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Robert Macy[_2_] Robert Macy[_2_] is offline
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Default OT Grumpy old man. Moan mutter grumble ...

On Mar 14, 7:38*pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
"Chris Bartram" wrote in message

...





On 14/03/2012 02:03, Arfa Daily wrote:


It's actually not that difficult to get them in
wrong when you are working in a space that just about allows you to get
two fingers in. The metal retaining clip can be hard to get back on
under those conditions in the first place, and it only takes a little
more force to get it to clip at least on one side, over a wrongly fitted
bulb. I managed to do it on my son's car, but realised that I was only
able to get one side on easily, and it didn't 'feel' right. I can see
how kids without any experience, would give up with just one side
latched, if the bulb appeared to be holding in there, and would figure
that they must have got it right if it lit up ...


Arfa


Yep, I've done it. It's surprisingly easy to get the bulb in upside down,
and also easy to break the damned retaining clip, when you can't see how
it undoes. If you're very ham-fisted about it, a replacement lamp unit is
your prize for ****ing it up :-/.


As coincidence would have it, I had to fit a replacement bulb in the
missus's car today. On hers, the correct way to replace the bulb is to
remove the headlamp assembly, which is quite easy. Once you have the
assembly out, it is easy to clip off the lamp box cover, and then to release
the bulb retaining clip. Obviously, with the assembly laying flat in front
of you, you can see exactly what you are doing, so just for sport, I decided
to see how easy it would be to fit the bulb wrongly. And the answer ?
Vanishingly so. There is a single tab on the bulb, and a flat side. The seat
in the reflector has a corresponding cut out and profile, and if you drop
the bulb in so that these line up, it sits on the seat totally flat, and
both sides of the retaining clip go on easily, as you would expect. However,
the bulb also 'locates' - sort of - in a couple of other rotational
positions, but now it is sitting at an angle in the seat. The clip again
fits easily on the side that is lowest on the seat, and although I didn't
actually take it that far, the clip on the raised side would have latched in
with a bit of force. It's only a bit of thin piano wire bent to shape.

So there we have it. The bulbs on my wife's car could, at a pinch, be
replaced with the lights in situ, and if you didn't know that the right
method was to take the lamp out, you might well try to do a bulb replacement
'in place'. If you did, I'd say that there would be a fair chance of getting
it in wrong, as lots of people seem to be doing ...

Arfa


brand of car?