Lighting the road

Pardon me while I grumble.

I retired from the auto industry almost a dozen years ago (that’s not what I’m grumbling about). Sixteen months before then I bought a new car using my employee discount. I still have and use that car. It’s now 13 years old with 174K miles. It has been through one big accident. It carried me back and forth to Dad’s house over the 30 months it took to clean it out, which added 40K miles. It still runs good, starts promptly (though on occasion needing a second try), and I figure it will go to at least 200K, which will take about 2½ years.

Though there are days (thankfully they are rare) I can get really annoyed with the car and the company that designed it.

And – you guessed it – this weekend was one of those times.

Thursday evening I noticed the driver side headlight was out. I didn’t go anywhere Friday, so didn’t deal with it until Saturday, when I knew the weather would be a tiny bit warmer.

I got out the owner’s manual which listed helpful instructions: pull off the bulb cap (a piece of rubber that keeps the bulb assembly clean), twist off the bulb retainer ring, pull the bulb straight out. Install in reverse order.

But the instructions don’t say anything about removing the power connector and how to align the bulb to get it to fit back in.

And the instructions don’t say anything about trying to do this in a cramped space where one can’t see what one is doing and can barely fit two hands into the space.

I fussed with it for about 15 minutes, long enough to see the spare bulb I had wasn’t a headlight bulb. I went off to an evening movie (First Man, an enjoyable show) hoping the police didn’t see me with a dud headlight.

Sunday afternoon I went to an auto part store and bought replacement bulbs, getting two, figuring the other will likely go soon, which is what happened once before with this car. Then in the warm (50F, warm for December) afternoon I worked at changing the bulb. Between Saturday and Sunday I had these difficulties: Getting the bulb cap off. Getting the bulb out – the wires weren’t long enough to get the tip of the bulb back far enough to get it out of the housing. Getting the bulb off the connector (I think I broke half the lock). Getting the new bulb back in the housing (for the same reason I had trouble getting the old one out). And getting the new bulb aligned with the tabs of the reflectors and pushing it in far enough to fasten down the retainer ring. I may not have had the retainer ring on the right way and nothing on it gave me a hint which way it should go.

The tiny space where my hands had to go was hemmed in by other engine compartment components (the space around the engine is quite efficiently packed). One of those was held in place by a clip with a sharp edge. I had been struggling with it for a half hour when that edge drew blood for the second time.

With that I decided I’m done. I can take the whole mess somewhere – like my usual service center – and have them do it. But I still had an event to attend Sunday evening. So I got the bulb as close as I could to the intended position, verified it worked, and went on my way.

After that evening event I wrote a letter to the company’s customer relations office complaining that changing a headlight should not be this difficult, that it was a very poor design, and that their manual was quite inadequate. I seriously doubt they’ll do much for a 13 year old design. However, I hope it has some influence on future models. The letter went out in today’s mail.

This afternoon I went to the service center and told them to change both bulbs. Might as well have them change the second while they’re at it. I hate sitting in their waiting room with the TV on, so I walked to a library a few blocks away to sit and read.

When I got back to the service center they said the bulb had melted into the plastic of the reflector. They refused to try to extract it. The bulb works (meaning it is legal), but the bulb isn’t positioned properly within the system of reflectors so there isn’t much of a forward beam.

I talked to the service guy and asked him whether I’ll be struggling to see because the light isn’t where it needs to be. He didn’t test it to tell where the light is going, though pulling up to my garage door I can see where it is going – up and to the side.

To replace the melted area they have to replace the whole light and reflector assembly on that side of the car. And to do that they have to take off and put on the bumper. Total cost, parts and labor, is $180. So I could leave it as is. They couldn’t do it for a few days anyway because the assembly isn’t in stock.

As for the other light, they did replace it with the bulb I brought. Half hour of labor, $56. Yeah, a shop that knows what it is doing and it still takes them a half hour. That’s much more than they charge for an oil change and full inspection. Which mean the owner’s manual and its, “Pull the bulb straight out. Install in reverse order,” is laughable.

I asked the service guy if the more recent models are designed so bulb replacement is easy (or at least easier). Short answer: a few models yes, many models no.

So perhaps I’ll get strange looks a couple years from now when I walk into the dealership and say, “Before I buy this car show me how easy it is to replace a headlight.”