No Brake Lights No Excuse

[BSRU]

Not always an easy job, some vehicle manufacturers seem to delight in making access to anything as difficult as possible, in fact the manual in one of the cars I've used in the past stated that under no circumstances should I attempt to change a bulb myself and the car should be taken to the nearest vauxhall dealer. I attempted to do it myself, and I agreed, that it needed to be taken to the garage to get it done quickly, it took 3 hours to change the bulb!

Three hours, you could change an engine in that amount of time.
I knew it was going to be an easy/quick job when Halfords offered to change them for free for me, which would have been interesting as I had walked to their premises.

 

[Linford]

Three hours, you could change an engine in that amount of time.
I knew it was going to be an easy/quick job when Halfords offered to change them for free for me, which would have been interesting as I had walked to their premises.

3 hours is about as much time needed to change a headlight bulb i a Renault Laguna.

 

[BSRU]

3 hours is about as much time needed to change a headlight bulb i a Renault Laguna.

I always change the stock headlight bulbs on the cars/motorbikes I have owned to better quality ones.
On my current car, a Ford Focus, it took about fifteen minutes to do both, half of that was finding the right socket to undo the -ve battery lead and also find some latex gloves, in order not to touch the bulb.

 

[Linford]

I always change the stock headlight bulbs on the cars/motorbikes I have owned to better quality ones.
On my current car, a Ford Focus, it took about fifteen minutes to do both, half of that was finding the right socket to undo the -ve battery lead and also find some latex gloves, in order not to touch the bulb.

Same here with mine, but I understand that the Lagunas need to have the bumper removed as well as the inner wheel arch to get enough space to work.

The funny thing about this palava is that French road law demands that every car carries a full set of bulbs at all times - which would be impossible to change on the side of the road, and once you have changed it, you would be breaking the law as you no longer are carrying a working spare bulb..unless you carry 2 full sets

 

[Edwards80]

I think these guys came across similar issues -

 

[the_mikey]

The Vauxhall Vectra I had required the front bumper was removed (including fixtures in the wheel arch) to allow the lamp housing to be removed to give enough room to change a bulb! The renault Megane I had at least gave a small hole in the wheel arch that you could feel your way around to change a bulb, although it was never ideal as you couldn't usually locate the bulb correctly in the housing, and required a further visit to the garage so they could remove the bumper, re-fit the bulb so it shows the correct beam pattern.

 

[Norm]

I think I should have gone for a career in gynaecology, as I could do the bulbs in the Megane with no problem.

 

[doctornige]

A Smart Car has to be lifted clear if the ground and the entire undertray has to be removed. It's a garage-only job. There ought to be a law against making it that hard.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

The Vauxhall Vectra I had required the front bumper was removed (including fixtures in the wheel arch) to allow the lamp housing to be removed to give enough room to change a bulb! The renault Megane I had at least gave a small hole in the wheel arch that you could feel your way around to change a bulb, although it was never ideal as you couldn't usually locate the bulb correctly in the housing, and required a further visit to the garage so they could remove the bumper, re-fit the bulb so it shows the correct beam pattern.

The former Vauxhall mechanics I used to work with always had a go at my Austin Mini because it is "too hard to work on". They're not laughing now.

On the subject of brake bulbs; I was cheeky enough to flag down a police car a couple of years ago to tell them they had a brake light out. The response was "I guess I'll have to give myself a ticket".

 

[summerdays]

A couple of weeks ago a motorist alerted Mr Summerdays to the fact one of the headlight bulbs had gone - next day rang up our local garage which does all our servicing and they said pop it round. When he went to pay they said no charge - not even for the bulb!

 

[ufkacbln]

I always check mine by reversing close to the patio doors.

Do you check the brakes before or after your lights?

 

[Brains]

I was told by a cyclist last week that all my reversing and brake lights were out on my Citroen after she watched me do a complicated three point reverse into a small parking space.
I had years of driving Land rovers, so the entire manoeuvre was done in first gear and using the clutch only with allowance for the camber of the road.
She obviously did not believe me so I showed that it was possible to go forward and reverse and stop without using reverse gear, accelerator or the brakes.

 

[LarryDuff]

Rear lights easy to change on my Scenic but I found the front lights impossible - had to take to local garage who only charged me 4 quid to insert 2 bulbs.