Headlight lamp replacement

[rjbelt]

I bought a new bulb for the drivers side headlight but dont see any means of access from the top. Has anyone replaced one of these bulbs witghout putting it on a lift?

[6502dude]

There should be an plastic access panel above each head light assembly.

Simply lift it up panel on affected side and head lamp assembly is directly below.

[fredjacksonsan]

What year is it? On my '86 you took out the metal rings from the front.

[Aegis2]

On my '92 I had to remove this plastic coverplate that covered access to the lights. After removing this, I had easy access to the lights, however the way they're secured is anything but convenient. Mine had 3 bolts with plastic nuts on them, though the plastic nuts were round and had vertical grooves (the grooves ran parallel to the bolt & perpendicular to the threads) Metal clips were somehow attached to the car & the bolts (I'm a lil' rusty, this was a long time ago). The clips were situated between the car mount and the plastic nut, and had small teeth that stuck into the plastic nuts' grooves to prevent them from spinning, thus changing your headlights' orientation.

As far as I can remember, in order to change the headlights, you need to remove these metal clips, and this, I remember, was a monumental pain in the butt for me, as I ended up breaking 3 of them. I stopped in a local mechanic's shop and some nice guy just gave me 3 replacements for free. I thanked him profusely and continued. Once you've replaced them, you can reinstall the metal clips...much easier than removing them, and adjust your headlights.

The really stupid thing I was trying to do was turn the plastic nut on the bolt attached to the headlight...really dumb since I realized that the bolts have a hex head and can be turned with a small pair of pliers...So, slap the lights in, put in the metal clips, and just turn the bolts to adjust the lights properly.

[6502dude]

Originally Posted by Aegis2

On my '92 I had to remove this plastic coverplate that covered access to the lights. After removing this, I had easy access to the lights, however the way they're secured is anything but convenient. Mine had 3 bolts with plastic nuts on them, .

The three bolts are for headlight alignment. Remove only the clips to remove assembly.

However, if assembly is not smashed up (and is otherwise good shape), only the bulb needs to be replaced. Remove clip on wiring harness from bulb, turn bulb about 1/3 of turn and remove from headlight assembly.

Install in reverse order. This is about a 5 minute job (including time to remove plastic access panel.

After market price for headlight assembly is about $100 - bulb cost about $10. Cheaper and less hassle just to change burned out bulbs.

It was either 91 or 92 model year that metal retaining ring was phased out. I prefer the older style.