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2000 Corolla - Headlights

By eh, November 22, 2008



eh^

How hard is it to change the headlights on a 2000 corolla ?

i bought my corolla used and dont have the manual.

just the obvious screws, plus one screw that you will probably need to partially remove the bumper to get to

How hard is it to change the headlights on a 2000 corolla ?

 

i bought my corolla used and dont have the manual.

Hello and Welcome to the forum.

 

It depends if you just want to replace the bulb inside or the whole headlamp assembly?

The bulb is very easy to replace - just find the bulb harness (rearmost section of the lamp assembly), give it a 1/3 turn counter-clockwise, and pull straight out. Remove defective bulb, install new bulb (best to handle with a plain tissue or with gloves - natural oils in you skin will cause premature bulb burnout), install harness in reverse order.

For the entire headlamp assembly - as the previous post alluded to, just remove the bolts holding the lamp to the vehicle. Two should be readily seen (one on fender, one on radiator support) the other is behind the corner lamp. Corner lamp has a single bolt holding it down and a clip. Once the bolt comes loose, the lamp assembly should slide forward and out. The last bolt is right there. May or may not need to remove the front bumper to do that. Some have been able to bend the bumper down enough to get at the assembly. Just be careful of the plastic tabs and brackets - very easy to apply too much pressure and break those off. If that happens, you have to fabricate a new bracket or buy new assemblies. Toyota OEM assemblies are $$$ - have to get an aftermarket or salvaged part to save on costs.

Ok, removing my corner lights is really hard, and i've already seperated the clear lens from the rest of the assembly (I had been taking them in and out a good 15 times) and I was wondering if there was something I was missing, because I just unscrew the philips screw on the top and slide it forward with a lot of force. Thing is, should it be taking a lot of force, enough to cause the clear lens to pop off of the grey back part? I ask because I'm about to do this again to sharpen my cutoff and don't want to re-glue the pieces together should they break apart again...

Same here - they didn't really want to come off without a lot of force - just made that way, since they only have on screw to hold them on, friction and the clip will hold the rest of it on. Can't really pry up on it at all - just will just crack or craze the clear part of the lense. Try pushing on it a little at a time - trying to remove it in one shot could be putting too much pressure on the outside lense.

The bulb is very easy to replace - just find the bulb harness (rearmost section of the lamp assembly), give it a 1/3 turn counter-clockwise, and pull straight out. Remove defective bulb, install new bulb (best to handle with a plain tissue or with gloves - natural oils in you skin will cause premature bulb burnout), install harness in reverse order.

This is actually very good to know! My passenger side headlight burnt out after 11 years in my '98 Corolla. All I should need, then, is to pull the bulb out and fix it. And, after all this time, I should probably change out both of them, right?

Yup, that is what I would do. Since both lamps run at the same time - just a matter of time before the other one bites the dust. Then keep the old, working lamp in the glove box as a spare.

The bulb is very easy to replace - just find the bulb harness (rearmost section of the lamp assembly), give it a 1/3 turn counter-clockwise, and pull straight out. Remove defective bulb, install new bulb (best to handle with a plain tissue or with gloves - natural oils in you skin will cause premature bulb burnout), install harness in reverse order.

This is actually very good to know! My passenger side headlight burnt out after 11 years in my '98 Corolla. All I should need, then, is to pull the bulb out and fix it. And, after all this time, I should probably change out both of them, right?

Well, that little adventure turned out to be a freaking nightmare. The little lamp harness wouldn't turn, so I got the Haynes manual which said you need to take the housing and unscrew it and pull it out a little, well then it wouldn't pull out. Eventually the neighbors came over to see what I was doing, and before I knew it there were screws and parts all over the place, but doggone it, after an hour and a half we got that bulb in there!

 

I am now AFRAID to put the other one in there, and may adopt the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality!

On my '95 I felt compelled to remove the battery to replace the left headlight bulb. It may have been that I was doing it in the dark, in freezing temps, with gloves on. I'm not sure that needed to come out, but it was a good excuse to do a battery service anyway.



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