S1 Headlight Bulb Needs Changing

[nordberg]

Hi all,

I noticed this morning when I was bumper to bumper with another car as I crawled through Derby City Centre that my drivers side headlamp bulb has gone. So I thought I would pop on here and try and find a how to guide to replacing the bulb.FAQ \ wiki seems a bit difficult to navigate and didn't seem to come up with any hits on the search side of things  . So my question is how difficult is it to change the bulbs on an S1 Elise? Any help or guidance appreciated 

 

Andy

[Alex B]

Hi all,

I noticed this morning when I was bumper to bumper with another car as I crawled through Derby City Centre that my drivers side headlamp bulb has gone. So I thought I would pop on here and try and find a how to guide to replacing the bulb.FAQ \ wiki seems a bit difficult to navigate and didn't seem to come up with any hits on the search side of things . So my question is how difficult is it to change the bulbs on an S1 Elise? Any help or guidance appreciated

 

Andy

jack car up.

Remove wheel

Peel back arch liner

Remove electrical connection

Remove water seal

You will then see to metal retaining clips, these under from the top and fold downwards.

Then remove the bulb.

To refit it's just the reverse.

 

 

If you are local to derby I'm happy to pop round n help if you need it.

[danwebster]

With practice you won't need to remove the wheel or jack it up, just wind the wheel to one side, remove the inspection cover in the wheel arch liner and pop the bulb out and replace. 2 minute job. 

[kayj_prod]

I agree with Dan, it's possible to change just through the inspection cover. It could be worth taking the opportunity to check condition of the steel parts though.

[nordberg]

Alex, Dan, Keith,

Thanks for your responses. I will have a go at doing it myself (Cheers Alex) through the access panel. TBH I wasn't sure where you gained access to the bulb so it's been a great help just to know that that's where I need to look.   

[dobbo]

Even with the wheel fully over, I still find it easier to pull back the wheelarch liner than faff around with the access grommet.  Once you've pulled it back, you can get one arm in to hold it back - easy to check everything around the headlight then as well.

[Phil S1]

Agree with Chris, easier just to pull the liner back with the wheel on full lock. Helps even more if you jack the car up on that side as it lowers the wheel further out of the way.

[Dennis]

I just take the lamp out and then fit a new bulb, less risk of touching the bulb (can be done with the wheel still on and on the ground)

[rocketian]

Upgrade all the bulbs while you are doing it.  Replace all of them so you don't have to do it again next month - and use bulbs like Osram Nightbreakers or equivalent.  If you replace the sidelight bulbs with LEDs - get good ones, the cheap ones don't last long.

 

Don't buy the bulbs from Halfords - you will find them on the net for half the price

[Dennis]

I have my cheap ebay led's on all the time I drive the car, never had an issue with them failing (on my 2nd set in about 10 years, only changed the last ones as the newer LED's were brighter) I have an S1

[rocketian]

I put really cheap (<£3 a pair) LED on and they lasted about a week and the replacements didn't work at all - maybe I was unlucky, but changing them is such a faff that I would rather spend a bit more and not have to worry about them

[KurtB]

Halfords bulbs are incredibly cheap on a trade card, a £15 set becomes around £2.50. Just saying...

[Sundaydriver]

Any heads up on where you'd buy new headlamps from, mine are the usual condition I guess, chrome a bit jaded...

[jody391]

Elise parts and Elise shop do the head lights.

 

I've just fitted HID's which were £26 from Ebay.

 

Vast improvement Night and Day improvement! Literally

[Sundaydriver]

Nice ! What's the plan when you get it MOT'd, is it an issue ???