How do you replace a headlight bulb in a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am?

Answer 1

I took this from another answer to the Grand AM 2002 GT and added text, because there were some missing items. I just performed this, so it is a tested procedure... Changing A Headlight Bulb On A 2002 Pontiac Grand Am 2002 Things Needed: � Hammer with a nail puller and pliers � Patience and A Good Sense of Humor Things To Know: � The Plastic Parts Are Cheap And Break Easily � Buy the replacement plastic retaining clips � you will probably break them when you remove them 1) First step is to pull out the 3 cheap plastic retainer clips from the plastic retainer sheet. Example for the DRIVER�s side The first one is the right-most black plastic pin The second one is to the right of the Notice sign (not to lift the car by the oil pan) The 3rd one is left of the left headlight adjuster (it is also the right-most pin that holds the grill in place) Use the nail puller end of the hammer the grip and pull them out. They don't come out easily. (You might need to work them up a little by hand so you can get a good grip with the hammer.) After you remove these you can pull up the long black plastic piece. Underneath of this you will find the 2 metal clips which retain the headlamp assembly in place. 2) Next you have to pull up the TWO metal clips which retain the headlamp assembly in place. BOTH of these clips MUST be pulled up completely or you will damage the headlight housing which costs almost $170 retail to replace!!!!! The nail puller on the hammer will also come in handy. Actually, we ended up using a wrench the grab and pull it up. BE PATIENT! This is a pain. I spent about 45 minutes of gentle nudging to get these things to lift. 3) Once the TWO clips have been pulled up, the entire headlamp can be removed. This is done by pulling the headlamp forward away from the body of the car. It actually lifts out fairly easily, but be warned: there are little plastic parts that can break when you pull it out. Do this gently! 4) Once you pull the assembly out, you will see the place where the bulb fits in. To release the bulb, there is a wide black plastic (of course) ring which you must turn counterclockwise (to the right) 1/6th of the way around. After turning it, gently pull the bulb out. It comes out easier if you lift up the little blue tabs (holding it into the socket) as you pull it free. 5) Now, with gloves on your hand, put the new bulb in. (You have to keep Halogen Bulbs from coming into contact with any oils which might be on your skin.) Once the bulb is replaced, slide it back into the headlamp assembly. After this, turn the thick black plastic ring clockwise back to rest in its' original position. This locks the bulb securely into place. Now, just put everything back together. If you need to use Duct Tape, it's ok. It comes in handy when working with cheap plastic parts that break. The only problem that we found was getting that darn metal clip to go back down all of the way. We couldn't figure it out on the left side and we still couldn't get it to work on the right. Just push/hammer it down as best as you can and push the big black piece of plastic back down over it.

For no. 2 when you are pulling the metal clips out if you grab the top with pliers and push the clip away from you with a screwdriver in your other hand it comes right out. The right most clip didn't come all the way out but it doesn't need to in order to pull the light assembly forward.