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[Hanszinderfaan]

Bit peeved last night to find a headlamp bulb blown some fifty odd miles from home. All the way home thinking first thing tomorrow get it replaced. This morning wasn’t looking too bright and it was a bit nippy so decided to let Halfords do it. Cheerful young man took on the job, had no trouble removing the bulb but getting a new one in was less than quick. First of all the retaining spring had fallen off after he released it and could not be found. He emerged from the shop with a new spring but had the devils own job fitting it back on and getting it secured over the bulb. Finally after around 20mins he fitted the plastic cover back but even this was reluctant to slot back into its recess. With a sigh of relief he announced the job as done. I commended him and said that I bet he would not like to see another Smart car again. He intimated that the smart car was anything but smart. I cannot say I blame him. However I thought the £8 charge was well earned today.

[CrazyG]

A bargain for £8 I'd say....
I presume that the Halfords person jacked it up and removed the wheel ?
If not then he was on a hiding to nothing as with the wheel removed
it give a lot more 'breathing space' né room to manouvre to do the job.

Having replaced more than my fair share of low/dip beam headlight
bulbs on a few 454's over the years I can say that the spring clip is
always a bit of a SOB to unclip and reclip...and in unclipping a certain
amount of caution and time is necessary to ensure it does not 'ping' off
into the inside of the headlamp asssembly.

By far the hardest part is to reclip it as the loom to the bulb tends
to get in the way, and many a time I have heard owners have managed
to trap it inbetween the bulb and the clip and had to unclip it and do it
all again !

Admittedly space is tight to get your hand in, but a lot easier with the
car jacked up and the wheel removed. Try to somehow 'prop' the
connector for the headlight bulb to one side....even bending the wiring
to make it stay there...once that's done then it's not hard to clip the
spring back into place.

[Ocracoke]

It is a bit of a chore to replace the dipped beam bulb with the wheel in place but it can be done, even with the 17" alloys in.

First time I changed the bulb, it was in a Halfords car park in dimming light and to say it was a unpleasant experience is an understatement because the clip came out. Fairly sure I drew a few stares... Anyway, practice does make perfect. I find it better, as CrazyG says, to reclip the bulb first before reconnecting it and when unclipping, take it nice and slow as so to allow my fingers to "feel" when the clip has come undone so I can gingerly swing it open.

[Hanszinderfaan]

He did it with the wheel still in place. He was a bit young and probably inexperienced which accounts for the time he spent on the job. I have to agree that £8 in labour costs was a bargain. When I got home I was annoyed to notice the side lamp was out, probably disturbed the wiring as when I went out today it was working again.

[Problemchild]

Different hole but at least that one is accessible through the bonnet

JJ

[Hanszinderfaan]

Had not taken the car out at night until recently and noticed that the dipped beam on the offside (the one he replaced) was very low in comparison with the near side. I am now wondering if he fitted the bulb upside down? Is there any individual adjustment I wonder, I could not find a reference to it in the manual.

[CrazyG]

In the Technical Guides under the Lighting section (In the Child Board part)
there is a Guide that tells you how to adjust the dipped/low beam...

B U T........
as the beam was ok before the bulb was replaced then it is a virtual
certainty that the replacement bulb has not been fitted correctly !
So....I would strongly suggest that you check (or have it checked)
to ensure that it is seated properly in the back of the headlight fitting.

If you have a look at an H7 bulb you will see the metal mounting base
of the bulb has a crescent ring/lip almost 66% of the way round it,
however...in the other 33% there is a 'square shaped' tab sticking out.
That tab can only be fitted/located into the fitting at one position, though
if you can;t actually see it you may think it is in properly. It's not easy
to do it blind..much though others will say it is easy....Not everyone
is a 'born mechanic'. So, yes..fitting the bulb into the back of the
dipped/low beam headlight of a 454 can be a bit of a pain, especially
if no one made a note of the orientation of the old bulb as it was removed...
and even more of a pain if the wheel of the car was not removed.
You yourself stated that the wheel was not removed....AND....you also
said that the Halfords guy had a struggle doing the job, so I can almost
guarantee you that the bulb has not been fitted properly.
Fitting the spring clip would have been 'the 'Devils own job' with the
bulb not being seated correctly.

So....get that checked out first, ok.

NOTE :-  If the beam pattern was ok with the old bulb then the
              headlight is already aligned properly. Fitting a new bulb
              will give exactly the same beam pattern as the old bulb....
              provided it is fitted correctly/properly.
              And finally...
              No amount of fiddling with the headlight beam adjusters
              will correct the beam pattern if the bulb is not fitted properly.
              If you try it then you will be wasting your time as eventually
              you will have to go back and reset it all again after finding
              out the bulb wasn't fitted properly.

[Problemchild]

I’d say the bulb isn’t seated properly

JJ

[Hanszinderfaan]

Exactly what I was thinking. Fortunately I do not do very much night driving so I feel it can wait until the weather is a bit more reasonable to tackle it myself. Thanks for all the good advice guys.

[snookey]

I had a hell of a time changing mine.  My arm was twisted like a cobra's neck and I still couldn't get in there properly.  I struggled for what felt like an hour but was likely no more than fifty minutes before I gave up and took off the wheel.  Made all the difference.  I then did the other one in maybe fifteen to twenty, including getting the wheel off and on, despite working on my wrong side.

Did manage to lose the locknut though.

[jnoun]

Changing one of those bulbs was by far my worst memory with the forfour and i'm praying very hard the current bulbs last as long as possible.

But when i hear some people telling me they need to take the whole bumper + headlights off on their cars, i chuckle and i tell myself it ain't that bad...

[Coverman]

The smaller the car, the tighter the underbody spaceHardly surprising. Remember the original Mini and what a pleasure it was to get scratched hands and forearms doing simple jobs.

[CrazyG]

As jnoun and others rightly point out (me included), it is far easier;
and dare I say quicker; to remove the wheel when you need to
replace the low/dip beam headlight bulb.  And...to be perfectly
honest it's not that cramped a space where it is located once the
wheel is removed to access it.

Compare that to the similarly aged but larger Renault Scenic...
it is a 4 hour job to replace a bulb as the complete front has to be
dismantled in order to get at the bulb !   Nice design Renault....
dealers just love them for the money that 'small' job costs.
(Hmm...wonder if the newer one's are just as bad...?)

[El Tel]

...a certain amount of caution and time is necessary to ensure it does not 'ping' off
into the inside of the headlamp asssembly.

-Just a tip from me, the only time I changed a H7 on my ForFour, I started by looping a bit of twine round the metal of the spring-clip before trying to remove it. (thanks to this forum, I was warned in advance and went prepared...)

I didn't need it, but if the clip had 'pinged' off I'd have had a fighting chance of preventing it falling into the housing and/or finding it again..

I actually found it real easy to get the clip back in afterwards, but it turns out I mounted the bulb incorrectly aligned. Duh.

[Problemchild]

Remove the wheel and lower the car down a bit (rest the car on a block) so that you can lay on your back and reach up

If you think changing headlamp bulb is hard, try extracting a sidelight bulb that’s lost in the headlamp unit

JJ