Headlight retaining clip pics/diagram??

[foogan]

I lost my driver side headlight bulb clip! I located and nabbed one from a Protege sedan at the junkyard (only one there). Is it the same clip as the P5? Because I tried to figure out how to stick it in my car but can't figure it out. Can anybody point me to some pics or diagrams or something?

I hate working with these #$%#$ headlights!

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

The online manual has a bad pic of the "bulb seating wire". In the middle of the wire there is a small straight section. That section goes behind a small screw off to one side of the bulb hole in the housing. Unscrew that screw just enough to get that straight section of the wire underneath the head of the screw and tighten it back down. It should swing back and forth pivoting under the screw head. The longer side of the clip goes on top. Not sure if the sedan one is shaped the same as the hatch one is tho. There's bound to be some pics posted upinheeya somewhere.

Check this thread and PM the guy in the last post, says he has some laying around, never hurts to ask. Good luck.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...light-retaining-clip&highlight=headlight+clip

 

[bikingpro5]

sent all of them out already..

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Paper clip dup of the remaining one it is then..................

 

[Brewtal_Damage]

I managed to break the hole where the bolt that holds the clip is located by trying to position the clip don't remove that clip ever

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

I managed to break the hole where the bolt that holds the clip is located by trying to position the clip don't remove that clip ever

jb weld or a glob of epoxy should be able to be sanded and drilled very carefully to get that tiny screw to go back in..........or just score another single headlight from one of the many partout threads in the fs section. If you did that then you'd have an extra clip for bkup. Oh, PR, maybe the jb weld/epoxy thing would be more cost effective.

 

[nlinesk8s]

The nubbins that hold that little wire clip broke on my car. Passenger side. So in trying to get to it I broke off the top neck of the windshield wiper reservoir Not really a problem, so I put a cap on the top of the tank. Even without the neck, it's impossible to hold the wire against the screw and hold the bulb in place while setting the wire.

I made a small retainer to hole the wire clip to that screw in the back of the headlight housing, then managed to drop the screw into the housing. And of course to get the housing off to find the screw and replace the bulb I need to remove the front bumper.

At this point I'm about done with this car. In 30 years of working on my own cars, and owning everything from bmw's to MG's, this car is the least user-friendly in terms of service of any car I've owned. Everything is a fight, nothing is designed for ease of maintenance. It's basically reliable now, but I've spent more on it getting it there than any of my other three cars combined.

And the rust is getting to the rear hatch edge, the door bottoms, and the rear fenders. And the clutch is starting to shudder, which is apparently common with these cars.

Sell it while you can and buy something else.

Sorry about the rant; this is just the last straw for me

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Glws...........

 

[RockStar#666]

I just fumbled through a passenger side bulb change on a 2010 5.

I had done bulbs on an '01 Protege several times. I had the knack there and it was a 7 minute job on each side. The 5 is a bit different - bulb is different shape, there is an adapter to connect the stock bulb to the wire harness, and I think the latch point for the clip is a bit different.

I had even done the drivers' side bulb a year or so ago. It was painful, but nothing like this. I simply cannot believe what a pain in the nuts that stupid retaining clip is to deal with. It's worse on the the passenger side because you're also fighting the fill nozzles for the windshield fluid and, I think the power steering fluid. You cannot see a motherloving thing, and even average sized hands cannot contort into the space.

Anyway, once I realized you needed to push down instead of up, I got it removed OK, with only one shiny new red hole punched into my finger tips.

The restoration was fricking painful though. I almost gave up, figuring I'd just use some kind of hi-temp sealant to glue the damned bulb into place and just pray that I sold this pumpkin before a bulb needed changing again.

Luckily, I ended up finding this thread http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...b-in-Mazda-5&p=6085812&viewfull=1#post6085812

So, I had this insulated slot screwdriver that had been 'arc-welded' from a previous bit of live electrical work (unplanned that was. Pretty scary too ) . Anyway, the screwdriver's tip was mangled, so the tool was NFG. I basically kept it around for popping paint can lids.

Anyway, two minutes with a Dremel cutting blade, I managed put a nice notch in the end of this screwdriver that fit the retaining clip perfectly. With me using one hand to hold the bulb in place, this tool gave enough grip and leverage to get the stupid spring into place with the other hand

Now I know what I'm doing, and the next one will not take anywhere nearly as long. Still, no one should have to deal with a learning curve like this for a fricking basic maintenance item. All I can say is that the responsible engineer is damned lucky he's nowhere where I can reach him!

 

[jlc_1988]

Not sure if this video will help but you could give it a try.