TD5 - How many hours to change a light bulb...

[Andy J]

So i had my first headlight bulb failure since getting my TD5. Ok, just get a new bulb and pop the bonnet and do the business i thought! Oh no, LR in their wisdom have made it much more challenging than that on the TD5.

So with a bare metal Disco II, i have to get a cross headed screw driver, remove 3 screws on the grill, and then 3 on the actual headlight in question, 1 of which is hidden by the grill (class thinking there mr LR designers)!

BUT!

The car i bought also came with an A-Bar (rubbery one) and headlight protectors - so i also have to remove these to get at the darned screw to get the headlight out.

Now of course bulbs would normally blow in broad daylight whilst your car is sat outside your garage with a full workshop at your disposal, rather than when it is cold, dark, rainy and miserable in the winter whilst you are away from home! I kid you not it took me 1.5 to 2 hours to change 1 god damned headlamp bulb, all because the engine bay is too tight to allow you to get in behind the bulb and replace (as with D1 models) and the people who designed the A-bar use allen key headed nut and bolt combos that fail to undo without turning the inaccessible nuts. I even think its an official LR a-bar and it covers access to the screw(s) in question.

Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Rant over but as you can imagine i would like to remove the A-bar permanently, along with the headlight protectors so that the next time that this inevitably happens i can do it in half-hour :-)

However this leaves me with 2 nice holes on the front of each wing which were put there to mount the headlight protectors onto.

Are there any plugs i can buy that will match the paintwork or any other solutions that people are aware of that i can fill these holes with?

Thanks

Andy

[JimAttrill]

On a Disco you just pull the headlight out which seems very easy to me. No screwdrivers required.

[BogMonster]

Mine too but I suspect he has one of the later D2s with the horrid frog eyed headlights, I've not tried doing it on one of those. Given the cost of the headlights they probably are glued, welded, riveted, screwed and taped into place so nobody can filch them

[Les Henson]

Yes it does take about an hour or more to replace the bulb - the plastic insert that the retaining screws go into sometimes spin along with it, which makes it even harder to do. Not the worst by a long shot though - some euroboxes take 3-hours or more to replace a bulb, requiring the front end assembly to be removed (both headlamps in a single frame).

Les.

[ashtray]

Try changing a bulb on a smart, complete front end off, also you can only access 3 of the 6 spark plugs without removing the rear end. Word of advice to anyone offered to do any sort of work on a smart car - dont

[Comical Engineer]

Rear bulbs on a new Audi A4 - about 2 hours and half the boot lining out!

[steven Hart]

So i had my first headlight bulb failure since getting my TD5. Ok, just get a new bulb and pop the bonnet and do the business i thought! Oh no, LR in their wisdom have made it much more challenging than that on the TD5.

So with a bare metal Disco II, i have to get a cross headed screw driver, remove 3 screws on the grill, and then 3 on the actual headlight in question, 1 of which is hidden by the grill (class thinking there mr LR designers)!

BUT!

The car i bought also came with an A-Bar (rubbery one) and headlight protectors - so i also have to remove these to get at the darned screw to get the headlight out.

Now of course bulbs would normally blow in broad daylight whilst your car is sat outside your garage with a full workshop at your disposal, rather than when it is cold, dark, rainy and miserable in the winter whilst you are away from home! I kid you not it took me 1.5 to 2 hours to change 1 god damned headlamp bulb, all because the engine bay is too tight to allow you to get in behind the bulb and replace (as with D1 models) and the people who designed the A-bar use allen key headed nut and bolt combos that fail to undo without turning the inaccessible nuts. I even think its an official LR a-bar and it covers access to the screw(s) in question.

Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Rant over but as you can imagine i would like to remove the A-bar permanently, along with the headlight protectors so that the next time that this inevitably happens i can do it in half-hour :-)

However this leaves me with 2 nice holes on the front of each wing which were put there to mount the headlight protectors onto.

Are there any plugs i can buy that will match the paintwork or any other solutions that people are aware of that i can fill these holes with?

Thanks

Andy

I seem to recall in 1997 when working in Germany that there is a legal(in USA) requirement of 30 minutes to change a light bulb. I found that out when doing a study on the then New Ford Cougar which I believe require taking the grill, front bumper trim front bumper and Bumper structure, to do that the needed jacking up about a foot to get the bumper off. Not to sure how they manage to get away with it

[michael100]

I know I am going to get a lot of stick with this comment but here goes........if its going to take so long to change a bulb, why not let Halfrauds change it for £4.99 ? I certainly wouldnt be messing around with something that took me two hours + when I can get the numpty at Halfrauds to do it for a fiver. I know they aint the most competent bunch but surely, surely they can change a bulb.

[JimAttrill]

I know they aint the most competent bunch but surely, surely they can change a bulb.

You reckon? It doesn't sound too easy and they are expensive things to break.

[M&S]

You reckon? It doesn't sound too easy and they are expensive things to break.

I was going to ask a question but think it fits in with this thread a bit, so hopfully you don't mind me asking here?

How good are the headlights on your D2 (I have the new fancy ones also). Driving home last night we both commented on how rubbish the headlights seem to be. High is fine, but low is pants

Stephanie said that as we passed other cars on the motorway our lights seemed to be shining the same distance as theirs on the road. Maybe it's because we are sat higher up that they don't seem as effective? I have to assume that they are set correctly as it has passed the MOT and they shouldn't have moved since then...

Just an observation, and wondering what you think. Cheers.