Removing plug on headlight bulb..... - Toyota Yaris Forums

RedRide · 08-24-2009, 03:46 PM

Help....

I tried to remove the plugs on my headlight bulbs in an attempt to change them.
However, I could not remove them. Is there some sort of "release" that I'm missing or, do they normally need a bit of stern coaxing to remove them?

I have a pair of "PIAA Extreme White Plus" H4 bulbs begging to be installed.

RedRide · 08-25-2009, 01:31 PM

Anyone?

Brian · 08-25-2009, 01:38 PM

They should just pull off

RedRide · 08-25-2009, 04:11 PM

Yeah, that's what I thought.
They are reallyl stuck on there which is unusual for a new car.

ezhacker1 · 08-25-2009, 04:37 PM

they are on there tight. to make it easy, pull the bumper off a little bit (take off the black push pin thingies on the top and the one on the wheel side), remove the headlight. takes like 5 minutes easy.

coffiend · 08-26-2009, 04:30 AM

it was a frustrating pain in the ass for me too. removing the headlight is the easiest way to go.

RedRide · 09-05-2009, 05:59 PM

Ok...... I finally got around to changing the bulbs.

&%@&*%^$## Toyota!

A large pair of needle nose pliers made easy work of pulling the plugs off.
It was all down hill from there.

It took me quite some time to secure the clips on the passengr side.
However, I found it imposible to secure the clips on the drivers side so, I wound up removing the headlight.

As least now after removing it, I now have a better understanding just how the clips are secured so maby next time I wont have to remove the headlight and curse out Toyota nearly as much.

lilredrocket · 09-05-2009, 06:45 PM

Most people have to take the headlight off on the hatch to change out the bulbs

Randy! · 12-21-2010, 11:45 PM

My driverside bulb went out. My car's about 3.5 years old, 70K miles. It was ridiculously difficult to makes this happen. Everything was WAY more snug than the manual and the various threads seemed to indicate.

It took a couple attempts, my left hand is a little scrapped up, so is my cousin's, but the bulb has been changed. The use for a second set of eyes was in step 4. Knowing how everything works now, I think then next one will be simple enough on my own. If this write-up is clear enough, you can manage it, too.

#1) I wiggled the hell out of the plug to loosen it. Try to pull as much as possible while wiggling.

#2) The electrical prongs on the bulb are pretty long, and it's hard to pull the plug straight back with so little room for your hand. I got the inboard side to come off a little bit by hand, but the outboard side wasn't moving much. I then used a long thin flathead screw driver to square up the outboard side. Get the screwdriver blade in place on a high point on the plastic plug. Tap very very gently a few times. Once the plug was square I went back to hand wiggling and it popped off.

#3) The rubber hood is cone-shaped. It was easy to get the outer part of the hood off the boss. It was impossible for me to remove the inner part from the bulb while the bulb was still in the headlight. Despite pulling ready really really hard, wiggling, prying, feeling from the inside and the outside, and starting to see if I could just remove the whole headlight, I ended up leaving the cone in place until the bulb was out and sitting on my workbench. This is the step where I give up the first time.

#4) I had some help for this next part. Once we decided to leave the rubber hood in place, my cousin worked on the bulb and I looked through the headlight at the visible part of the release spring. There are two semi-circular notches in the reflective headlight surface, one on either side of the bulb. The release spring is a U-shaped wire. As you squeeze it, the wire flattens and will slip past the tab holding it in place; this is visible to a second set of eyes.

Put on some gloves. You'll going to press very hard, and without room to position your fingers, it'll probably be a sensitive part making contact with the release spring. As he pinched the ends of the spring towards the center, I could see when the spring had deflected enough to release. When it was flat enough I said "go" and, while still squeezing, he pulled backwards. We did one spring at a time. The outboard spring came free pretty easily, the inboard one was tough. Working by yourself, it'll be tough to know when the spring is flat, that's why the glove is helpful, so you can squeeze really hard, hold it in place and try pulling, then squeeze a little harder, and try pulling again until the spring releases.

#5) I compressed the rubber hood in my hand, and wiggled and pulled until the hood/bulb assembly came free.

