Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb: Motoring Motoring Discussion forum

Motoring Discussion > Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb	Accessories and Parts
Thread Author: VxFan	Replies: 7

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Fri 14 Jun 19 13:18

Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb - VxFan

Not content with making the space available as limited as possible, I've just discovered the bulb holders are held in with two T15 torx bolts!!!

Given there's not much room for your fingers, let alone trying to undo the torx bolts as well, what a ridiculous design.

What happened to a simple spring clip released by unhooking it, or the bulb clipping into place?

I've just had to mess about with a dental mirror, then taping my torx bit to the mini ratchet to stop it from falling out and dropping into the headlight assembly.

And the backs of my hands look like they've had a argument with next doors cat. Grrrr!!!

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Fri 14 Jun 19 16:10

Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb - Bill Payer

I know it's a bit like reading the instructions, but did you watch any of the YouTube videos first? It's worth reading comments too, as people will often suggest things.

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Fri 14 Jun 19 19:40

Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb - VxFan

Yeah, I found a couple of youtube clips. One was of the type "hi there man, how ya doin" and his voice soon started to annoy me even further, so gave up on him.

I eventually found out about the torx screws from an Astra forum. Although some members were saying they had screws, not torx holding the bulb holder in. Maybe the torx had been replaced on their cars, because when I had finished I noticed the star head of the torx was looking a bit chewed up, as if it was made from soft cheese! Maybe Vauxhall changed the design? Who knows.

A right PITA though. What was wrong with the simple clip you could undo with the pinch of 2 fingers?

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Fri 14 Jun 19 22:38

Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb - bathtub tom

>>A right PITA though. What was wrong with the simple clip you could undo with the pinch of 2 fingers?

Probably something to do with the speed of assembly, perhaps?

I recall doing an engine strip down on a Honda CD175 in the '70s. A right royal PITA to take it apart, but it went back together so quickly and easily I assumed it had been designed that way.

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Sat 15 Jun 19 09:10

Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb - carmalade

No need to remove the torx screws . The bulb just pushes in against the 2 spring clips that are held onto the fitting by these screws.

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Sat 15 Jun 19 20:37

Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb - VxFan

carmalade, I beg to differ. The bulb holder is held in place by the 2 torx screws, and they need slackening off slightly so the bulb holder can be twisted and removed from the headlight to gain access to the bulb.
Yes, I believe you can twist the bulb holder while leaving the torx screws tight, but as access is very limited, it's very difficult to get any purchase on the holder to mange to twist it.
I found out through you-tube and a couple of Astra forums it's best to slacken off the torx screws first.
I'm not convinced they're T15 though. It was the only torx bit I had to hand at the time, but it felt very loose in the screw head. Now I've found my other torx bits, I might check again.

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Tue 18 Jun 19 10:35

Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb - VxFan

>> I'm not convinced they're T15 though.
>> Now I've found my other torx bits, I might check again.

Hmmm, they are T20 size. Just goes to show not to believe everything you read on website how 2's.

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Fri 21 Jun 19 13:33

Vauxhall - Astra-J The joys of changing a headlight bulb - DP

As a former owner of a Scenic II, you have my sympathies.

It's always struck me as ironic that many European countries require you to carry a spare bulb kit in your car by law, when many cars made in those countries are so poorly designed that you haven't a hope in hell of carrying out a bulb change at the roadside.

On said Scenic, you had to remove the front bumper to change the dipped beam bulbs. The main beam bulbs were just about possible to do if you had hands like a small child, and didn't care about having any skin left on them afterwards.

There is no excuse for this poor design, despite the oft-trotted out line around packaging and crash safety. My father-in-law had a Volvo V50 which had the usual tight packaging under the bonnet (the battery box was about 5mm from the back of the light cluster), but Volvo had made removal of the light unit a 10 second job courtesy of a pull-out locating pin that allowed the complete headlamp unit to be unhooked from its mount and pulled forward. They'd also added a few inches of slack to the wiring, meaning you could pull the light unit out far enough to comfortably disconnect the plugs, change the bulb in free space, then refit quickly and easily.

I'd like to see the type approval criteria amended to include easy roadside bulb changes.

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