How To Change 2014 Chevy Traverse Headlight

It's worse than running at night with one center closed: You've lost the illumination from 1 of your headlights. Either a seedling has burned out or a minor accident has claimed the lens, the reflector, or possibly the lamp'south unabridged housing. And likewise the obvious danger, there are as well the risks of a citation from a sharp-eyed law-enforcement officer and the possible gouge from a repair shop's hourly rate. But you can handle the situation yourself, saving precious cash in the process while feeling the warm glow of accomplishment past replacing a broken headlight yourself. We at Car and Commuter know yous can. Hither's how to change a headlight:

How to Supervene upon a Headlight Seedling

Fortunately, it's often like shooting fish in a barrel to change a headlight. Most of today's element of group vii high-intensity-discharge (HID) or calorie-free-emitting-diode (LED) bulbs are uncomplicated to replace. They are held in identify past thin wire clips or rotating bayonet-fashion retainers. They can exist quickly popped out from behind the headlight housing, unplugged from wiring, and swapped for a working seedling. But in guild to alter a headlight, you must commencement identify the type of bulb y'all need. The get-go place to look is in your owner's transmission.

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If the manual is missing but y'all know the make, model, and year of your auto (you do know that, don't yous?) you tin can consult with a counter person at an auto-parts store or refer to the headlamp booklet that ordinarily resides in the parts shop's headlamp aisle. And finally, y'all can ever pull the bad seedling and bring it to the store for reference.

How to Extract the Seedling

Y'all can normally proceeds access to the headlight's bulb past simply opening the hood and removing the lamp connections at the back of the headlight housing. Some vehicles may provide added service space through small hinged or rotating panels within the front wheel wells.

A few tricky models, however, may require removal of various splash shields, air-cleaner housings, and even washer-fluid bottles for full access before you can change a headlight. That's why we'd suggest keeping a pair of mechanic's (or latex) gloves, a flashlight, a apartment-bladed screwdriver, a small box of sockets, and a pair of needle-olfactory organ pliers handy.

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Sometime-school square or circular sealed-beam headlamps are dissimilar and larger but very easy to supersede. They're commonly retained past a thin metal ring screwed into the lamp's shell assembly. The retentiveness ring's screws are easy to loosen from the front of the car. Simply sometimes, other bright front-end trim must be removed first. A harness plug nether the hood at the back of the lamp slides on and off the lamp'south copper terminals.

Remember This about New Bulbs

Filament lamp used in automotive headlights in vehicle

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When yous alter a headlight, it's critical to avoid touching a new bulb'southward drinking glass, since contamination by the natural oil from your skin and fifty-fifty small amounts of clay will crusade early failure. Use a bit of dielectric grease (available at an car-parts shop if it doesn't come with the bulb) for a weather condition-resistant connectedness on all lamp plugs and terminals. And try non to misfile headlamp-axle adjustment screws for the normally smaller retaining screws.

Replacing a Headlight Housing

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If the lamp'south lens is broken, if the lens is super cloudy, or if an accident has damaged the housing, things are more complicated. You'll want to supercede the entire headlight unit, referred to equally a housing. These molded housings are clipped or bolted to the forepart end'south metallic radiator support. At the dorsum of the housing are the wiring-harness connections, which must exist removed. And unfortunately, in some cases (for example, versions of the Ford Fusion, Chevy Malibu, and Toyota Camry), the front-bumper fascia must be loosened or removed to reach the housing's fasteners.

We'd suggest purchasing a repair manual or at least watching multiple YouTube videos for housing replacement specific to your vehicle. (But exist conscientious—these gritty DIY videos vary in quality and thoroughness.) And if replacing an entire headlight housing requires removing parts similar a bumper cover, you'll probably also demand admission to slightly more sophisticated hand tools.

The cost for new housings, including a new lens, ranges from expensive to very expensive. And yet a relatively inexpensive fix is nevertheless possible, specially if you have a good salvage yard nearby where you can pick up used (fashion cheaper) parts. You tin fifty-fifty practice your get-go removal process on the chiliad'south "you lot pick information technology" donor automobile.

Most headlight bulbs are easy to supplant; headlight housings require more than work.

After yous've installed the replacement housing just before y'all reinstall any parts you lot've removed to get admission to the headlamp unit, cycle the lights on and off to brand sure that the high- and low-beam replacement bulbs and reattached wiring are fully functional. That will salve you the time and frustration of discovering a loose connectedness or an incorrectly installed bulb too tardily, which will require removing and reinstalling the bumper cover or grille pieces. And, of grade, the headlights will need to exist aimed. For this we suggest taking the motorcar to a repair shop; you could try to aim them out on the road, simply this is a hit-0r-miss procedure at best. A shop has the expensive aiming gear to do the job right.

DIY Tips

For working on your vehicle, choose a clean section of driveway or a workspace (like a garage) with good calorie-free. Be patient and allow yourself plenty of time (2 hours minimum) for irresolute a headlight. It might be simple, but it could besides exist more complicated than y'all planned.
Place whatsoever retaining clips and fasteners that yous've removed in a jar or can. They're too easy to lose otherwise.
Apply masking tape and a felt-tip pen to mark where the wiring came off, then it goes back on in the same way, meaning correctly.
An onetime throw carpeting, a rubber mat, or a large piece of make clean paper-thin to lie on can brand kneeling or working nether the automobile more comfy.
Listen for a sharp click when connections are made.

Heed these tips and we expect that your headlight replacement efforts will go well. And we promise that you don't accept as many bulbs to replace as this guy: