how do i change head lamps?

[piper2]

I have a 2001 beatle, and nee to replace the low beam lamp. How do you get to it?

[boschmann]

Under the hood on the inner fender you will see a clip and plastic slide that releases the headlight unit. It will pop out a little then has to be pulled out the rest of the way & can get sticky. Once out you should be able to figure it out. Don't touch the glass of the new bulb.

[veedubmechanic]

If you do a search for this there is a detailed desctiption i believe.

[Dana1992]

Changing Headlights

In a

1998 Volkswagen Beetle





By

Dana
Hi, I am Dana and I am 13 years old. My sister needed help changing a headlight lamp in her 1998 VW Beetle and since there isn’t much out on the web, I figured why not some instruction…! There are also instructions in the owner's manual on how to do this.



Here are 10 easy steps!

1. Ok, pop the hood.
2. Now look down into the front corner of the engine compartment to where the headlight is. You will see a black assembly tucked up in the fender. Yes you can access the inner fender from the engine compartment. The whole headlight assembly is close to 8" long. Since the driver side light is more interesting we will do that one. Remove the battery first so you can see what the heck you are doing. You can do this by removing the terminal cables (I used a bungee cord to hold back the electronics package on top of the battery, which worked fine). Unscrew the bolt on the bottom, most of the way (not all the way). Tilt the left hand side of the battery up and remove. This is what it should look like when you are done.

Bungee cord.


Look ma, no battery!


3. There is a black metal strap and clasp around the assembly with a metal clip on it. The clip flips back and opens up. There is also a black plastic lever sticking out of the assembly.

Next the clasp and metal strap you will notice the lever that expels the light assembly. Mine was curved indicating that you pull up on it. As you do so the lever slides you will see the headlight start to come out of the fender.

4. Once the lever is up as far as it can go you can pull the headlight assembly out of the front of the fender carefully. This was a bit messy since the caulking on our 98 was starting to go and the dealership had put some goo around it to stop leaks I think. The light assembly in our case did take some coaxing to get it to slide out and we had to play with it for awhile, but it did finally come out.


5. On the back you unplug the wires.


6. There is a plastic cap that comes off and you can access the headlight bulbs


7. After the housing is off, you will notice the lamp connector. There is a spring or hasp that keeps the lamp in the housing.


8. We had to change the low beam lamp, so once the clip was removed the lamp can be pulled out of the assembly..


9. Once the lamp is pulled out you are almost done. The lamp is connected to the wires with a blade type connector. Just wiggle it from side to side to remove it. Take the new bulb (DO NOT TOUCH THE GLASS ON THE NEW LAMP, if you do it will be ruined and you will be replacing it shortly). Once you placed the new lamp in, you can follow the instructions in the reverse order to put things back together.

10. When you are totally done, before you hook the battery back up and totally button things up, try the new light out quickly to make sure its working. All done.

I have a word doc with pictures that tells all, if anyone is interested. I will try to put them in the photo gallery

[acneman160]

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=403884

detailed and pictures good luck

[OGardener]

Originally Posted by acneman160

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=403884

detailed and pictures good luck

It's a link to some turbo device???? not headlights

[jdv45]

Originally Posted by piper2

I have a 2001 beatle, and nee to replace the low beam lamp. How do you get to it?

http://www.faqs.org/qa/fqa261.html
useful website on for VW owner, hope that would help.

[Dlacey82]

Does anyone know a trick once the lever breaks when its half way up? I have already done the drivers side so I dont need further instructions, just a way to realease the assembly once the lever breaks.

Thanx in advance

Derek

[hako]

Dunno about the broken lever but the ducks nuts way to pull the headlamp out of the mudguard is to use a toilet plunger - one of those big suction caps. Cannot damage the glass (or polycarbonate).

[hako]

Originally Posted by jdv45

http://www.faqs.org/qa/fqa261.html
useful website on for VW owner, hope that would help.

That link is also dead - closed down.

[hako]

What a great post from Dana1992 - there's no better desire you can have than to help your fellow man. Good Luck.