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Wish me luck.....
BenB - 13/12/10 at 01:10 PM

The headlight on my tintop has died. And it's the dreaded Megane II whereby the only access to the headlight is via the wheelarch involving a bit of arm manoevering worthy of a gynaecologist.
The forums say it takes anywhere between 20 mins and a couple of hours (or £30-150 if you get a main stealer to do it).
Arse biscuits.

They did it on Fifth gear and a green flag mechanic took 45 minutes....

We shall see! I think my mahusive hands might be a problem here......


chrisxr2 - 13/12/10 at 01:15 PM

you ,ight get lucky and take 10 minutes, our arosa was similar twas either instant or ages of fiddling.


matt_gsxr - 13/12/10 at 01:16 PM

Green Flag are rubbish, just local garage blokes with no incentive to fix at side of road, not like those RAC and AA men.


prawnabie - 13/12/10 at 01:23 PM

I takes 5 mins if you jack the car up!


L5W - 13/12/10 at 01:24 PM

Good luck there! I changed one on my girlfriend's megane recently in the snow and it took me about an hour, most of the time was spent figuring out how you remove the old bulb. I stuck my camera up into the access hole in the end so I could see where the clips were, a few moments later I had the bulb out using a screwdriver to depress the clip/tab thing but broke the bulb's glass whilst drawing it out.

A colleague has the same car and got their bulb replaced at halfords who charged something like £5 (apparently) so I'll be considering going there the next a bulb goes


Lee


nick205 - 13/12/10 at 02:03 PM

Why do manufacturers do this...?

Is it that they're just rubbish and don't think things through or are they actually trying to increase aftersales revenue?


alistairolsen - 13/12/10 at 02:19 PM

I did one on an A class which sounds similar. I spent longer worrying about it than it took to do the job, nice and easy! (unlike anything else on the car )


prawnabie - 13/12/10 at 02:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Why do manufacturers do this...?

Is it that they're just rubbish and don't think things through or are they actually trying to increase aftersales revenue?


No its beacuse we all demand safer cars and more crumple zones/crash protection decreases the space around components like headlights etc


speedyxjs - 13/12/10 at 02:31 PM

I did one last week. Didn't have a clue what i was doing but took 30 mins. Much easier if you take the wheel off.


omega0684 - 13/12/10 at 02:38 PM

exactly the same as the modern astra, just stick hard lock on, took me about 15 minutes, getting the old one out is easy enough, its getting the new one in without getting it dirty or a finger print on it thats the tricky part


BenB - 13/12/10 at 02:42 PM

So what was all the fuss about? Did both of them in the car park at Halfords and topped up a few fluids whilst I was at it. Green Flag are obviously shite! The drivers side is a bit of a PITA but the passengers took all of 5 minutes. Quite why the Green Flag geezer in the 5th gear thing took off the wheel I don't know. Really not necessary, I didn't even bother turning the wheel to opposite lock for the passenger side. Only slight issue was when I dropped the headlight cover (doh!) and it rattled down into the bottom of the engine bay but a bit of gropping through the access port had it back again.
30 minutes tops for both.
Went for the blingy 90% brighter extra brilliance lights. BOGOF at the moment at Halfrauds too


Davey D - 13/12/10 at 04:05 PM

Ive just done one on my 05 astra, and its just the same. hatch under the wheel arch. Once you know what your doing, it can be done in 5 mins with the wheels turned to full lock


Davey D - 13/12/10 at 04:18 PM

Ive just done one on my 05 astra, and its just the same. hatch under the wheel arch. Once you know what your doing, it can be done in 5 mins with the wheels turned to full lock


PSpirine - 13/12/10 at 05:43 PM

Just done both on my t-reg Micra - bonnet up, rubber cover off, clips off, bulbs out, new bulbs in, pop the clips and covers back on.

Less than 60 seconds for both.

Those clever Japanese...


Pavs


MikeR - 13/12/10 at 06:04 PM

I guess someone from Japan must have designed the headlights on my mk2 focus


rusty nuts - 13/12/10 at 08:12 PM

I've got a headlight bulb to do tomorrow morning on a Citroen C5, front bumper off job!


Peteff - 13/12/10 at 08:31 PM

I once changed a clutch in a Nissan Cherry in less time than it takes to change that headlight bulb


BenB - 13/12/10 at 09:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by PSpirine
Just done both on my t-reg Micra - bonnet up, rubber cover off, clips off, bulbs out, new bulbs in, pop the clips and covers back on.

Less than 60 seconds for both.

Those clever Japanese...


Pavs


Yes, shame they don't know how to tell good steel from rubbish steel. I agree that Micra headlights are easy to change (my other tintop) but I have had to change both headlight connectors due to them rusty (and in one instance shorting and melting the plastic connector housing)....


Davey D - 16/12/10 at 07:34 PM

Exactly the same happened in my wifes micra, the bulb connector just corroded, and melted all the plastic from the arcing of the terminal

Just chopped it off, and fitted a new one from one of the local Durite suppliers


Ninehigh - 16/12/10 at 08:49 PM

And I thought my Mondeo one was awkward, in that I had to take off the light cluster