Just changed one in the wife’s car, Suzuki Vitara……remove air filter, remove plug, remove rubber housing, remove spring clip, remove bulb holder, remove bulb, swear repeatedly because the one you got from Halfords is the wrong bulb, repeat all in reverse, go to Halfords, get correct bulb, repeat process until you can’t get spring clip back on, swear repeatedly, get thrown out of neighborhood watch for swearing loudly in the street, repeat till dead.

Still better than what the manual for my old heap of a VW says……take car to local VW dealer (yeah right)

Pug 306 = 30secs (lean in, unscrew white plastic case thingy, unscrew bulb, put in new bulb, screw white plastic thing back into headlight unit, close bonnet)
.
Mondeo = well over an hour (requires removal of whole headlight unit which requires removal of grille which requires removal of the annoyong plastic thingy which forms a seal at the end of the bonnet etc etc)

same here on my mazda, next time they go i will gladly pay halfords £6 to change my bulb!

Sounds better than some cars,

Megane is just one of the difficult cars I can think of, off the top of my head.

The Vitara has extra bits and pieces to help combat the adverse condition the cars are supposed to be able to endure.

Did one on a new shape discovery this weekend. Grill off, headlight out, change bulb, rebuild. Relatively easy as all the bits are tool free removal.

My Golf is a bumber off job to change the bulbs – insane design.

Focus, 1 screw and some tabs to get headlight unit out, then unclip the rear of headlight, unclip bulb retainer.
Put bulb in and reverse of the above. 5 min tops I guess.

Bloody stupid isnt it. I had a 206 gti and it was a mare!

Smart car, remove all the front panels….

Mondeo = Turn 2 fasteners through 90 degrees, tilt and lift out plastic grille. Extract 2 retainer strips, lift out headlight unit, pull connector from bulb, unclip bulb and replace it. Reverse procedure. 5 minutes tops to replace both bulbs. No tools required.

Mondeo = well over an hour

You’re doing it wrong.

Honda Jazz (mk1) – half a day first attempt (in from underneath through wheelarch liner, no visibility).

Haha, you want to try doing it for a living (mechanic).
Customer.. Can you just pop a bulb in my headlight for me?
Me.. Can you leave it with me for half an hour
Customer..But it’ll only take 5 minutes
Me.. Ok, take a seat 😆

And don’t get me started on pollen filters

Dont get me started on Citreons. We got stopped by the police in Swiss land. Dead bulb in a hire car. V nice police man agreed if we called back in to station after reapair – no charge to hire car company etc. 6 hours sitting in a main dealers. What a joke. £280 for a bulb. And would the hire comapany agree to pay for it? Eventually. Appanently we should have paid the £300 excess to cover poor design.

Should be a type approval failure if you can’t change any bulb (those which it would be illegal to drive at night if broken) within 5 minutes IMHO. Not a problem on my current 406 – must remember to check when I replace it sometime soon.

Spent 2 hours + alot of cursing yesterday trying to get the new bulb in my Celica to sit right. I gave up thinking it had worked, but driving it this evening realised it definitely had not! Right side beam is all over the shop.

I loved how replacing a bulb on a Puma came under roadside repair. Yeah, riiiiiiiiight. First find a humungous Torx wrench to undo the bolts holding the grill and headlight units in place, take out the grill, disconnect the drain pipe, fiddle around with the whole headlight unit until it reluctantly comes away from the car…
Jeez, I think I spent over thirty minutes just changing a sidelight once. I believe on Watchdog once they had a Megane on after complaints, and it took a breakdown bod 45 minutes to change one bulb. 35 seconds on a Golf of the same ENCAP5 rating, which Renault blamed for the complexity.

You think it’s a ‘bit of a laugh’???

Enter the World of the Elf.

I won’t even charge you.

You have to wonder why in many countries you have to carry spare lamps when even under ideal conditions & a full toolkit some would take a few hours to change?

306 estate here and a 1 minute job and that’s taking a wee break half way through.

MrOvershoot – Member
You have to wonder why in many countries you have to carry spare lamps when even under ideal conditions & a full toolkit some would take a few hours to change?

Yep, the manual for my car warns that in some countries you must carry a spare bulb kit in case you have a bulb failure, but in the next sentence recommends you take your car to a dealer to have bulbs replaced.

