could try a brighter bulb in there and see if that improves anything.

[LMP]

Well bright enough is not the point. Since the introduction of contoured headlights, pleasure in night driving is thing of the past: at same time, you do not see the roas, and the driverrs are totally blinded by the incoming cars with such lights.
Problem is those contoured heeadlights have very poor directional ability..they spread the available lumens in all directions...leaving just a little for the road. "all directions" include the incoming driver: the light you see does not go to the road surface. Consumer groups and even regulatory agencies have long objected to these light styles, banning several imported cars in the process or forcing them to adopt then sealed beams as they were used in america. I had all kind of cars with halogen sealed beams installed on high beams and driving at night was a pleasure. ANd when you blew one, the $12 replacement came with new filament, new lens and new reflector, in one sealed package that was immune to water.
NOw the only option is to install more and more powerful filaments in $250 light clusters totally eroded by sand and yellowed by the sun, with twice to three times the "then" watts so some of them eventually land on the road...and it does not come close to lighting quality we had then. I have added long range spots top alleviate the problem, and in fact I avoid driving at night...
....OK, I'm whining....

[534BC]

I , too complain about my venture lights not being bright enough. They are bad.

[rick_rack]

Many thanks, I was able to avoid the jiffy lube! Great instructions. The hardest part was putting the assembly back, there are two post on the bottom of the front headlight assembly, and they have to go in with the side light roughly in place. After getting the front post in, work on the side locating post that are horizontal to the ground.

Very simple overall, and tool-less.

['97ventureowner]

This thread is almost a year old. Please avoid posting in those threads that have been inactive over 90 days. You may start a new one if you have new information, or something to add. Closed.