Eyesight isn’t only necessary for you but also important for your car. It’s not only incredibly risky when driving a car that has one broken headlamp, but it’s hard to see in the dark as well as your vision will only be able to see what’s ahead of you from one side.
There can be several reasons why your headlamp broke in the first place. It can be either cause of an accident that caused damage to the reflector lens or the headlamp simply reached its limit.
So, the risks and dangers are obvious, but you would also get a hefty receipt when you go to the repairman to fix the headlamp, and you’d also have a high enough chance to be stopped by an officer. To avoid these inconveniences, it’s best to replace an old headlamp yourself, and we will tell you how.
Identifying the causes of broken or burnt headlamps
Before fitting a new headlamp, it’s helpful to know why the headlamp broke or burnt in the first place. Observing the headlamp will help you figure out the causes of it burning out or getting broken. First, by turning on the headlights, you can see which one of the lights are broken. One quick fix to a headlamp issue is that if you’re out driving and one of your headlamps suddenly goes out, you can go and check the headlamp by tapping it lightly with your fist. Doing this will result in making it go on, but this only happens sometimes.
When the light turns on after you’ve tapped it, it indicates that the filament has been burnt out. Hitting it makes the filament shake and makes the light turn on. This is very helpful as you’re not at risk anymore, and you can safely go to an area where you can get fixed completely.
Other causes
- The common cause of a headlamp going out is age. When one or both of your headlamps have reached their time of use, and it’s been a considerably long time since they’ve been in use, chances are they could simply go out cause of old age. Other than age, a drastic change in temperatures like extreme heat or cold can burn the headlamps out as well. These sudden changes in temperature can easily affect the fragile filament in headlamps.
- The new halogen bulbs can have a possibility for dimming, that is, oxidation of their plastic housing. This makes it look either yellow or white in tone and dims the light significantly that it makes it very hard to see in the dark for you. You’d have to change the whole assembly of the light bulb to fix the dimming. It’s always important to make sure your lights are bright, fixing a simple light cluster is very helpful while driving in the dark.
- Cracks in bulb housing can also cause burnout. This is due to halogen bulbs when they cannot take any moisture. So, if you placed a new bulb there and if there’s a crack in the housing, the wetness and humidity will cause the bulb to blow out no matter how new it is.
How to fit in a new headlamp
First, take a look at your owner’s manual to see what sort of headlamps your car has and how would you change the headlamps. Then proceed to do the steps as mentioned below.
Power off
For obvious safety precautions, power off your car and ensure that it’s turned on by taking out your keys from the ignition. This may sound like an obvious step, but there have been certain accidents because the owners didn’t take their keys out. Check out these guides on how to program your key and start your car without keys.
Locate the headlamp holder
Open your engine compartment and find the headlamp holder that is supposed to be on the front side of your car.
Disconnect the power wires
Under the light bulb base, there are around three wires. Push down the cap or clip that is holding them down.
Unscrew old headlamp
Every car has different ways to take its headlamp out. In certain cars, it’s very easy, while in others, it’s a little complicated. At times, the air filter housing or the car’s battery gets in the way. At times, you have to take out the inner fender and look behind it.
After the headlamp is open, you can understand the way how the bulb is fixed and how can you take it out. Understanding how it’s fixed gives you an idea of how you can take it out and put a new bulb in by doing the process in reverse.
Screw the new headlamp
Avoid the glass while screwing the new bulb. Dirt and oil can cause damage to the bulb after its heat up. Close the car hood after you’ve done screwing in the new bulb and replacing the old one. Your car’s headlamps will now work perfectly fine, and you won’t have to worry whenever you’re driving on a dark road.
Sometimes replacing a light bulb is easy in your car, but sometimes it’s not, various light components take different methods, and all of them have their own way of being replaced. Knowing how to reinstall lighting components keeps your car lights always in top condition.
Conclusion
Not only fitting a new headlamp is important but replacing any other car part is always important. Each car part is different and requires an equally different way to be handled with. Not only that, but each car has a different method for replacing each of its parts. It’s always helpful to keep your manual close whenever you’re in the hood replacing parts.
