Avensis Headlight Bulb Replacement

[frankie406]

hello again can anyone show/tell how the hell to change a front lightbulb on a 2003 on avensis please?

any pics or how to on this forum?? thanx again

[Phil F]

Hi,

With great difficulty!I...Don't know if its the same arrangement where you are but Toyota dealers offer a free fitting service for bulbs.I recently took advantage of this when one of mine went.Apparently a pig of a job,but they only charged for the bulbs.

Cheers...Phil.

[Parts-King]

You take the front bumper off!

Free bulb fitting is not for all bulbs, jobs like this one are charged for time taken. It's not a big job, sounds worse than it is, at most a few screws and the whole thing pops off

Kingo

[frankie406]

thanx for replies...but thats a joke toyota how the hell is some old folk going to even try and take a bumper off to fit a bulb on the side of the road?? not that im old like lol..will give it a try and get some pics up if its easy to do.

[duncanda]

You can change the bulbs without taking the bumper off, but it's a pain. you just need to have small hands and fiddle about a lot. What bulbs need changed?

[frankie406]

Thanx for reply duncanda.lucky it was only side/parking light.i was at the misses avensis for 2hours doing the dipped beam light.was a right pain with my big hands.althought half of my hands are still stuck to the car with the skin cut off me doin it!!

[jifl]

Yes it's a pain, but I'm getting good at it (changed my dipped lights to brighter bulbs, replaced one dipped light, replaced one sidelight, and finally had to do it extra times after sidelights went, shortly before an AA man blew up every bulb when changing a Battery at the roadside! So I've had a bit of practice now).

Good light is important, not just daylight but something that spreads the light about as you may not have hands free to hold a torch. I did find a post here which was useful, I think it was this one: http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=108498

More tips: for the driver's side, bend the wiper fluid refill pipe a bit to make things easier. Also, trying to get a new bulb in without touching it can be difficult. Either wear clean gloves, or do what I did and use long-nose pliers, and very patiently steer it round and in to the hole. Having good light is particularly useful here.

Hope this helps.

[Camryman]

Sorry Jifl, but I am an ex AA patrol of 18 years experience, and I would love to know how replaceing a Battery can possibly blow all of the headlight bulbs!

Even if all of the lights were on when it was fitted its only the same as turning them on all at the same time............

We used to have problems with Vectras that blew one headlight bulb and then the other one would soon follow, and it turned out that Vauxhall were fitting low spec bulbs.

I had a Camry for nearly 17 years and the nearside headlight bulb along with virtualy all the other bulbs were the originals, may be you need to buy some good quallity bulbs ( Japanese)

[duncanda]

frankie406. Side light replacement, easy peasy compared to dipped beam bulb. Lol. I meant to say that if you do have cause to replace a dipped beam bulb, replace both with the extra bright types like Osram Nightbreaker or Philips Xtreme.

I have had to replace both headlight units as I had to remove xenon bulbs (superb illumination) which I had fitted and managed to break the brittle bulb holders, because they're now illegal with new MOT specs. So if you need to remove the bumper, search for my post on that topic. It's relatively easy, but you're right, a stupid expectation by Toyota and other car manufacturers and certain governments, if you need to replace a bulb at the roadside.

[jifl]

Sorry Jifl, but I am an ex AA patrol of 18 years experience, and I would love to know how replaceing a battery can possibly blow all of the headlight bulbs!

Even if all of the lights were on when it was fitted its only the same as turning them on all at the same time............

What my wife was told (I wasn't there) was that if the lights are on with the engine running but without the Battery being connected properly (or a completely failed battery), the alternator can produce variable voltages - the Battery normally damps the voltages down and evens them out. That's what I was told, and it seemed believable, but if it's wrong I'd love to know!

[frankie406]

thanks for all your posts guys.i'd like to upgrade the bulbs as they are poor for lighting.its a toyota thing my old hi-ace work van was the same.whats the best bulbs to get? was thinking night breakers had them in old 406 good light from them.

[closchkutza]

Sorry to be slightly off-topic, but what are you referring to as "Side (parking) light" on the front headlights?

[Parts-King]

He is refering to the 5w capless sidelight (parking light) bulb that is located in the headlamp. The light that comes on with the first click of the light stalk

Kingo

[closchkutza]

Aaah, i see :) . I thought the he was referring to some kind of "corner light" and i was very currios since i don`t have that option, but i have seen that in the mirror of the high beam light there is an free slot, like it was supposed to have another light there than the side light.

[John Mutley]

Over the years I have owned 1. Austin A40 Somerset, 12 years, 2. Volvo 145 Estate 14 years, 3. Volskwagen Passat Estate, 13 years, 4 Honda Accord Aerodeck 7 years, I have always tried to look after my motors, (look after them, they look after you was the mantra drilled into me as a teenager!) In April this year I bought a Toyota Avensis Estate and I am already regretting it. The problems I have had are no credit to Toyota and now to find my nearside headlamp bulb has melted the plastic unit it fits into, convinces me that I am not the only Toyota owner to experience this problem, it must be a design malfunction, but Toyota do not want to hear such comments/critique! .

[boristhemut]

Hi,

Just stumbled on this...