Mine aren’t too bad now I have the nack, but I have quite small hands, so they just about squeeze into the small available space. Inevitably, my hands get mullered though.
I think it’s just ‘cos it’s a chunky engine in a small car. I saw the 1.2 petrol version being worked on at my local garage last time I dropped mine off and there was tons of room around the engine, whereas mine is really shoe horned in.

And don’t get me started on pollen filters

Why bother with a pollen filter.? Do car manufacturers not know that there are these on the market.?

Pug 206, it’s a doddle.

“Mondeo = well over an hour (requires removal of whole headlight unit which requires removal of grille which requires removal of the annoyong plastic thingy which forms a seal at the end of the bonnet etc etc)”

Whick mark? My Mk 3 took about 15 mins…ok it did mean taking the front grille off, but it wasnt that bad.

It took me half a day but that included consulting the internet, giving up for a bit and having a cup of tea etc. Removing the battery in the end meant I could manage it. Not sure what I’ll have to remove when the other side needs doing

Rover 75 = turn steering wheel full lock L or R (depending which side you’re changing , take hatch out from front of wheel arch , pull rubber cover off , unclip bulb and remove. The reverse to re-fit.

It’s a bit fiddly with big hands but I’ve got it down to about 9-10 minutes.Theres a bit less space on the drivers side due to washer bottle placement.

Mondeo = Turn 2 fasteners through 90 degrees, tilt and lift out plastic grille. Extract 2 retainer strips, lift out headlight unit, pull connector from bulb, unclip bulb and replace it. Reverse procedure. 5 minutes tops to replace both bulbs. No tools required.

Mondeo = well over an hour

You’re doing it wrong.

Old-style 1998 Mondeo. Is yours a newer one with a better design? Funkydunc’s is.

Megane – the best technique is to jack one side of car up – put full lock on wheel.

You then need to go up through wheel arch – the clever people also put some safety chocks under the cills. Basically you put your arm up and bearing in mind you cant see anything you need to just feel about. Your up past your elbows doing it.

I had one for about 3 yrs – i got it down to about 40 mins to do each side.

Hehe try getting in to change a bulb on one like mine! First you have to ensure you don’t have people with wandering hands popping the headlight up and down as you’ll easily lose fingers in the process!

306 was easy. become expert at it, cos the electrics are so shocking (not that way 😉 ) that you have to replace the bulb far too regularly. In my case after getting pulled by the cops just days after getting one replaced by the main stealers to pass MOT!

Seat Leon – for headlights, remove 1 bit of plastic. for indicators remove 2 bits of plastic (or might be 3), and have very skinny hands.
or in my case… try to blag screwdriver from Shell station in Innsbruck on a Sunday morning, they refuse but tell me one of their staff will change the bulb 🙂 and will only sell me the new one after he sees the exact type of bulb he’s taken out 🙂

I’ve just about mastered it in my mk II Megane but it does involve making some very odd shapes with my hands. 20 mins I can do it in I think, right pain it is though.

Coffeeking.. tidy ST185 pal. Had one myself years ago. White on black wheels, spent a fortune at Fensport on it before giving up and buying a 205GTi 😀

Subaru Legacy,nightmare first time,but as H7 bulbs it takes seem to last 12 months tops,you get the hang of it pretty quick.Offside,pop up 2x air intake clips,wiggle that off and you are in!.Nearside pop up clip holding washer reservoir wiggle that out of the way and you’re in.After a coupla times can now do swops in dark!.The missing knuckle skin soon grows back!!.

same here on my mazda, next time they go i will gladly pay halfords £6 to change my bulb!

Which Mazda?

Mazda 6 you go in through the front wheel arch lining and it’s a doddle. Don’t each need to take the front wheel off.

Ok, so the c-max isn’t difficult, but needs a torx bit and extension. I don’t think this is reasonable given a) Ford don’t provide one with the car and b) changing a bulb is something you may need to do at the roadside.

Girlfriend’s Octavia vRS; open bonnet, unplug stuff, unscrew stuff, remove headlamp, work out which bulb is which (bloody H7 faff), change bulb, replace headlamp, reconnect loom, screw stuff back on, close bonnet. Probably 10 minutes at the outside.
My Partner spaz chariot; open bonnet, unplug connector, undo spring clip, change bulb, spring clip back on, connector back on, close bonnet. Ah oldish stuff…just as easy to do as on my old Mog traveller.

neilsonwheels – Member

306 estate here and a 1 minute job and that’s taking a wee break half way through.

Either your wee must come out at a heck of a rate, or you might want to get your prostate checked..