General Fitting Bulbs

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General Fitting Bulbs

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Dec 3, 2003
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The land that time forgot
Last year I noticed that one of my side-light bulbs was dead. I didn't worry too much about it, since the Stilo has two per headlight and in fact the beast passed its MOT with the one bulb out of action.

Fast forward 12 months and the MOT is looming again and all but one of the bulbs are the same crew that was in there 4 years ago when I bought the car.

Now, I just know that one of them is going to die, probably a couple of days before the MOT.. Ahhhh Ahhhh ... so, to avoid being plunged into darkness (and because I know that changing the bulbs is a royal pain in the 'arris) I have decided to change ALL the side light and both the dipped beam bulbs, so that they're all new and will last me easily through the winter months and hopefully even until 2023.

But last time I changed a bulb (dipped beam I think) it was an absolute bastard to get access to... so I'm after words of wisdom about what's the best approach. I think for sure that the offside is most accessible from inside the wheel arch but what aboot the nearside?

I can remove the wheel arch liners as part of this operation.. but the bumper/headlights is out of the question, since the bottom bumper bolts are terminally rusted to the support and only snap off rather than come undone, so it's a job for another day to remove the bumper, fix what breaks and re-assemble it again.

Can the bulbs job be done with the bumper in place/headlights attached? Do I have to buy a capuchin monkey or will my human sized hands fit in there? The next door neighbour's 8 year old lad with the small hands is now 14 and a bit moody, so I can't rely on him any more.. :D

Ralf S.
 
What a coincidence. I just changed my front indicator bulbs today! It's awkward but no need to take wheel arch liners out or bumper off (at least on my 1.4). You need to unhook the wire clip that holds the big plastic cover on and then work the cover off - it will probably fall onto the ground. On the drivers side I had to undo the top mount of the washer bottle to allow me to push a large cable out of the way. Changing the bulbs is no problem but you then have to replace the plastic covers and this is where you might get frustrated. It is difficult to get the cover lugs into their recesses. My hands are fairly small but that doesn't necessarily help to get the covers back on. Let me know if you have difficulties with the job.
 
I recently replaced the dipped bulb on the near side. Don't think that there is any easy way, but what i now do is remove the battery, loosen off the battery box and push it to the side, which gives enough room to reasonably access the lamp unit and take it from there. Like Jim Cooper says I've found that, unless you're lucky and get it at the first few attempts, getting the lamp unit cover at the back of the unit back on can be a bit frustrating - to make it easier, I snipped off one of the locating lugs on the cover a while ago, with no problems from that as far as i know......
Offside- yes, loosen off the water bottle, which considerably helps access. But having said all of that it's still a b*****d. (Mine is the 1.4 16v, may be different for other engines, dunno).
 
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On my 1.4 16v I managed to change the front indicator bulb (the least accessible bulb) on the passenger side without removing the battery or its box. Getting the big plastic cover off is fairly easy but replacing it is what takes time and patience.
 
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