Just taken me 45 minutes struggling in filthy conditions to change the headlight bulb in the dip beam of a Mk5 Astra.

there's a little hatch inside the wheelarch, (could it BE in a dirtier position?), then a rubber cover, then a twist out bulb holder, then the bulb to remove, all inside an opening I can barely get one hand into, let alone see into at the same time. The wiring isn't long enough to pull it OUTside the opening to work on it and see it. So working blind, left handed, one handed, by feel.

Vauxhall wanted £10 for the bulb and £10 to fit it, ("Oh but it's a genuine Vauxhall bulb"...errrrr, no, Vauxhall don't make bulbs), robbing barstewards.

Thought about Halfords but they are £8 fitting per bulb and their bulbs are £9.99 each too.

Mine cost me £3.99, for a Ring standard bulb. I'm getting too old for this sort of cr@p, WHY do car manufacturers do this? They can't need the £10 for fitting that badly and it'll block up their workshop for half an hour too. Idiot stupid designers.

 

 

I've HEARD some Hondas are **** to do aswell ..

 

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cMMN7MDSgRE/hqdefault.jpg

 

I opened the thread expecting to see a picture of a Citroen Xsara.

Stupidly designed? Absolutely!
Modern? Hmm, I guess not.

 

Bet he wishes he still had his xantia

 

I had an ep2 zany and it was either a real **** job or a 2min job. It was a silly little metal bracket that had to be hooked onto a silly little notch.

 

Headlight bulbs and pollen filters

 

isnt it Pollen or Cabin filter ?

 

yeah they the F##kers

 

If you think changing plugs on an Impreza is a faff try it on a six cylinder 320 Merc. Even removing the coil packs needs a special tool, then for reasonable access to the plugs (two per cylinder) on one side you really need to slacken the engine mounts and jack up the engine. You first have to blow out the muck from around the plugs or that falls into the engine with dire consequences. Not a nice job!

 

I changed a bulb on a "57" plate civic a little while ago had to take the wheel off for easy access and inner arch plastic what a nasty job
I guess I could have managed without taking the wheel off but that would have made it even more fiddly

 

Getting the bulb out was easy. It was fitting one. Luckily I've got smallish hands but I still spent 30mins on one once

 

Next time I'll send you the £16.01 you "saved" by being a tight git so you can pay the £20 to Vauxhall to save you (and hence us) all this f*cking grief

 

It's seems £16.01 buys an awful lot of stress. I normally get Halfords on to it and then buy a car cleaning product I don't need because I'm drawn in by the attractive packaging.

 

This on so many levels, having owned a Mk5 Astra I know this pain and it's soooooooooooooooooooo not worth doing it yourself.

 

reminds me of the old Irish forger I once knew

he could take a 50 pence piece, and with time and patience fashion a perfect 10p piece

 

Really? I'll be doing both as uprated bulbs this summer, shall I send you my address?

 

Remember trying to do the same thing with a Nissan Micra, gave up and took it to Halfords where they had to take the whole headlight off to fit the bulb.

 

I always get them to fit lamps on my vectra vxr with AFLs as there is literally no room and its great for ****s and giggles watching the halfrauds muppets struggle in the rain

 

I needed two bulbs doing on the kangoo popped into mates he done them topped up the oil
Put 20 Euro in his pocket
Screw rolling around in the dirt

 

Lovely guy.

 

I wouldn't bother. Yes, they are a bit brighter than standard, but I've changed the same uprated bulb twice in my mk5 Astravan whilst the original is still going strong on the passenger side. Not worth the grief.

 

Sadly. dont think they were designed for us to work on

 

Modern electronics that are not isolated.For example,2 years ago my sister was driving her Jag XF from work after some really bad rain.Ended up going through a deep puddle.The car cut out & all the windows & doors would not open.The car was a write off! As she was waiting to be towed a nearly new Volvo tried the same thing & also cut out & got stuck.The driver was an old gent & he also could not open the doors or windows.Terrible design & an alarming safety issue.I am assuming a lot of new cars are similarly designed so don't try driving your new Scooby in a lake these days.

 

Exactly that, they're designed to keep the dealer network in business, and for the more bloody minded amongst us, if you do have a go once you'll decide it's not worth the grief and take it to them to pee about with and while it's there they can do you a "FREE" inspection/health check.

As for the electrics dying I once went through a big puddle in an Astra Diesel company car and killed the engine, hydrostatic lock, was very pleased it had a winedy sunroof for me to climb up onto the roof sit there and phone the RAC.

I always have my seat belt cutter and glass break tool in the car now because of that day.

 

Exactly this, from memory the section on changing bulbs in the manual actually states "contact your nearest Vauxhall dealer" for certain lights.

 

Not for dip beam...but my hands are relatively small, and I struggled...plus you can't see and do at the same time.

Bumper off over Christmas if the weather is mild, methinks.

 

Best way to go tbh. By the time i sold my Corsa C I had getting the bumper off down to an art because it was the easiest way to swap a bulb

 

Apparently it's only held on by a few screws and five clips

Better order some clips then....