Is Front Dipped Bulb Replacement(None Hid)

[Guest bigbullhead]

Bought some new bulbs and opened my bonnet to change them and saw a mass of trim!!!! Not knowing what to remove or where to start I thought I would enlist somebody on here who maybe able to advice on a painless way

Note dipped beam H11

[normski2]

There are 3 abs trims to remove. One across the front and one each side. You will need to pop up the round plastic catches that hold the trims in place.

Drivers side

Remove the air filter top and take out the filter. Push the filter top housing out of the way. Remove the three bolts that hold the filter lower body in place. Also remove the bolt that holds the air intake trim, on top at the front, above the radiator. Lift out the intake pipe and the lower part of the air filter housing. You will now see the two covers with the wire clips. Behind each is the bulb housing. The cover closest to the driving position is the one you want. Remove this cover and take out the bulb. It is quite fiddly and you need slender fingers.

Passenger side

Now the tricky b'stard! Remove the bolt that holds the windscreen washer reservoir tube/cap in place. Put a piece of cloth over the open reservoir....you don't want anything falling in there by mistake. Again the furthest rear cover plate is the one you want. This is fiddly due to the proximity of plastic housing that are pretty much in your way. This time you need really slender hands and fingers. Getting the changed bulb back in can be a bit of a pig. Stay calm and eventually it will go, but there will be a bit of finger pain to endure.

Then refit all removed covers/tubes/pipes and bingo. I found the fitted H11 at 55w were utterly useless and barely illuminated the road ahead...in fact I went back to Lexusas I felt they were dangerously poor. I put in a higher wattage set from fleabay(other sites are available) and things were much improved. PM me if you want details.

Hope that helps. If you get really stuck and find yourself in Dorset I will gladly show you how it's done.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

There are 3 abs trims to remove. One across the front and one each side. You will need to pop up the plastic catches that hold the trims in place.

Drivers side

Remove the air filter top and take out the filter. Push the filter top housing out of the way. Remove the three bolts that hold the filter lower body in place. Also remove the bolt that holds the air intake trim, on top at the front, above the radiator. Lift out the intake pipe and the lower part of the air filter housing. You will now see the two covers with the wire clips. Behind each is the bulb housing. The cover closest to the driving position is the one you want. Remove this cover and take out the bulb. It is quite fiddly and you need slender fingers.

Passenger side

Now the tricky b'stard! Remove the bolt that holds the windscreen washer reservoir tube/cap in place. Put a piece of cloth over the open reservoir....you don't want anything falling in there by mistake. Again the furthest rear cover plate is the one you want. This is fiddly due to the proximity of plastic housing that are pretty much in your way. This time you need really slender hands and fingers. Getting the changed bulb back in can be a bit of a pig. Stay calm and eventually it will go, but there will be a bit of finger pain to endure.

Then refit all removed covers/tubes/pipes and bingo. I found the fitted H11 at 55w were utterly useless and barely illuminated the road ahead...in fact I went back to Lexusas I felt they were dangerously poor. I put in a higher wattage set from fleabay(other sites are available) and things were much improved. PM me if you want details.

Hope that helps. If you get really stuck and find yourself in Dorset I will gladly show you how it's done.

Wow to change a bulb!!

Why do the Japanese make the supposedly easy things difficult! Lol :)

[normski2]

Yep the frogs did a pretty good job on the Megane too!

Did my neighbour's daughters (headlights fellas...headlights) last week.

[Guest bigbullhead]

Thanks very much normski I have bought the ring 120% brighter bulbs I did notice they improved light in my Astra so thought I would try on the Lexus,as you say very dark nights is very bad I find myself putting fogs on down small unlit roads, also if you have higher powered bulbs do you still pass an MOT ??? Have a link as if once a year I have to change them back for 1 hour it would do my head in lol

[normski2]

Mine have not been picked up at mot in two years. They look no different to real HID units.

[Guest bigbullhead]

Have you link it should of read

[normski2]

What are you after? A link to the bulbs i bought?

Don't worry, once you've done a set and then replaced a blown one at some point it becomes a doddle to change a bulb.

[Guest bigbullhead]

Yes a link for the ones you bought oh never started today as it was too wet

[normski2]

I sent you a PM with the link.

[Guest bigbullhead]

Finally got round to fitting my bulbs it went reasonably well but the nearside was the most difficult. I did struggle to turn the bulb also but all done now so know how to do it next time and only broke 2 poppers. Thanks normski

[normski2]

Ah I was wondering if you had done it all OK.

Yeah, once you have done it the chore will be easier next time.

Do you find the headlight pattern and strength of illumination better now?

[Guest bigbullhead]

I went with the ring 120% Xenon bulbs just in case it got picked up on the MOT BUT EVEN THESE HAVE MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE

[normski2]

Good, glad it worked for you.