Bulb Replacement - Could They Make It More Difficult - 2007 D4D

[swedish cook]

So mad I just had to vent this somewhere, its taken me blood,sweat and a good hour to get the driver side headlight bulb changed. What kind of idiot puts all that rubbish right behind the unit so as to make it next to impossible to remove ? Presumably the kind of idiot who puts fuses behind a glove compartment.

Only had the car a few months and I haven't needed to touch the rear bulbs but note with dread that there are no access panels in appropriate locations.

Someone at Toyota - name and shame the designer responsible !

Has anyone seen a car that is more inaccessible ? Please tell so I can avoid buying in future.

[Avensis 1999]

It's probably a little stunt by Toyota in order to put you off trying to change the bulb, so that they can charge you £50 to change it. But I'm sure there is a relatively simple way to change it, either removing the inner trim, some cars not necessarily your car, have the rear light cluster fixed from the outside.

[peanutome]

The headlight bulbs in my old Alfa 156 2.4JTD were as difficult as the Avensis and resulted in scraped knuckles. The side light bulbs in my Nissan Elgrand never got replaced because I just could not get to them!

They are stupid though, especially when you go abroad and have to carry a spare bulb set by law, knowing you ain't gonna change them!

David

[Thermal]

Hmm... Ever tried replacing the headlight bulbs of an Audi A2?

Well... you can't. :censor:

Has to be done in a garage, and since it's a 2-man 2-hour job who will have to take the best part of the front side off and clear the engine bay to get to the lamps, will cost you a small fortune.

[Big Kev]

So mad I just had to vent this somewhere, its taken me blood,sweat and a good hour to get the driver side headlight bulb changed. What kind of idiot puts all that rubbish right behind the unit so as to make it next to impossible to remove ? Presumably the kind of idiot who puts fuses behind a glove compartment.

Only had the car a few months and I haven't needed to touch the rear bulbs but note with dread that there are no access panels in appropriate locations.

Someone at Toyota - name and shame the designer responsible !

Has anyone seen a car that is more inaccessible ? Please tell so I can avoid buying in future.

Aye Laddie....been there, and was made an honorary gynaecologist for ma troubles !!!

Now go back and make sure you have definitely fitted the rubber grommet/cover properly to avoid condensation in the headlight unit, and an annoying MOT failure :censor:

Big Kev

[Parts-King]

It's quicker to take the bumper off on an Avensis

Kingo

[Cyker]

My dad's Merc had this problem, and when we finally got the !Removed! cover off and replaced the bulb we found we couldn't get the cover back on and ended up having to jack the car up so I could push the daft clip back in from the bottom

The worst one was the rear centre brake light - Kept blowing for some reason, and replacing it basically required dismantling the entire rear tail-gate!

I'm so glad he got rid of it (Given the number of electrical faults it had developed, it was none too soon!)

[LEIGH T180]

The rear on my 2007 tourer is a right pain in the *****!

You basically need to get two hands throu a gap the size of your rist! You just cant do it! You need to pull in, or push out, cant remember four clips. I ended up snapping one!

Took me about half an hour to get it out, to only then find the idiots at Halfords gave me the wrong bulb! It then took about 20 minutes to get it back in just to drive back to the shops!

I think Halfords bulbs are about £2.00, but you can pay an extra couple of quid or so, and they'll fit it! Guess what im doing next time!

I'll be sitting in the car park eating a chocolate bar watching the Halfords kid struggle!!

[distephano]

The rear on my 2007 tourer is a right pain in the *****!

You basically need to get two hands throu a gap the size of your rist! You just cant do it! You need to pull in, or push out, cant remember four clips. I ended up snapping one!

Took me about half an hour to get it out, to only then find the idiots at Halfords gave me the wrong bulb! It then took about 20 minutes to get it back in just to drive back to the shops!

I think Halfords bulbs are about £2.00, but you can pay an extra couple of quid or so, and they'll fit it! Guess what im doing next time!

I'll be sitting in the car park eating a chocolate bar watching the halfords kid struggle!!

I had exactly that problem on my T180! I could tell I was also ging to snap one of the clips if I carried on, so instead I undid the retaining screws and pulled the whole lamp assembly out from the outside making it easier to change the bulb. It was either 2 or 3 screws - (10mm I think) and was still a bit fiddly as you could only get a small spanner in and make small turns.

[Roker]

The rear on my 2007 tourer is a right pain in the *****!

You basically need to get two hands throu a gap the size of your rist! You just cant do it! You need to pull in, or push out, cant remember four clips. I ended up snapping one!

Took me about half an hour to get it out, to only then find the idiots at Halfords gave me the wrong bulb! It then took about 20 minutes to get it back in just to drive back to the shops!

I think Halfords bulbs are about £2.00, but you can pay an extra couple of quid or so, and they'll fit it! Guess what im doing next time!

I'll be sitting in the car park eating a chocolate bar watching the halfords kid struggle!!

I had exactly that problem on my T180! I could tell I was also ging to snap one of the clips if I carried on, so instead I undid the retaining screws and pulled the whole lamp assembly out from the outside making it easier to change the bulb. It was either 2 or 3 screws - (10mm I think) and was still a bit fiddly as you could only get a small spanner in and make small turns.

I we would all take the trouble to write to the makers (not the dealers) maybe they would take note.

[swedish cook]

with trepidation, after my headlight bulb replacement nightmare, I had to change the rear running light (2007 hatchback) - seeing the tiny access hole I didn't look forward to it.

Suprisingly easy though, push clips together and whole cluster of bulbs pops out through the thin hole - easy as pie. If only they had considered how to change the front bulbs !!