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Old Apr 1, 2005 | 11:46 AM
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96tegse
'06 Mazdaspeed6 GT
 
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 93
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From: Fairfax, VA
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Originally Posted by dmbfan58
I'm an idiot and I don't know how to replace my headlamp in my 02 RSX. I went to Pep Boys and they picked out the correct bulb for me.

Can someone give me a step-by-step guide on how to do this?
Well, I just did this last night and it is a pain in the ass. Took over an hour on the first try.

First, look on page 244 in the manual, so you have some idea how things are laid out. Note, you 'll either be able to see the parts or feel them but not both at the same time which makes it difficult.

For the drivers side:

- Loosen the battery, 10mm socket required. (may want to remove it entirely since room is scarce)

- Move washer fluid neck and tuck it down next to battery.

- Pull the plug off the back of the bulb

- Removed the rubber gasket - pull on the tab until you can get a finger under the edge- it's pretty sturdy just pull it straight off.

- Un-clip retaining wire - (this was a bitch since you really can't see what you're doing) On the side that sticks out like a tab, push it IN towards the bulb and rotate it slightly - counter clockwise I believe - it will un-hook. Now swing it out of the way.

- Remove bulb holder by pulling straight out. Replace old bulb. Note there are 2 bumps on either side of the bulbs' base. These line up with 2 holes in the reflector. Fortunately you can look in through the front of the headlight and see if they are lining up. If not, you probably have the bulb in backwards - just pull it out and rotate 180 degrees.

- re-attach retaining wire. Bulb feels loose at this point, but will stay in while you're swinging the wire and re-clipping it. Fortunatley, re-clipping wasn't too hard - you can look down between the top of the headlight and the frame and kind of see where the wire is.

- reattach rubber gasket - do outside first, then push in the soft part around the center to get it back on around the bulb base.

- plug in the electrical wire to back of bulb. Note - wires point down towards the ground. This was the single hardest step - there is so little room to work with and you can't see what you're doing.

- try it out to make sure it works

- put battery and washer fluid neck back in place
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