#6) With plenty of space on the workbench, I used a small screw driver to gradually work the inner part of rubber hood off the dead bulb. The inner surface is grooved and makes contact with about 15mm of the bulb, so it's no wonder there's so much friction holding it on.

#7) Still on the workbench, I slid the hood onto the back of the new bulb. A little WD-40 helped. Put the lube on the metal part of the bulb, not on the inner surface of the rubber hood. This way no lube ends up on the glass of the bulb. Stuff on the bulb glass apparently shortens the life substantially and as you've figured out, installing a new bulb is not that easy.

#8) Again with my cousin under the hood, I looked through the headlight to tell him when the new bulb was in straight and square. This would be simple enough by yourself, but it went really quick with an extra set of eyes. He pinched the springs and pushed them into position. This was easier then the removal, since he could just squeeze and push until the spring popped over the tab and locked.

Gloves are useful here, too. It's a pain to slide the bulb back in, and it'd be easy to accidentally smudge the glass with your oily skin.

#9) Turn the key, flip on the headlights, rejoice.

You may also feel such a sense of accomplishment that you'll consider calling up a dealership to tell them what to do with that $45 OEM bulb that they'll "install for free" because they won't touch the exact same bulb you bought retail for $12--claiming it might damage the electrical system--even though you're happy to pay for the 15 minutes of labor they'd need.

charlene8301 · 12-28-2010, 06:52 PM

Okay so I will admit I am a chick and don't know most of what guys are talkin about with cars but my guy bought me some bright blue headlights for Christmas and we discovered that the front bumper had to be removed to get the factory lights off and install the new bulbs.

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08-24-2009, 03:46 PM	#1
RedRide Drives: '09 Yaris carmine red 2d HB Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Middletown, NY Posts: 1,501	Removing plug on headlight bulb..... Help.... I tried to remove the plugs on my headlight bulbs in an attempt to change them. However, I could not remove them. Is there some sort of "release" that I'm missing or, do they normally need a bit of stern coaxing to remove them? I have a pair of "PIAA Extreme White Plus" H4 bulbs begging to be installed.

08-25-2009, 01:31 PM	#2
RedRide Drives: '09 Yaris carmine red 2d HB Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Middletown, NY Posts: 1,501	Anyone?

08-25-2009, 01:38 PM	#3
Brian Drives: '07 Yaris turbo, '11 Juke Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Riverside, CA Posts: 849	They should just pull off __________________ http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3875996

08-25-2009, 04:11 PM	#4
RedRide Drives: '09 Yaris carmine red 2d HB Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Middletown, NY Posts: 1,501	Yeah, that's what I thought. They are reallyl stuck on there which is unusual for a new car.

08-25-2009, 04:37 PM	#5
ezhacker1 Drives: Decepticon - Ravage Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: San Francisco Posts: 1,462	they are on there tight. to make it easy, pull the bumper off a little bit (take off the black push pin thingies on the top and the one on the wheel side), remove the headlight. takes like 5 minutes easy. __________________ Check out my Build thread: http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52274

08-26-2009, 04:30 AM	#6
coffiend View User's Garage Drives: 08 Black LB Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 448	it was a frustrating pain in the ass for me too. removing the headlight is the easiest way to go.

09-05-2009, 05:59 PM	#7
RedRide Drives: '09 Yaris carmine red 2d HB Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Middletown, NY Posts: 1,501	Ok...... I finally got around to changing the bulbs. &%@&*%^$## Toyota! A large pair of needle nose pliers made easy work of pulling the plugs off. It was all down hill from there. It took me quite some time to secure the clips on the passengr side. However, I found it imposible to secure the clips on the drivers side so, I wound up removing the headlight. As least now after removing it, I now have a better understanding just how the clips are secured so maby next time I wont have to remove the headlight and curse out Toyota nearly as much.

