How do you repace the *uc**g bulbs on a LH car!

First, sorry for the all the *

I want to replace the orginal weak headlight bulbs on my 96 Eagle Vision with super bright versions.

But when I try to remove the 2 (per unit) torx screws to pull off the cover I run into trouble!

The torx head of the screwdrive won't engage the torx head of the screws on the left headlamp.

The screws on the right headlamp just trun, and turn, and turn, and.....

Is there a another way of getting to the bulbs?

Or should I go back to the garage where I just had my coolent problem fix and let them do the change?

(maybe along with the never chaneged in 5 years air filter also due to striped screws!)

It just seems so strange that the other major lights are so easy to change, yet, the most critical light of all is a *uc""g pain.

Reply to
Zentraleinheit
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Let me suggest that you go to

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forums. There are experts on 1st as well as 2nd gen LH cars there. You'll probably find the answers already there (good forum search engine, also some 1st gen FAQ's and How-To's), or if not, post your questions there.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Be careful. The only thing you can really do to "upgrade" those lamps is to use something like Sylvania Xtravision (or equivalent) bulbs, and put relays in the circuit to bypass the very thin wiring that feeds the lamps. Using over-wattage bulbs is a recipe for disaster with that plastic lamp housing, and given how expensive it is to replace you REALLY don't want to melt it.

Actually, there is an option but it requires a friend in Europe. You can replace the entire headlamp housing with a set from a European Chrysler Vision, which has SUPERB headlamps. But be prepared to sink some $$ and time into it because you have to do some fabrication, since the European cars have automagic headlamp levelling motors and the US cars don't. I did this for my wife's car many years ago, and never regretted it. But doing it for a car much closer to its end-of-life doesn't make financial sense.

Before going too much further, you might want to contact Dan Stern at Daniel Stern Lighting, who used to be a regular poster to this newsgroup:

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You gotta find a way to clamp the captive nuts to keep them from spinning. Once you do that, you can glue them back in place with epoxy, and you won't have the problem again.

You can remove the entire lamp-and-carrier assembly. But the third screw is deeply buried down behind the front bumper, and a major pain to get at.

' That one's easier, because you can use a pair of vice-grips to "pinch" the plastic around the captive nuts that are spinning in the plastic housing. Pinch the plastic bulges around the outside of the captive nutswith the vice-grips, unscrew the screws. Then glue the captive nuts back in place with a stout epoxy, after cleaning the plastic and the nuts carefully. End of problem.

Well, it wasn't SUPPOSED to be, its just that the captive nuts break loose and then its difficult. The headlamps on the whole first-gen LH series of vehicles are an abomination. I've heard that the guy who actually designed the original lamps did a great job, but they were deemed "too costly" by the pencil-necked bean-counters and the disastrous lights that the cars have are the result. :-(

Reply to
Steve

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