japcarsbrett Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Hello everyone, So as my title says how to change your headlight bulbs without taking the bumper off. I couldn't find anywhere on how to change the headlight bulbs without taking the bumper off and I searched everywhere on here and on google and everyone said you have to remove the front bumper I refused to believe the car would be designed like this lol. I'm sure lot's of you guys know this but I have only owned my Zed for a week . So this guide is for the people that have not long owned there Zed and those that like me don't want to remove the front bumper to change the bulbs and searched everywhere on the forum and internet that couldn't find how to change the headlight bulbs/side light bulbs without taking the front bumper off, and take less time doing so, as this took me 20-30 mins all together including changing bulbs both sides I would have been quicker but it was all guess work so next time now I know what to do I’d expect 15 mins easy. Here are my pictures and step by step guide. First I jacked the front of the car up and removed the front wheels, I'd expect you could do it with the wheels on full lock but it's much easier with them off IMO and that's what I did. In the upper inner arch you will see 3 plastic clips holding the inner arch together take them out first then undo 3 screws in and up under the wing, and the inner upper arch will come down a lot easier you don't need to take the arches off to do this just pull them down as you will see in the pictures. This is of the 3 plastic clips you have to pull off (careful not to break them) This is one of the 3 three screws you will have remove in the arch. Un tuck the inner arch and pull these three clips out this is where you took the 3 screws out from. You will have to pull the inner arches back and away from the wings as they are tucked in behind the wings and tucked in behind three plastic clips where you took the three screws out from you can take the three clips off (as pictured above) as it will make it a lot easier for you to pull the inner arches away from the wings. Now you have pulled the inner arches down you will be able to see the cover for the headlights. What I did was gentley place the inner arch under the suspension to stop it getting in my way. You will have to undo the cover of the headlights to pull it off, mine was fairly tight as it was properly never been off before if so a very long time ago. Now you can see the connection of the headlight bulb to the dipped beam bulb (pre facelift model) turn it to the left and it will come off nicely. Once you have taken the terminal off, you need to turn the terminal towards the left to do this, (as pictured below the terminal is off), you will have to push 2 clips inwards and pull them around the bulb, this is holding the bulbs in place to the light unit. Now pull the bulb out nice and carefully, note the way they come out as you will have to put the replacement bulbs in the same way else they won't clip back in correctly. Here you can see where the sidelight bulb is (pictured below) just turn to the terminal to the left to pull the sidelight unit out. Now put the replacement bulbs back in don't forget to put the clips around the bulbs on correctly and don't forget to put the cover back on over the headlight terminals, also make sure the O rings are in place correctly and not hanging off on the cover, you don't want your headlight unit to steam up . Don't forget to test the bulbs first before you put everything back together you don't want to put everything back and find out you have another faulty bulb or your new ones don't work . Now replace the inner arch back how you took it out tucking it in behind the wings don't forget to replace the three little plastic holders for the screws if you took them off. Replace the 3 plastic clips you first took off careful not break them, then screw back in the 3 screws I put some grease around them so next time they will be easier to get off and it will prevent them from rusting, put your wheels back on let the car down JOB DONE . Hope this guide helps some of you out. Thanks. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japcarsbrett Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 oooppps i should have put this in guides can someone move this there lol thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren350 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Great thread! Got to be quicker than taking the bumper off! Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Superb comprehensive guide, well done, however I personally prefer removing the bumper, each to there own though. Alex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japcarsbrett Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 Great thread! Got to be quicker than taking the bumper off! Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk Thanks I would have thought it would be quicker as i looked into taking the bumper off and you have to remove all the screws clips etc then disconnected the washers, I just thought i'd give this ago i'll take the bumper off one day and see which is quicker but for now i know this way and to be fair it was quite quick but i'd do it a lot quicker and easier next time now i know what I'm doing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japcarsbrett Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 Superb comprehensive guide, well done, however I personally prefer removing the bumper, each to there own though. Alex. Thanks Alex Very true everyone does things there own way but it's here in case anyone needs it Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEUS Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Good guide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almeida1234 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Very well written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMballistic Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Great guide imo. I did my sidelights the same way but never realized that I could do the headlamp bulbs this way too if needed. Following this for future reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsybriggs1 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 That's a god wright up with plenty off pics :-),Iv done both when fitting the led side light bulbs dropped them in side the light so had to take the bumper off to remove the light hence 2 hours to change 2 bulbs . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky4510 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I changed my bulbs last weekend, started to take the bumper off and 4 of the screws snapped due to rust . I got to the bulbs this way and found it a doddle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chirag1988 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Great write up dude! Very handy for changing bulbs without the aggro of taking the bumper off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aiuchi-Gary Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Thanks for the write up, I want to change my side light bulbs (but didn't want to remove the bumper) and now I can, easily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Good guide. but I also prefer to take of the bumper. Car is a bitch to jack up on a gravel drive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmck13 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Well done, always assumed it could be done that way but have never needed to change any bulbs. Very clear and simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japcarsbrett Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 Thanks everyone for you comments, I'm glad everyone thought this is a good guide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cs2000 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I thought this was common knowledge but obviously not! Hopefully one of the mods will see, review it and move to guides section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMT Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Good guide! Much better solution (it seems) to taking the bumper off, especially if your under tray nuts/screws has kinda stuck and twisted to the bottom of the bumper lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Great post, much appreciated! Just a quick question, when installing the new bulb, do have the sort of external filament thing on the bottom/side/top? I don't know if it makes any difference but I put my ones with the filament on the bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPod Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Nice guide. Also does anyone know how I go about cleaning the inside of my headlights? Thought it was the outside but def inside totally stinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 Great post, much appreciated! Just a quick question, when installing the new bulb, do have the sort of external filament thing on the bottom/side/top? I don't know if it makes any difference but I put my ones with the filament on the bottom. The bulbs have notches in the base plate so they can only be inserted one way, pre-facelift as well as bi-xenons 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeezeebaba Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Certainly a stupid design if you need to remove an arch liner or the bumper just to change a poxy bulb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Certainly a stupid design if you need to remove an arch liner or the bumper just to change a poxy bulb. Not as stupid as the DE dipstick... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeezeebaba Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Certainly a stupid design if you need to remove an arch liner or the bumper just to change a poxy bulb. Not as stupid as the DE dipstick... Haha agreed my other pet hate is checking the oil on my DE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz Striker Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Can the orange bumper reflectors be got at via this method? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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