2004 Accord headlight bulb replacement

My wife just called to let me know that her right low beam headlight just
went out. I'm going to buy a bulb today, but would like to review the
replacement procedure before she comes in this afternoon. Can anyone direct
me to a website that shows this or describe it? Thanks in advance...

 

How about your car's owner manual?

I believe most headlamp bulbs are twist-lock.
Unplug the connector,then twist.Reverse for installation.
Don't touch the glass envelope with your bare hands or fingers.

 

Manual with the car - car at wife's work - I guess I'll just wait until she
gets home...

 

You'll have to turn the wheel to the left or right depending which headlight
is out. Also have to pull some screws/tabs from the wheel well, and try not
to break them when you pull them. Pull part of the cover out to get your
arm in there. You'll have to twist the old bulb out and swap for the new.
It's a real PITA.

-Dave

 

Thanks for the response, Dave. Your remarks were right on, including what a
HUGE PITA this project is. I waited until I had the manual in hand, and it
has helpful pictures near the back for the R&R of each type of bulb, just
not helpful enough when it comes to those &@#^ plastic clips holding the
fender liner in place. I broke one of the two that had to be removed, but it
is holding enough to keep the fender liner in place until I get a supply of
them later today. Interestingly enough, while I was laying on the ground
scrabbling around for one of those clips, I discovered a truly serious
problem. The connecting link that connects the right side of the front roll
bar to the lower suspension member had separated . I'm going to address that
today. Thank God I dropped that clip!

 

You're welcome. I remember changing the bulb a while back and also broke
one of the clips. Considering how easy it is on other cars I have to
scratch my head on this one. Looking on the brighter side, you discovered
another problem before anythg serious happened.
Good luck with the suspension!

-Dave

 

Bosh. It's not very serious at all. You didn't even know about it until you
saw it, did you? You didn't notice ANY difference in handling, did you?

Easy replacement. You can buy each side individually at the dealer. Get
some silicone or other rubber-safe Permatex lubricant to grease up the
rubber bushings.

Tackle the job whever you feel like it. No hurry.

 

What was the design of your clips? Was it the kind with a Phillips head
cross in it, or was it the kind with two small notches in the head 180
degrees from each other?

 

if the link separates, it can be serious - if you're used to a certain
roll characteristic and suddenly it's not there, you can end up upside
down in a field at the side of the road. i /guarantee/ you notice the
difference - i've experimented with sway bars extensively.

 

For your average everyday driver who does not push the limit of his car in
the manner of a racer or experimenter, a broken stabilizer bar link is
quite invisible indeed. Such a driver will lose tire traction and plow into
the ditch well before he rolls the car due to an inactive anti-roll bar.

We are also dealing with a car driven by the OP's wife. Women as a rule do
*not* push their cars to the limit in *any* sense of the word, other than
how many kids they can cram into the vehicle on their way to
Chuck-E-Cheese.

 

interestingly enough, the loaded car is /exactly/ the situation where
the sway bar's function is going to be most apparent to the "average"
driver. when transitioning from a lean in one direction to a lean in
the other, like when you're on the freeway having to do an emergency
lane change because of some dangerous behavior ahead, if the return rate
of the first lean happens to coincide with the turn-in rate of the
second lean, and unfortunately there's a strong coincidence, suddenly
you have a very dangerous roll moment. that's the mechanism by which
heavy high center of gravity suv's flip over. heavily loaded cars can
do it too.

sway bars do two things: raise the return rate so the chances of the
driver turning into the second lean hard enough and fast enough to get
this "coincidence" is much reduced. secondly, it reduces the actual
degree of lean, so the overall body return moment is reduced in the
first place.

sway bars aren't on all cars because they're associated with "sports",
and unfortunately, the kind of bean counters that run car companies have
all been to the same "management" school that tells them they must
differentiate between product and extract the highest dollar for every
marginal difference possible. if engineering school attendance was
mandatory for these people, cars would be much safer. fortunately for
more modern vehicles, the european "moose test" and thread of class
action law suits keeps the worst behavior at bay, but it doesn't mean
there's not significant room for improvement.

if you want to test all this, it's easy enough to disconnect the sway
bars on your integra. just wire the ends up out of the way and the
suspension can move through full travel without problem. put some bags
of sand in the back seats if you really want to believe.

 

It's the one with the two small notches, where popping out the center will
allow the three plastic legs to be pulled out of the hole. In removing them,
the plastic legs have a tendency to break. Flimsy...

And in response to the other comment, I know that the broken link is not of
immediate seriousness, otherwise I would not be allowing my wife to drive it
to work while we wait for the local Honda dealer to get one in stock. It's
supposed to be in early this week and she has an appointment for Wednesday
for repair (warranty). They removed the dangling end of the link so it
wouldn't flail around and strike other objects within it's reach, which it
had been doing, was my more immediate concern. She is a safe and
level-headed driver who I can trust to not approach the handling limits of
her car, unless in an emergency maneuver. I'm satisfied that the lack of a
sway bar doesn't represent an serious and immediate danger to her.

 

Sorry it took so long to respond. Kept forgetting to check when I went to
the car! The clip just pushes in, and does not have a Phillips head. It
was a round, flat head.

-Dave