C5 Headlight Removal

[simonwjones]

Do I need to remove the front bumper to take out my headlights?

I know there is a third screw hiding somewhere, but is it visible with the bumper inplace.

Any diagrams or help on this appreciated

Cheers

Simon

 

[matt_o121]

i remove the bumper - soe say it can be done without - i have never managed it!

there are three bolts:


and a guide which you need to remove the light from:


much easier with the bumber off.

matt

 

[meatychi]

Is this so that you can place your HID upgrade kit underneath the headlight?

I sure hope I dont have to remove my bumper!

 

[bigdavie]

i didnt bother putting my hid kit under the light just tiewrapped one to the abs pump bracket and the other under a piece of plastic above the maf sensor and yes you can take the light out without removing the bumper its fiddly though !

 

[simonwjones]

yes its for the hid upgrade

Ive found the top 2 scres and the one hidden through the hole in the wing. managed to get that out with a long 1/4" drive socket and a T30 torx .

Then I noticed this one

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii78/matt_o121/A94-0107.png


Cant see how I can get to this without taking the bumper off

I bit of reasearch found that this last bolt wasnt fitted until about 2001-2002.

Typical

Booked some ramp time next week in my mate garage.

Whilst I was messing about I noticed my viscous fan resting against the radiator. It had come undone. Took my half an hour to get the barsteward back on. Not much space between the engine and radiator.

It seems to spin ok , just have to see if it comes off again. I beleive if the bearing is on the way out they can come loose and work their way off. Normally the direction of rotation keeps them tightly on.

Lucky it cold outside




Cheers

Simon

 

[matt_o121]

i have it on my 98 model!
it is not a bolt
mine has a plastic guide peice which locates the light unit on the inner edge,
it just slots in.

 

[maxlbrown]

like bigdavie i found it easier to put 1 on the abs bracket nice and easy access should a bulb go then rip it all out again. the other i put on the front of the air box behind the light again easy access. i was not sure about placing the hid under the light for the reason of connecting it all up with the light out and it was much quicker. Still took an hour or so though.

M

 

[matt_o121]

i have had another look at mine today, you should be able to mount the cage underneath the headlight without removing the headlight at all.

the below image shows the location of the bracket on the o/s headlight.



if you remove the inlet truncking and the air cleaner you will have plenty of room to work, and it is held in place with a single screw in to a hole already on the headlamp.



once you have done this side you should be ready to work with less space on the nearside.

with the brackets screwed on each side the ballast then slips in to place and is held by the bracket.

it can be easily removed if required and looks much better in my opinion!

 

[meatychi]

Max / Bigdavie - can you provide pics of where you have stuck your Ballast - My kit arrived to day so I would like to stick them in tomorrow.


Update!

Arrrgh! It turns out I have a dodgy ballast!

 

[matt_o121]

does the ballast not work?

 

[maxlbrown]

I dont have picks as i cant seem to be able to post them any way.

Ill try to explain.
the nr side I have tiewrwpped the ballast bracket top and bottom on the front of the abs pump bracket. and run the wires under the power steering fluid reservoir to the front lights

The OS i removed the bottom of the air box. 2x 10mm bolts. and mounted the ballast bracket to the lower front of the air box. again plenty of wire available. everything accessible and reasonably neat.

The only thing i am finding yes there bright and yes there white and brilliant on reflected surfaces except the dont actually improve the light on the road due to the colour. where as halogen are slightly yellow they colour the road the hids dont. Again its something to get used to.

Do you find this big davie

m

 

[meatychi]

Thanks for your replies gents!

I have successfully mounted one of the ballasts to the ABS Pump as suggested.

It turns out that the BLUE wire on the rubber grommet is+ve and the yellow on my car is +VE

After swapping around of ballasts and bulb units, I have manged to determine that one of the ballasts is ******!

I sent an email to VVME to find out what my options were, this is th reply I received:

Dear Customer

Thanks for choosing our product, of course we can do resend, exchange or refund to sovle the problem, All of these are based on the policy which we listed on eBay.
As we tested all the kits before we shipped out, so first I want you double confirm which part is defectve,
Check with the Polarity, you may need to reverse the wires (Postive and Ground) to test it , Disable the Day Running Light, exchange each parts to make sure which part is defective. and make sure there is really a defective part.

