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How to replace HID headlight bulbs in your BH/BE


BlkPnthr

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This is a pretty small topic, and may seem simple to most, but i've changed a few lightbulbs in my time, and these have been the most difficult. A large part of that was finding a cost effective replacement! After what i thought would be a quick visit to Repco (Ripco), and then leaving with a new bulb and at most about $40 cash out of my wallet, i instead came away with a quote for an expensive option of $1200, versus the cheap option of $400. Safe to say i was out of there very quickly, and off to find a better deal!

HID bulbs are a lot more expensive than the regular ones, but that doesn't mean you can't find a reasonable price. I suspect (but cannot confirm), dropping your car into your local Subaru dealer for a new bulb would yield similar prices (i'm guessing more towards the $400 end though.. i don't understand where the $1200 could have come from!), and add labour to that, along with the fact that it's recommended to replace both at once to retain a colour match, and you've got yourself a hefty bill.

Searching on the web is the easiest way to come up with a better price, i'm assuming all BH Legacys require the same bulb, which is a D2R, but you need to watch out for cheap copies if you want them to last. I found this article useful in terms of figuring out what was legit, and what wasn't: http://priuschat.com/forums/knowledge-base-articles-discussion/101472-not-all-hid-bulbs-created-equal.html. Others may get different results, prefer to buy locally, or find an even better deal, but i ended up getting two off Amazon.com for a total of $129NZD shipped, and they arrived in less than a week (about 5days). Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Xenon-Headlight-Bulb-Pack/dp/B00480J4KA/ref=lh_ni_t

Once they had arrived, it was time to get down to it. To access the bulbs, you need to get into this compartment:

photo1-2.jpg

To do that, turn the grey outer casing anti-clockwise, until it comes loose:

photo2.jpg

You can get it off on either side without having to undo anything else, but on the right it takes a lot of wiggling and manoeuvring, so feel free to get anything out of the way first if you want. I've taken pics of the right hand side without moving anything else out of the way to prove it's possible (in case you're concerned about f@#king up anything else). Once the outer casing is off, there's a plug with a silver backing that needs the same treatment. Turn it anti-clockwise as well to unlock it, and then it just pulls off:

photo3-1.jpg

After that, there's just one more retainer thing-a-ma-jig (technical term) holding the bulb in place. To loosen it, you just push on the rounded end on each side, and let them spring free off to the side:

photo4.jpg

Take the bulb out, and replace it in reverse order with your shiny new one (old on right, new on left):

photo5.jpg

***A word of warning i was advised of by another member, not to mention it's graphically described on the packet, and most other people might already know - don't touch the bulb glass with your fingers. The oil from your fingers can potentially dramatically decrease the life of the bulb once it heats up when the bulb is on***

Hope that's useful for somebody.

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cheaper options of legacy may have standard halogen in which case a $10-20 bulb. good write up man should help a few people. the effect of fingering the glass is like putting water on a bulb they explode and being hid burn way hotter. good to hear it all went well.

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Something else to note: Some models have a security torx screw at the base of the gray cover. I've done a write up on my blog about this:

http://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/automotive/dirt-cheap-factory-hid-lamp-replacement-subaru-legacy/

I put in cheapo $49/pair HID 4300k lights from TradeMe will be interesting to see how long they last. But I'm in no position to pay the repco/super cheap price of $250/lamp!

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Interesting that yours had a few slight differences to mine, i didn't have a metal cap over the plug either, the metal cap wasn't removable and even had the directional arrow symbol on it (just like the black plug under the metal cap on yours).

Goes to show there's always the potential for slight differences even in the same models. What year was yours?

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Fair enough, is definitely an option, i can't say i found it that difficult doing it with the headlight in place (took about 2-3min), but obviously anyone can do things to suit themselves :) More than one way to skin a cat and all that

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Mine's a 2000 Lancaster H4. I didn't put the screws back in! I wont have to take the unit out next time, although I surprised how easy it was to get the unit out.

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  • 9 years later...

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