Technical Sidelight/Main beam lamp unit removal

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Technical Sidelight/Main beam lamp unit removal

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Sep 1, 2011
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Hi, I need to remove the complete nearside sidelight/main beam lamp unit which is broken (and not just the bulb behind the cover plate in the wheel arch). After having a look in the wheel arch area, I'm thinking that the best way to do this is to remove the small cover plate that gives access to the bulb and also the whole plastic panel that it clips onto. I should imagine that once this is removed, there should then be good access to remove the whole unit.
Has anyone done this job and is able to advise if this is correct or not? Any advice would be gratefully received. If no one has done this yet, then I will go ahead as described above and let you know how I got on. Thanks
 
Haven't any information to the contrary as to your method of removal but if I was in your situation I would consider removing the front bumper and save all that fiddling about.

Whichever way you go it sounds as though this would make a good "Guide" if you are prepared to take some photos of the procedure and write a step by step commentary.

Good luck. (y)
 
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Whichever way you go it sounds as though this would make a good "Guide" if you are prepared to take some photos of the procedure and write a step by step commentary.

That!

PErsonally I'd take the inspection panel off and have a nosey around.

Looking at the part the fixings don't look like you'll be able to reach them through just the inspection panel but you may be able to see whether it's the bumper or the inner arch that has to come off.

http://seekpart24.com/hs/headlight-50724122?c=100433&at=19093

Good luck! :)
 
Yep, if I tackle it then I will do a guide. I wont be doing anything until the weekend though. In the meantime I could get a quote from a garage for the whole job. The lamp unit supplied only is approx. £74 inc VAT
Out of interest, is removing the bumper an easy job then?
 
Thanks 306maxi, that looks like quite a useful link.

Not a problem :) It seems a really good site with a good variety of parts.

I'm going to order myself a few hundred quids worth of parts from there in the future.
 
Unless I have misread the description isn't this the "upper" light unit. :confused:
Not as far as I understand it. It's the main beam, not the dipped beam, plus the upper light unit doesn't have the sidelight in it :) Personally I hate the term main beam as it can be taken two ways.

For me it's high beam and dipped beam. As I understand it the OP wants to replace the DRL/sidelight/high beam unit.
 
Not as far as I understand it. It's the main beam, not the dipped beam, plus the upper light unit doesn't have the sidelight in it :) Personally I hate the term main beam as it can be taken two ways.

For me it's high beam and dipped beam. As I understand it the OP wants to replace the DRL/sidelight/high beam unit.

Then why does it state that it has an indicator?
ps. I'm referring to RUIs link.
 
Not as far as I understand it. It's the main beam, not the dipped beam, plus the upper light unit doesn't have the sidelight in it :) Personally I hate the term main beam as it can be taken two ways.

For me it's high beam and dipped beam. As I understand it the OP wants to replace the DRL/sidelight/high beam unit.
306maxi is correct here in what I want to replace. The Ebay listing is a bad description.
 
Update:
I made a decision yesterday afternoon to leave it to my local independent garage to do the work, so I dropped it off at the end of the day and they kindly loaned me a courtesy car. They have already phoned to say that the job is done, so I shall pick it up this evening.
Basically, the lamp unit is held on with 3 lugs and two of them had broken to leave it hanging on by one lug which was totally illegal and dangerous. This wasn't a problem though because I was getting a lift into work so the car remained on the drive. My lift became unavailable for today and tomorrow but I still needed a car, so it just made sense to leave it for the garage to do and use the courtesy car. Yes I would have liked to have saved a few quid by doing the job myself but at least I've got my weekend free with no need to spend an unknown amount of time working on the car. That gives me more time to have fun with the kids!

For the benefit of everyone here, while I was on the phone I did ask how he went about removing the unit. He simply removed the plastic inner wheel arch (and for clarification, this is the large panel that the small inspection cover clips onto). He was then able to remove the three screws that hold the unit in place, which meant that there was no need to remove the bumper. He did have the advantage of having the car in the air so he could work from underneath though. This is not quite the detailed guide that Tony suggested I do, but hopefully will be of some use for anyone in future wanting to tackle this job.(y)
 
Basically, the lamp unit is held on with 3 lugs and two of them had broken to leave it hanging on by one lug which was totally illegal and dangerous.

Interesting reading this. When I trawled through the well known auction site, I noticed that there were several 500 headlamp units which had been removed from vehicles, for sale, some of which, the lugs had also snapped off and had been repaired. I wonder if this is a common problem or whether the people removing the headlamp units had accidentally snapped them off taking them out.

Glad you got it sorted anyway.
 
I wonder if this is a common problem or whether the people removing the headlamp units had accidentally snapped them off taking them out.

Glad you got it sorted anyway.
Well I can tell you that the lugs on mine broke due to a minor incident which I wont elaborate on.
I was able to see in from the front (as the lamp unit could easily be pushed back while only supported by one lug), and I can confirm that in my opinion it is a rather thin lug. I've asked the garage to give me back my lamp unit with the two broken lugs, at which point I can have a proper look. I'm not worried at all though because I've not yet heard of any lugs breaking due to normal driving, even on our very rough pot holed UK roads which can give our cars (and drivers) a good shaking sometimes.
 
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