If you still think there is some problem with it. You have the following options, but option 3 is recommended:
1. Send the WHOLE kit back to us, we will test it again, if there is really a problem we can do exchange or refund! If the problem comes from the products, we will cover all shipping fee, while if there is no problem with the products, you need to pay the shipping fee for shipping back.
2. Send defective part back to us, then pay $25 for shipping fee, so once we receive the defective part, we will send you a new part.
3. Just pay $35 to us, so you don't need to send the defetive part back to us, and once the payment received, we will send you the new part immediately. (That is only for one relay harness or one ballast or one bulb)"

My question is: Is it safe just to swap the polarity around? Surely it cant be safe!

If this fails then I guess the best option would be to go for option 3!

 

[maxlbrown]

Sorry to see your having problems. Big davey and my kits where fine. i found that the cable to the wiring harness you could not change as all the connectors where one way oo you could not really get it wrong without a hammer.

Not sure what you best course of action is i would guess cost is a big problem here as the kit is under warranty but they want 25-35 dollars to replace especially when they charged 35 for shipping originally

Below is a link for replacement ballasts but they want £35 for a new ballast

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/hid-accessories.html

 

[bigdavie]

i take it you have the 4300 lamps max ? i went for the 6000k and it has more than doubled my field of vision .

 

[maxlbrown]

Yes i wanted brightness. dont get me wrong down dark lanes they are superb its seems just if there is any light at all the effect seems a little lost.

But as i said i can read reflective signs etc far better and lines than before. i can now understand the issue with light colours they do make a difference. Pure white does not reflect as well from grey roads but brown or concrete brilliant.

I can see that the blue tints though giving less light would colour the road sufficiently to make a difference.

I may look into changing the bulbs in the future however my daughter commented last night that my lights seem blue. I know there 4300 as i have just checked for meaty chi on the wiring.

Still i love them i wouldn't say they make a huge difference over the uprated bulbs Phillips +50s I had before but they are better and brighter. still it was a cheap upgrade and if i dont like them i can always put the old bulbs back.

PS any one know if these effect the mot. I cant see they would as they dont change the beam patterns.

As some factory fit HIDS have a longer straighter throw these have to have auto leveling.

Max

 

[meatychi]

Very Strange!

i got chance to re-visit looking at my ballast situation and all is well!

Very, Very, Strange - BUT happy days!

 

[matt_o121]

has it just started working?

i find one of mine won't turn on sometimes, but a quick off and on sorts it out!

 

[meatychi]

Yes I now have two fully working HID Conversions.

I have followed suit and placed one ballast on the ABS PUMP and the other on my air filter.

They dont half make my SIDE LIGHTS look yellow!

Roadside signs are a lot more visible and country lanes are great!

I have to say - I should have done it long ago and it is well worth the 45 SPUDS.

 

[simonwjones]

Update on mine.

I caught my front bumper on a high kerb the other day, so the bumper had to come off to straighten things up.

the fourth point holding the headlights in on thge bottom left looking from the front is a screw and not a just a location lug on mine.

The ballast fit perfectly under the headlight assembly. They slide in and a s single screw holds them in place.

As I was using my mates ramp and borrowed one of his mechanics to help me refit the bumper, I mounted the ballasts and decided to fit the rest later.

First problem.

As my bulbs are H7 they also have a small metal clamp wich is used to locate the bulb in the headlamp. This clips onto the connector block as well, but comes off easy enough. Problem is the cables off the HID lamp need to thread through this so that the metal clamp sit beneath the Hid base. The cables wont go through the hole as they are too big.

My idea is to cut the holder with some snips so that I can prise it apart slightly and the cables through.

Think a little visit to the dealer this morning might be in order to get a couple of spares, just incase it screws up and I cant gte mt normal bulbs back in.

Has any body else done this with H7 bulbs as I know the earlier A6's were H1's

Simon

 

[simonwjones]

Wellthe dealer recogns that the part in question is part of the headlight assembly.

I would have expected that the bulb be heldin place with the normal sprung clip, but no, not mine.

I took the plunge and cut a small slot in the bracket so that I could pass the cables for the bulb through.

WOW what a difference, its like Ive been driving with 2 candles and jamjars in the past.

Very pleased with the outcome and the price.

Simon

 

[meatychi]

What with all this fog as of late and my new HIDS - even my fogs are looking a tad yolky!

My right headlight still fails to start everytime first time but works eventually.

It can't be doing much good flicking the switch so often to ignite the gases.

£45 still well spent though.