changing bulbs
 

just changed the high beam, indicator, sidelight & fog light bulbs on my 2010 impreza diesel hatchback. what a pain in the rear!

the rear indicators easy to do - 2 screws each side, but the fronts!!!

manual & youtube tells you to partially remove the inner wing lining to gain access to the rear of the lights, so armed with flat bladed screwdriver away I go. drivers side went ok a bit tight getting your hands in to remove the bulb holders. the passenger side was a pain, stripped out the lining only to find you cannot get to the bulb holders for the sidelight & indicator because of the washer fluid bottle and various wiring looms, though the fog light could be changed using this method. so put it all back together and removed the battery. still awkward to get to the bulb holders but finally got them changed. back on with the battery only to find the passenger side led sidelight was not on - doh! off with the battery again, reverse the led in the holder and put it all back together again. tested & all working.

the indicators were changed to silvatec, the headlight & fog lights to Philips blue vision ultra & the sidelights to led - looking good. cannot say the same for my hands!

In a future life, people who design cars like that will return as earthworms.......in an area with LOTS of blackbirds.

Looking at doing the same on my 2010 RC Diesel Hatch. Where did you get the bulbs from? And what sizes? Noticed you mentioned you haven't swapped the Main Lights? Looking in the manual it mentions these being HID ones, so I take it this is a main dealer sort out?

Why would you change HID ones? The reason people change the others is so they are LED or to get rid of the yellow light of the OE bulbs. The HID ones are fine as they are :) unless they have blown of course.

The reason the manual says dealer is because they use very high voltage and could potentially cause injury. Also they want to make money from people giving in and getting them to change a bulb and charge labor! No car should ever have bulbs that the average person cannot change using no tools at all. Should just be covers and clips. This new fangled having to practically strip the car down to get to bulbs is one of the most ridiculous things about new cars.

Thanks for your reply. Looking at replacing the front side light, main Beam and front fog bulbs. Just wondering what these size bulbs were?
As for the main dip HIDS. I know these should last a lot longer than the normal clip in light bulbs, as my car is over 4 years old now and with the need to use them more at this time of year, I get nervous about if one or even both decide to go. And whether if it were best to get some spares in as my local Subaru Garage (The only one near me) isn't the cheapest :( And would mean taking time off work. If these are not changeable by the average motorist then I now know :)

Since this thread is about hatches, hope you don't mind a slight hijack. I've also recently acquired a 2010 Hatch, can any other owners tell me whether the 'window lock' button on the drivers door switches should light up? Also - how about the mirror control & fold switches? Looking at older threads, it doesn't sound like those ones have ever been lit on older models, so presumably shouldn't be on the hatches either...

Cheers!
Pete.