09-05-2009, 06:45 PM	#8
lilredrocket Slowy getting there View User's Garage Drives: 08 Liftback Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 1,464	Most people have to take the headlight off on the hatch to change out the bulbs __________________

12-21-2010, 11:45 PM	#9
Randy! Drives: 07 Liftback Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: California Posts: 2	Here's how I did it My driverside bulb went out. My car's about 3.5 years old, 70K miles. It was ridiculously difficult to makes this happen. Everything was WAY more snug than the manual and the various threads seemed to indicate. It took a couple attempts, my left hand is a little scrapped up, so is my cousin's, but the bulb has been changed. The use for a second set of eyes was in step 4. Knowing how everything works now, I think then next one will be simple enough on my own. If this write-up is clear enough, you can manage it, too. #1) I wiggled the hell out of the plug to loosen it. Try to pull as much as possible while wiggling. #2) The electrical prongs on the bulb are pretty long, and it's hard to pull the plug straight back with so little room for your hand. I got the inboard side to come off a little bit by hand, but the outboard side wasn't moving much. I then used a long thin flathead screw driver to square up the outboard side. Get the screwdriver blade in place on a high point on the plastic plug. Tap very very gently a few times. Once the plug was square I went back to hand wiggling and it popped off. #3) The rubber hood is cone-shaped. It was easy to get the outer part of the hood off the boss. It was impossible for me to remove the inner part from the bulb while the bulb was still in the headlight. Despite pulling ready really really hard, wiggling, prying, feeling from the inside and the outside, and starting to see if I could just remove the whole headlight, I ended up leaving the cone in place until the bulb was out and sitting on my workbench. This is the step where I give up the first time. #4) I had some help for this next part. Once we decided to leave the rubber hood in place, my cousin worked on the bulb and I looked through the headlight at the visible part of the release spring. There are two semi-circular notches in the reflective headlight surface, one on either side of the bulb. The release spring is a U-shaped wire. As you squeeze it, the wire flattens and will slip past the tab holding it in place; this is visible to a second set of eyes. Put on some gloves. You'll going to press very hard, and without room to position your fingers, it'll probably be a sensitive part making contact with the release spring. As he pinched the ends of the spring towards the center, I could see when the spring had deflected enough to release. When it was flat enough I said "go" and, while still squeezing, he pulled backwards. We did one spring at a time. The outboard spring came free pretty easily, the inboard one was tough. Working by yourself, it'll be tough to know when the spring is flat, that's why the glove is helpful, so you can squeeze really hard, hold it in place and try pulling, then squeeze a little harder, and try pulling again until the spring releases. #5) I compressed the rubber hood in my hand, and wiggled and pulled until the hood/bulb assembly came free. #6) With plenty of space on the workbench, I used a small screw driver to gradually work the inner part of rubber hood off the dead bulb. The inner surface is grooved and makes contact with about 15mm of the bulb, so it's no wonder there's so much friction holding it on. #7) Still on the workbench, I slid the hood onto the back of the new bulb. A little WD-40 helped. Put the lube on the metal part of the bulb, not on the inner surface of the rubber hood. This way no lube ends up on the glass of the bulb. Stuff on the bulb glass apparently shortens the life substantially and as you've figured out, installing a new bulb is not that easy. #8) Again with my cousin under the hood, I looked through the headlight to tell him when the new bulb was in straight and square. This would be simple enough by yourself, but it went really quick with an extra set of eyes. He pinched the springs and pushed them into position. This was easier then the removal, since he could just squeeze and push until the spring popped over the tab and locked. Gloves are useful here, too. It's a pain to slide the bulb back in, and it'd be easy to accidentally smudge the glass with your oily skin. #9) Turn the key, flip on the headlights, rejoice. You may also feel such a sense of accomplishment that you'll consider calling up a dealership to tell them what to do with that $45 OEM bulb that they'll "install for free" because they won't touch the exact same bulb you bought retail for $12--claiming it might damage the electrical system--even though you're happy to pay for the 15 minutes of labor they'd need. Last edited by Randy!; 12-21-2010 at 11:56 PM.

12-28-2010, 06:52 PM	#10
charlene8301 Charlene Drives: '08 Yaris 2dr Hbck Auto Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Alvin, Tx Posts: 2	Okay so I will admit I am a chick and don't know most of what guys are talkin about with cars but my guy bought me some bright blue headlights for Christmas and we discovered that the front bumper had to be removed to get the factory lights off and install the new bulbs.