How do you change the headlight on Ford Focus?

Answer 1

For the 2003 Focus, this is easy and takes about five minutes--once you know the trick. If you do not know the trick, you will tear your hair out, break something, or give up and disassemble the entire headlamp to get the thing in.

Tools needed: A small hand mirror. You cannot see what you need to do without it.

1. Open the hood. Look though the front of the headlight assembly to familiarize yourself with the bulb location. It is a long, thin tube that pokes through a hole into the headlight assembly.

2. Behind each bulb assembly, there is a round, convex rubber cap, about 4" in diameter, with rubber tabs on either side. Use the tabs to help you peel back the edges and remove it.

3. Use the hand mirror to look at the back of the bulb assembly. This will help you understand what you must do by feel. a. You will see a wire, half-circle spring clamp. It is fastened at the bottom by a small screw. At the top, it has a one-inch extension with a wire loop at the top. This extension is tucked into a plastic clip that holds the clamp snugly at the top. Unfastening this spring extension from the clip by feel is the first half of the "trick." b. The clamp holds the bulb itself in place. The back of the bulb is plugged into a 3-wire plastic connector. The second half of the trick is unplugging this BEFORE you unclip the spring, then re-plugging it AFTER you clamp the new bulb in place.

4. Feel behind the bulb assembly. Grasp the plastic plug connector housing. This is the female end of the plug assembly. Wiggle it gently and pull back to disconnect it from the bulb. Pull it to one side, out of the way.

5. Have another look with the mirror to get an idea where the clamp is seated at the top of the bulb housing. Feel for the top wire loop of the spring clamp. Push it forward a little and toward the right of the car to slide it out of the clamp slot. Now the entire spring clamp will fold down, freeing the bulb.

6. Grasp the bulb at the plug end and wiggle it a little to work it free from its seat. Rock and pull backward to remove it from the housing. Look at the bulb. It has three little tabs, or prongs, sticking out from the round edge of its base. Note that one points up, and the other two point downward. These tabs were seated into depressions on the housing.

7. Use your mirror to locate the depressions where the bulb tabs go. This will help you orient the new bulb. Now, holding the bulb by its base (do not touch the glass), slide it in and wiggle it to seat the tabs in the slots. [If you touch the glass, it will burn out faster. If you do not seat it correctly in the slots, it will rest on the edge of the plastic bulb housing and melt it.] Look through the front of the headlamp assembly. If it is correctly seated, the bulb will be flush with the rim, and sitting straight and level.

8. Holding the bulb steady (seated) with one hand, fold the spring clamp up, and work the little lever handle back into the plastic clip.

9. The back of the bulb has a three-prong plug. Use your mirror to note which way this is oriented, then snap the plug connector on. Push and wiggle to be sure that it is firmly seated.

10. Test the headlight. If it does not come on, check that it is plugged in tightly.

11. When all is OK, Put the rubber cap back on the bulb housing. Start at one edge, work the whole way around, and then completely depress the center to be sure it is snapped in.

Note:

I was able to remove my lamp from my 2004 ZX5 Focusheadlight housing without unplugging it first. It would have been impossible for me to unplug the lamp first without removing it. My hand would not have fit in there, and once removed, it took too hands to wiggle and pull it out of the plug. I recommend removing it out of the housing before unplugging it. It's a tight fit, with barely enough wire length to get the lamp out without unplugging it, but it came out once the sweet spot angle was achieved.