A few months back I had a blown headlight bulb on my car.

After assessing just how difficult this job is, and reading what others were saying, decided to give the job to Halfords who replaced it for £26 incl bulb.

I felt like crying when paying for what should be a simple quick job, and is the result of poor design.

However, I knew what a pig of a job this would be and paying was far easier than going through all the hassle and skinned knuckles etc.....

[Trevtherev]

My first post....love this forum. Just registered. Have replaced the sidelights on my 03 Avensis estate both sides no probs. Multi LED bulbs from China cheap as chips rather blue but bright and work fine. But the dipped headlight.....the offside (right side in UK) is a complete dog to get at. Spent an hour trying to replace the bulb yesterday....can unclip one side of the cover but can't remove it because the wash bottle filler tube is smack in the way.....less than an inch clearance. A previous post suggested bending the tube but in this cold weather i can only see it cracking/snapping if i try this. Looks like its made of thick polypropylene to me. I can see the bulb, have removed the connector with a long screwdriver, but can't get hand in to undo clip to remove and replace the bulb. Can only imagine a child having small enough hands for this.

Agree that this is poor design. Bulb replacement should be an easy process. Will try the local dealer to see if they will replace for free. Thanks for all the good advice about bulb types too.

[avensisd4d786]

they are a pain to do, it is possible alternative way is to remove headlight.

[Mikeonfreeserve]

I've just changed the H1 and H7 bulbs both sides on my 2007 Avensis 2.2 DCAt. A bit fiddly and took about 30 mins but I was going slowly because it was cold. My tips are, get a bright head torch because where your fiddling it's dark. I wore latex gloves, partly not to get grease on the bulbs, partly to keep my fingers a bit warmer and help prevent skinning my knuckles. The nearside access is not great but I didn't need to move the Battery and I certainly wasn't going to take the bumper off. Mind you, I have slim fingers. 

For the offside bulb H1 my tip is to get a piece of wood to prise the windscreen washer reservoir back to give another inch or so room. I then used the end of a mallet handle to gently knock the grey tab of the round rear panel down,  just a quarter inch at a time until it has moved from the 3 o'clock position to between 4 and 5 o'clock and it then pulls away.

There's no need to take the rubber collar right off at the back of the H7s. Just prise it away at the top and leave the bottom third in place and it will guide straight back on. If you give the rubber lugs top and bottom a bit of a tug after you fit the bulb it will ensure the middle of the rubber collar pulls back snug against the bulb holder and keeps it water and dust tight.

Check the orientation of the end of the bulbs as you slowly ease them out because the bulbs will only go back in at a certain position. Twiddle don't force it.

If your eyesight isn't brilliant make sure you have plenty of light and pop your reading specs on. If you peer into the back of the lights for a minute or so after you have removed the grey plastic dear covers for the H1s and the rubber collar on the H7s you can see where the metal clip hooks over to secure the  bulb. Have a good look because you can't see f*** all when your fingers are in there! 

I replaced the bulbs with Osram Night dealers because my lights, even after a clean were not good on dipped beam.

So, there you go and no innuendos about snug fitting rubbers or fingering about with a headtorch 😉

Happy to help anyone out in or near Redcar.

 

[lentwodogs]

you have to take the wheel off on the drivers side and unclip the bumper to get to the back its not hard but its a pain the passenger side just move the Battery over ok 

[Mikeonfreeserve]

I've just changed the H1 and H7 bulbs both sides on my 2007 Avensis 2.2 DCAt. A bit fiddly and took about 30 mins but I was going slowly because it was cold. My tips are, get a bright head torch because where your fiddling it's dark. I wore latex gloves, partly not to get grease on the bulbs, partly to keep my fingers a bit warmer and help prevent skinning my knuckles. The nearside access is not great but I didn't need to move the Battery and I certainly wasn't going to take the bumper off. Mind you, I have slim fingers. 

For the offside bulb H1 my tip is to get a piece of wood to prise the windscreen washer reservoir back to give another inch or so room. I then used the end of a mallet handle to gently knock the grey tab of the round rear panel down,  just a quarter inch at a time until it has moved from the 3 o'clock position to between 4 and 5 o'clock and it then pulls away.

There's no need to take the rubber collar right off at the back of the H7s. Just prise it away at the top and leave the bottom third in place and it will guide straight back on. If you give the rubber lugs top and bottom a bit of a tug after you fit the bulb it will ensure the middle of the rubber collar pulls back snug against the bulb holder and keeps it water and dust tight.

Check the orientation of the end of the bulbs as you slowly ease them out because the bulbs will only go back in at a certain position. Twiddle don't force it.

If your eyesight isn't brilliant make sure you have plenty of light and pop your reading specs on. If you peer into the back of the lights for a minute or so after you have removed the grey plastic rear covers for the H1s and the rubber collar on the H7s you can see where the metal clip hooks over to secure the  bulb. Have a good look because you can't see f*** all when your fingers are in there! 

I replaced the bulbs with Osram Night Breakers because my lights, even after a clean were not good on dipped beam.

So, there you go and no innuendos about snug fitting rubbers or fingering about with a headtorch 😉

Happy to help anyone out in or near Redcar.