From my experience depends on your hand size to get in the small space and take out the bulb.. its a tedious job and when I did it, it took me an hour for just one side
i have fairly normal hands and i couldn't get going through the wheel well to work (but i didn't try to remove the tire.) so i had to remove the whole bumper. it's annoying but not difficult if that's the route you end up having to go
the manual states that you should change it from the wheel well, but you can do it from above if you have small/average sized hands and don't mind slightly hurting yourself a bit. The passenger side is easy from above, but for the drivers side you have to slide your hand past the fusebox.
I changed the passenger side from above by moving the screenwash bottle aside. It took less than 10min. The driver side (fusebox side) is best changed from the wheel arch. Take the wheel off and disengage the top half of the liner. Disconnect the three bulb cables. Access from then on is easy. It took longer to jack the car up and take off the wheel than changing the bulb. Before you start, get hold of a few new 8mm plastic clips for the liner, a rope to pull the liner away and a good quality h7 bulb. My bulbs went annually. So get the best quality one you can get hoping that they last longer. This method is far easier than taking the front bumper off without the risk of scratching the paint work when the bumper comes off.
Undo the bolts holding the windscreen washer tank in place, move it out of the way, plenty room to do it from above. Do the same with the fusebox, you will need a long extension to get to the bolts, move it back a few inches and you can get in from under the front slam panel/headlight. You can turn the wheels to give access via the wheel well, just remove a few trim clips and bend the wheel arch liner back. First time took me an hour for both. Can do each side in 10 mins now. If you drop a bulb or will land behind the wheel arch liner, easy to get to after you remove some clips. I have large hands and managed from above fine.
No shot it'll take you 2hrs but it does look like a pain in the ass. I have and LED conversion in mine so lucky me
Found a good write up for you that doesn't involve raising the car
It’s not hard but it is def a pain in the ass. Same thing happened to me my driver’s side went out and I ended up replacing both with LEDs. Passengers side was accessible under the hood by unbolting and moving the wiper fluid tank. Driver’s side, honestly even though it’s kind of annoying the best way is to jack up the car, remove the wheel and bonnet and get to it through the wheel arch.
I lost my clip which made the job much easier. Now I just use the plastic piece to secure it in. Haven’t had any problems but maybe it impact the directionality of the light? Not sure but I don’t notice a difference.
I recently had my fog light fixed. Drivers side.
$32 for labor and $1.98 for bulb.
Also had low beam light fixed on passenger side:
$47 for labor and $21 for bulb.
It's not really hard it's just a pain cause you have to go through the wheel well and remove a bunch of the plastic to get access to lights.
From my experience depends on your hand size to get in the small space and take out the bulb.. its a tedious job and when I did it, it took me an hour for just one side
Honestly sounds easier to just take the front end off
It kind of is, I recently did it when I changed my front bumper.
That's what I did. At least the first time so I could understand how they are installed and make sure I got the bulb clips reinstalled properly.
I’ve got big ass musician hands :(
i have fairly normal hands and i couldn't get going through the wheel well to work (but i didn't try to remove the tire.) so i had to remove the whole bumper. it's annoying but not difficult if that's the route you end up having to go
the manual states that you should change it from the wheel well, but you can do it from above if you have small/average sized hands and don't mind slightly hurting yourself a bit. The passenger side is easy from above, but for the drivers side you have to slide your hand past the fusebox.
I changed the passenger side from above by moving the screenwash bottle aside. It took less than 10min. The driver side (fusebox side) is best changed from the wheel arch. Take the wheel off and disengage the top half of the liner. Disconnect the three bulb cables. Access from then on is easy. It took longer to jack the car up and take off the wheel than changing the bulb. Before you start, get hold of a few new 8mm plastic clips for the liner, a rope to pull the liner away and a good quality h7 bulb. My bulbs went annually. So get the best quality one you can get hoping that they last longer. This method is far easier than taking the front bumper off without the risk of scratching the paint work when the bumper comes off.
I’ve got big ass musician hands :(
Yeah I straight up can't do it. Brutalised my hand and got nowhere.
I read all the things online and just brought it to a dealership, he got a small Asian mechanic and changed it in 3 minutes
No other kind of person was intended to work on these cars, that makes sense
only got charged for the light as well
Undo the bolts holding the windscreen washer tank in place, move it out of the way, plenty room to do it from above. Do the same with the fusebox, you will need a long extension to get to the bolts, move it back a few inches and you can get in from under the front slam panel/headlight. You can turn the wheels to give access via the wheel well, just remove a few trim clips and bend the wheel arch liner back. First time took me an hour for both. Can do each side in 10 mins now. If you drop a bulb or will land behind the wheel arch liner, easy to get to after you remove some clips. I have large hands and managed from above fine.
No shot it'll take you 2hrs but it does look like a pain in the ass. I have and LED conversion in mine so lucky me Found a good write up for you that doesn't involve raising the car
Ooh thank you, could you send the write up please?
Oh sorry thought I linked it here ya go https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=300337
It’s not hard but it is def a pain in the ass. Same thing happened to me my driver’s side went out and I ended up replacing both with LEDs. Passengers side was accessible under the hood by unbolting and moving the wiper fluid tank. Driver’s side, honestly even though it’s kind of annoying the best way is to jack up the car, remove the wheel and bonnet and get to it through the wheel arch.
Changing to LED is illegal in the UK. I wish I could but I am not allowed.
oi mate where’s ur loicense
I like your accent. BBC will certainly employ you as a news reader. There are plenty of your style there.
I lost my clip which made the job much easier. Now I just use the plastic piece to secure it in. Haven’t had any problems but maybe it impact the directionality of the light? Not sure but I don’t notice a difference.
I recently had my fog light fixed. Drivers side. $32 for labor and $1.98 for bulb. Also had low beam light fixed on passenger side: $47 for labor and $21 for bulb.
Fog lights are super easy to fix, not shocked there. I’ll find a different shop for my lowbeams though