How do you replace the headlight bulb on a 2004 Buick Rainier?

Answer 1

To replace the High beam (inboard lamp) or the Low beam (Outboard lamp)

1) Obtain the replacement lamp

2) Obtain a pair of vinyl or latex gloves (These are to keep your fingers from directly touching the glass of the lamp, which will cause it to fail prematurely).

3) The Rainer owners manual also has a section on this, its not too detailed but worth a read if the owners manual is handy in your glove box.

4) Open the hood.

5) Pull the front grill out (Yes, the grill :) ) You can do this with your bare hands, just pull straight out at the location of each fastening clip (no need to compress any tabs or anything as you might on some electrical connectors).

6) The are two large metal tabs holding the entire headlight assembly into the engine compartment, pull each of these straight up with your hands. This will release the entire assembly and you will be able to pull straight away from the vehicle. You only need to pull it out six inches or so, if you want to pull it out further or take it all the way out you will need to disconnect the wires connecting to the assembly.

7) On the back side of the light assembly, you might expect wires coming from the engine compartment to enter the rear of the assembly directly in the rear center of the high or low beam lamp. This is where I was initially confused. The entire lamp assembly has internal wiring to it and the wires for the low and high beams feed through the housing at a different location, not to worry, you don't need to mess with those wires. There are two plastic or rubber covers on the back of the assembly (One directly opposite the low beam lamp and one opposite the high beam lamp that you can see when standing in front of the vehicle. The covers are round black and about 3" or so in diameter and about 1\2" deep, you can just pry these covers off with a small flat blade screw driver and you will see the lamp inside the assembly, just unclip the wiring connector and pop in your new lamp. I'd test the new lamp now.

8) You pretty much put things back in the reverse order that you took them apart.

9) Put the covers that hid the lamp back on and replace the entire assembly into the engine compartment (Connect any external wires if you disconnected them.)

10) Secure the assembly with the two large locking tabs.

11) Before you put the grill back, make sure you line up all the plastic tabs at once before pushing it to snap it back in.

12) Now go grab a cold one !