How To: Replace Headlight Bulbs

My diagram FTW!

zverg_p5light.jpg


Edit: the blue stuff is the bulb (dark blue) and the adapter (lighter blue).

The red clip (not actually red on the car) is what is holding the bulb in. As you can see, it squeezes the top of the bulb and the bottom of the bulb up against the headlight housing, and then on the bottom loops around to be hooked on a little metal piece (the black thing).

There is a little curved part on the clip (red) that you can feel with your finger. Press it in towards the headlight (if you are standing in front of the car, pull it toward you) and then push it down (toward the ground) slightly to get it off of the little hook thing. It will then hinge away, allowing you to get the bulb out. Remember to take the black adapter piece (light blue in the diagram) off of the bulb before you throw the old on out, because you'll need the adapter on the new bulb.

The diagram may or may not be a mirror image of what is actually there.

There really isn't a need to remove things to get at the bulbs. It's really tight near the washer fluid reservoir but once you get the black rubber cap out of the way and unplug the electrical connecter you just have to feel in there to unhook the clip and then the bulb is out. Be very careful on that side when putting the bulb back in, it is really easy to come in contact with something and contaminate the bulb.
 
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I Give Up I Give Up I Give Up!

*ARGH* Im over it. so over it.....now that ive got one bulb out of the car i find out that the guy who sold them to me gave me the type of blub and it doesnt fit (bang)

when i tried to put the stock bulb back in, i couldnt get the wiring back into place :( i undid a screw that makes it a pain in the ass to get everything back together when you have huge hands like me. Take a look at that im talking about........

argh2.jpg


augh3.jpg


im about ready to head off to the dealership and pay an ass ton of money to get my light put back in. Then i will NEVER touch them again.......
 
I guess my rendition of the clip and overall setup from memory wasn't bad after all. hooray!

If the dealership charged you an ass ton of money to put a bulb in, I would never touch that dealership again.
 
HID bulbs

hi

i want to replace my current halogen lights on my Mazda 3 1.6 TS (Manual)
with Xenon HID lights..

What would i need to do to replace them?

My dealer says that i cant put Xenon bulbs as my car doesn't have automatic headlight levelling and that HID bulbs require this feature..

can anyone advise more please...

I really wanna get the cool blue lights... as long as much modification is not required...

I am in the UK...

cheers
 
neeldub53 said:
hi

i want to replace my current halogen lights on my Mazda 3 1.6 TS (Manual)
with Xenon HID lights..

What would i need to do to replace them?

My dealer says that i cant put Xenon bulbs as my car doesn't have automatic headlight levelling and that HID bulbs require this feature..

can anyone advise more please...

I really wanna get the cool blue lights... as long as much modification is not required...

I am in the UK...

cheers

As I recall, in the UK all Xenon HID lights must have auto leveling, so you are out of luck there. You could get the factory headlights with the xenon lights but I really, really don't want to know how much they charge for that.

good luck
 
Parking Light Bulb Removal/installation

has anyone been able to remove their PARKING LIGHT BULB on the Mazda 3 TS?

I am trying to change mine, but just cant figure out how to remove the socket. There is hardly any space around the socket to get a good vanatage point?

How do I remove the SOCKET??????

HELLPPPPPPPPPP
 
Ok.... I am a compleate idiot. I started changing the bulbs when it was cloudy out and then it started to rain and I got moisture in my assembly. Not only was I pissed about how fing hard it is to change the bulb but now I am pissed because they are foging up.

What is the best way to remove the moisture form the assembly? Should I just remove the weather cover on a hot dry day and let it air out or do I have to take the whole damn thing apart as if I was going to black the assembly out?
 
Clear corner lenses...yes, but make sure your bulbs are amber. Unless you want to be pulled over. To help keep the 'clear' look get some clear led's that light amber. Like this...I apologize for the Saturn pics but I don't have have clear corners on my P5 :)
 

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Confusion said:
Its legal to have clear corner lights right ?

