Mazda 3 s Changing Low Beam Light Bulbs

[markandersen]

Hey guys, total newbie here, my wife has an '04 3 s. Her bulbs are now starting to burn out and I don't want to stick the OEM bulbs in their from the dealership. I bought some nice PIAA's but am stuck as to how to install them.

I am a Scion guy (see profile) and ours our super easy but it looks like a big pain and appears that you have to remove parts to get to the clip that holds them in.

I searched for a step by step how to with pics for this but didn't come up with anything.

Is there one or is there an easy way of doing this? Lemme know...thanks guys

 

[tsunami]

i haven't done anything to mine yet but the guys that have changed their bulbs over to HIDs didn't have any major issues i thought you just released teh clip and slid the lil b**** out???? maybe some one else can enlighten us??

 

[Protege2886]

It's not that bad - I changed my buddy's bulbs the other day. The biggest pain is trying to fit your hand in behind the driver's side headlight but it's do-able.

All you have to do is this:

1) Unplug the connection at the back of the headlight
2) Remove the rubber surround
3) Push the metal bracket in (towards the front of the headlight) and down (towards the ground)
4) Repeat the process in reverse when the new bulbs are in place.

one tip - when you are putting the little spring loaded bracket back in place try to make sure that it is coming across the lip around the base of the bulb. It's hard to explain but you'll understand when you see it.

 

[markandersen]

thanks guys...I will try that...doesn't help that my hands are enormous and the gap is ridiculously small...thanks again

 

[BHOUST528]

It's not that bad - I changed my buddy's bulbs the other day. The biggest pain is trying to fit your hand in behind the driver's side headlight but it's do-able.

All you have to do is this:

1) Unplug the connection at the back of the headlight
2) Remove the rubber surround
3) Push the metal bracket in (towards the front of the headlight) and down (towards the ground)
4) Repeat the process in reverse when the new bulbs are in place.

one tip - when you are putting the little spring loaded bracket back in place try to make sure that it is coming across the lip around the base of the bulb. It's hard to explain but you'll understand when you see it.

Nice right up but you forgot top mention you have to remove the black adaptor on the old headlight and the place it on the new one ......

 

[MM3Canuck]

It's not that bad - I changed my buddy's bulbs the other day. The biggest pain is trying to fit your hand in behind the driver's side headlight but it's do-able.

All you have to do is this:

1) Unplug the connection at the back of the headlight
2) Remove the rubber surround
3) Push the metal bracket in (towards the front of the headlight) and down (towards the ground)
4) Repeat the process in reverse when the new bulbs are in place.

one tip - when you are putting the little spring loaded bracket back in place try to make sure that it is coming across the lip around the base of the bulb. It's hard to explain but you'll understand when you see it.

BTW, its a pain in the nuts to get that bracket back on...so dont give up...and be careful, because the more you rub that bracket against the case, the more tiny pieces will fall into the housing...this happened to me, and I had to stick a tiny hose (hooked up to a vaccum) into the housing to get it all cleaned out.

Maybe Im dumb, maybe the HID I got just don't fit 100% in the housing...I dunno.

 

[markandersen]

write up looks good, however, I am just putting new halogens in, not HID's, wish my wife cared enough to put them in her car...just gonna get some PIAA Super
Plasma GTX bulbs, nothing too crazy...
My xB is where the car money goes...thanks again guys!