headlight bulbs

Darren C said:
Nice to see that you are still a regular Peter and have retained your dad's A2 to this day.

Hope life is good.

Cheers,

Darren
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Hi Darren

Yep I'm I'm on here still, a lot more lately. Still a superb forum for advice etc even though I don't post much, I don't even on the bodybuilding forums, but I'm always lurking in the background :D.

I'm still loving the A2 and it's made even more special as it was my dads and he adored it, it will never be sold! It's such a great car.

Hope you are well
 
Thanks

Thanks to all for this thread. Changed both H7 bulbs myself in less than 25 minutes. Would've taken me 25 hours without removing the entire headlights with those torx.
Brilliant.
 
I've got to replace a headlamp on mine today :)

Well I must say that was easier than I thought, I removed the headlight unit, it all went very smoothly :)
 
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Just replaced one of my Philips X-Treme dippeds (H7) that had burned out. I had already swapped the sidelights with UltraLeds and that was trivial, but this time it took me 30 minutes, because I couldn't figure out how to put the damn clip back on, until finally I had to unhook the other cluster, open it to see how it fitted, and then it became clear.

On the H7s, first you hook the clip on the right, then you hook the middle part over the bulb fitting, and only then you can try to hook the clip on the left. Less than a minute after figuring this out!
 
Once again the forum comes to the rescue! I've got to change on of the bulbs in my A2 and having had a quick look under the bonnet just now, I was dreading it.
 
Remember, ideally, when changing your bulbs, if one blows you should change the pair so that they're both the same brightness and colour.
 
This worked a charm.. removing the units complete take seconds and saves a lot of fiddling about.. and to remove the wire clips just press them into the housing, move right and release the pressure...

One question.. I went to Halfords and the book said H7 for dip and main so I purchased a Bosch H7 bulb to replace the blown driver side hi beam... then I read on hear that the buld should be a H3.....

... anyways whilst fuming I thought I would remove the unit and take the bulb to Halford to aid my rage and anger.. however I found the car does indeed have H7's on both hi beams....

Does this just mean that some fool previously had followed the Halford gospel and installed H7's instead of H3's (they fit with no issues... or was there a change somewhere along the line (2003 Sport)

I am guessing that the H3's have the same footprint and fitment but the bulbs are bigger and brighter so I should have these installed

Anyone care to comment??
 
Your dipped beam (headlights) uses H7s. The main (full) beam uses H3s.

The two bulbs are very different:
The H7s have two metal spade connectors (one positive, one negative).
The H3s are built with a single small wire permanently attached that supplies the bulb with power.

If you found H7s in both the dipped and main beam, I wonder how they were electrically connected...? I've never directly compared the footprints, butI think the H3 footprint is significantly smaller.

Hope this helps,

Tom
 
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ok.. then maybe I am being a plank or there is something odd on my car...

Which light are side light??... closest to the wings or closest to the grille?

On mine the outside (closest to the wings) are side lights and the inside (closest to the grille) are the hi beam....

... maybe someone have wired them the wrong way around

Hope that makes sense
 
Hi

Looking at the front of the car.

The first bulb nearest the service flap is the dipper beam

Then in the middle is the main beam

Then in the little plastic corrugated looking tube sits the side lights

Then indicators are the last nearest the wing.

Hi beams are H3 for the A2 lamps and dipped beam is H7. H3 are high beam as they are ratted 100 watts. The dipped beams are 50 watts, so using them as high beam you wouldnt see a lot more than you do with dipped on.

John
 
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bulbs

Try a vauxhall corsa to change the main beam and side light bulbs you have to drop the front bumper, i would say the a2 is one of the easiest to change the bulbs
 
bobsimes said:
Try a vauxhall corsa to change the main beam and side light bulbs you have to drop the front bumper, i would say the a2 is one of the easiest to change the bulbs
Click to expand...

Same as my uncles Astra, he has to take the bumper off. Crazy really

John
 
Bought a pair of
Philips H7 X-treme Vision +100% and Osram H3 Night Breaker PLUS +90%
as recommended in another thread. About €50 total for both pairs incl.shipping from Germany.

-remove the bonnet - check
-undo the 2 screws (T30 torx), one on the top of the headlamp - check
-the other nestled between it and the service module area. - one went OK, the other one after too many minutes of frustration.....

...well,well,well, what have we here?
shot-2011-12-09-20-42-51.png
Rust inside my dear aluminium car? :mad: Anyone got a spare screw? :eek:

-slide the headlamp forwards and out, no need to disconnect any wiring.
I do hope that it's actually possible to disconnect the multiplug/wiring? Not that I managed to do that tonight.

At that point, finally removing the rusted screw, the situation was - quoting Churchy's earlier post;
Cold, dark, hungry!

-then just pull the wire clip aside to gain access to the inside and the bulbs.

This part seemed rather easy to get opened, a little bit harder to put it back on again.
Anyway, looking at the inside of the back of the headlight seemed depressing. If I'd tried to remove some bulbs, I think I would have done more harm than good at that time. It would be a lot easier to remove the whole headlight from it's connected plug and do the bulb changing elsewhere.
 
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Hello everyone - firstly Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Just followed this guide which has been invaluable - thanks so much to Mike for originally posting the answer :)

Now I've done it on both headlights, with the lights coming out and back in, should I be concerned about headlight alignment? I've tried to put them back in exactly as I found them, but I'm worried that just a fraction of a degree out could make a massive difference to the alignment. What do you reckon?

Cheers

Alex.
 
Find a vertical wall (a garage door is ideal, as it's white) and park a couple of feet away from it. Turn your lights on and then reverse back about 10 feet. If the ground is flat and level, the beam pattern on the garage door or wall should drop lower as you reverse. If the beams go up or stay the same, then your lights need dipping and adjusting. You can also check that the headlamp motors are working too whilst you're doing this.

Cheersm

Mike
 
Well that was hardly a b+llache. Pfft! Actually once I'd done the first one, the second one was much quicker.
 
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