You don't say where you are located, but in most cases it isn't. They must light up in an amber color even if they appear clear when not lit.
A lot of states have their laws listed on their DOT websites. Try that!
I've done searches on the Texas site several times when I wasn't sure what their take would be. I love pissing off the local po-po because I am juuusssttt inside the law and they can't touch me. The blue RockBlockers are such an example, as is the front plate delete (displayed in the windshield.) I get the best double takes from some of them now.
(enguard)
(rlaugh)​
 
^^ I can almost guarantee they aren't legal, but if you put amber lights in them you should be ok. Depends on how your state handles inspection. You may have to swap back to your other corner lights before an inspectoin date.
 
^^^You should be ok with those. They are just like the corners I put on my Vue and I went through inspection with no problems last year. The key is to get the amber bulbs. I bought mine at Autozone for around $10.
 
Confusion said:
Yah I live in PA , i just recently bought these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/99-0...150032753213QQihZ005QQitemZ150032753213QQrdZ1

But im not sure if they light up amber.

I'll have to check the dot rules for Pennsylvania.


They look good, and depending on your car color should look good on it too, IMHO. But as RedHot and Kansei both say get amber bulbs, or white LEDs that light up amber. These housings don't seem to come w/any, as is typical.
I also noticed that these say '99-2000 4dr Protege. I don't know as much about Protos as 3's but is that what you have?
Can someone verify that if Confusion has a Pro5 that these will fit for him?
As for a PENNDOT link, here ya' go!
http://www.dot.state.pa.us/

edit: I didn't do ALL the research for you, but this may be closer to what you need:
http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/vehicle_code/index.shtml
 
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I have a 2000 Mazda Protege lx .

Tan.

I looked at the site you gave me and it was descriptive but it kept saying to refer to other places. Im due for inspection in like a month in a half. If i dont install them by then , il just bring them with me and ask them.
 

IMO w/a tan car you could go either way and it wouldn't look funny.
Man! You're not kidding about the PENNDOT site. Can you say, "Lawyer?"
Geez. I thought the Texas laws were vague, but they're easy to search and read compared to Pa's... my home state BTW.
I could find nothing specific, but when I was younger I worked @ a local garage/inspection station and the owner always said, "if it wasn't on the car originally, it's not legal." I always thought he was a little over-the-top on that one, but perhaps not!!?
That said, put in amber bulbs and no one in their right mind will hastle you over them.
I dropped a car I owned 2 full inches and put in European H4 headlights (only legal for motorcycle use) w55/100W hi-beams (not legal at all) and never got pulled over for those. 'Course I was VERY careful no to blind anybody w/my hi-beams too. My former boss would not inspect that car, but I found someone who would... as long as I replaced the bulbs w/the stock 55/60's.

edit: Whoops! Hold the presses. Check this out:
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/067/chapter175/s175.80.html
 
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Sounds good to me, if i have any problems il just put back on the normal ones.

i figure i put out only 50 bucks for em , not too bad.
 
Well $#@* me!! I reviewed the how-to on this and went out on my lunch break to replace my bulbs with some Silverstar's. Well, the DS light has no clip so the bulb is in but not secure. So I proceed to the PS and the damn clip came off in my hand. (pissed)

Just spoke to Jason (Baggie) at http://onlinemazdaparts.com/ and he confirmed my worst fear, can't buy the clip separately. Next stop is the local junkyard/u-pull it to see if they have any Proto's rusting out. I would like to say that Jason knows his s*** and I will gladly do business with him in the future. Before calling him I called my local dealer and the kid I spoke to in parts was telling me I wanted the socket that the bulb plugs into!!!! I told him 3 times it was a clip and everytime he came back with the socket theory! Yikes!!!

**edit**Paper clips FTW. Fabricated a paper clip into a clip to hold the DS socket in place. Works pretty well. I will have to check it out next week to make sure it is holding though. Tried to get the PS clip back on, but no luck as of yet. Would be nice to have some room to work with.
 
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