Fitting new headlight bulbs...... just a matter of......

[PDR]

I spent a bit of time doing a few little jobs on my other car this morning so I thought I would have a go at fitting the new headlamp bulbs to the Surf seeing as I was already outside ....... read the manual and it looked fairly straightforward......
Except I couldn’t get at the lower clips due to the bull bar being in the way. The heavens opened so the job was rained off. It looks like I will have to remove the bull bar or at least loosen the bolts..... but it can wait until the weather is better.
changing a headlamp bulb is not really the sort of thing I would want to try at the roadside late at night.

[MudSurfer]

Are you taking the headlights out???

Surely you don't need to touch anything outside the Surf to change the bulbs.....

Take the washer fluid bottle out, remove bulb - other side, take the expansion bottle out, remove bulb - not sure what method of access you are trying.....

[darkdezigns]

im guessing your going by the remove grill method,disregard yr manual lol,do a search here and u will find the right/easiest way of doing it as above,sounds worse but trust me it isnt,takes no more than 20 mins a side,

[MudSurfer]

im guessing your going by the remove grill method,disregard yr manual lol,do a search here and u will find the right/easiest way of doing it as above,sounds worse but trust me it isnt,takes no more than 20 mins a side,

20 mins??? Are you using your hands or feet???

[darkdezigns]

20 mins??? Are you using your hands or feet???

remeber he aint done this before,and if u aint to handy its quite scary when u got ppl sayin whip out yer batteries,bottles etc,only had to do mine once and all done both sides in under 10,just didnt wanna say,oh yeah 5 mins mate

[MudSurfer]

Fair points Andy....

What you'll need is a 12 mm and a 10 mm spanner - the 12 mm to remove the bolt on holding the bottle clamp in place... the 10 mm to remove the bolt holding the bottle to the truck.

Then, you may need to loosen the battery stabiliser bars to allow you to push the battery back a little (these are the bars that you'll find at the back of the battery that stop them rolling about).

Once you've undone bolts etc. pull the washer fluid bottle up and out - this may need a bit of wiggling as the pipes will be between the body and the bottle and make it a bit snug.

Once the bottle is out, you'll be able to get to the rubber cover that goes over the back of the light - pull this off and you'll be able to get to the bulb clip, take it off, the bulb will drop out - plop the new one in and reverse the above.

On the other side, disconnect the overflow pipe from the expansion tank, and remove the tank - place it somewhere where it won't fall over.

Then it's the same as the other side - and that should be it.

The expansion tank is the easier one to put back, so do that last

When you put the washer bottle in, make sure you don't disconnect or squash the tubes or your washers won't work - and make sure you haven't disconnected the motor connector - I think I did that once and spent a while trying to work out why the washers weren't working.

Once the washer bottle is back in, you'll need cheering up - so put the expansion tank back in - much easier, and don't forget to reconnect the overflow pipe!

Do one final check that all your pipe etc are back where they should be, and if you had to losen the battery stabilisers, tighten them back up - then check the lights and go and have a cuppa!

[darkdezigns]

and(i dont advise this of course)put blue 110w watt bulbs in and finally realise the headlights do actually work,although to be safe you can get an upgraded wiring loom from rough trax,but i didnt,but you should of course

[Apache]

Takes about 5 minutes tops. No need to remove batteries or anything. Just move the washer bottle or expansion bottle depending on which side you're doing.

[darkdezigns]

Takes about 5 minutes tops. No need to remove batteries or anything. Just move the washer bottle or expansion bottle depending on which side you're doing.

if u have "lady" hands lol

[MudSurfer]

if u have "lady" hands lol

He has lady legs - I've seen the pictures of him in his going out boots!!

[PDR]

Thanks for the help guys, I did find a few old posts on the subject.
I will have a look when I get chance to see which is going to be the best way of tackling this job.
The headlights do work, it is just that I wanted to fit the Hella High Performance "Plasma Bright" bulbs I bought from Roughtrax.

My Surf only has one battery (it is the V6 petrol version) but I would rather not disconnect it as I don’t know if it would affect the immobilizer or the Toyota radio, which I don’t have a code for or even know if it requires one.

I am quite good on the old spanners, one of the little jobs for this morning was to strip and remove the door from my MX5, adjust the hinges and replace the door in order to sort out a slight alignment problem that had been bugging me. I’ve done total rebuilds (MG’s, Series Land Rovers etc.) in the past...... but the Land Rovers gave me a real sickner of working out in cold wet weather, hence the reason I bought the Surf....no need to fix something or other every weekend.

[darkdezigns]

radoi should say on front if its coded,immobiliser,whichever type aslong as after putting last terminal on battery u activate before 30 secs it wil be fine,ie fit live,then put neutral on loose go turn ignition on and off

[MudSurfer]

radoi should say on front if its coded,immobiliser,whichever type aslong as after putting last terminal on battery u activate before 30 secs it wil be fine,ie fit live,then put neutral on loose go turn ignition on and off

YOU DON'T HAVE TO DISCONNECT THE BATTERY!!!!!!!

Just loosen the stabilising bar and push it back a bit.....

[darkdezigns]

YOU DON'T HAVE TO DISCONNECT THE BATTERY!!!!!!!

Just loosen the stabilising bar and push it back a bit.....

well i have big hands OK lol

[MudSurfer]

well i have big hands OK lol

So have I - but you know, each to their own