Win @ Car
It's true that as one gets older and has more disposable income vs. free time, one sometimes has to re-evaluate what it's worth trying to do on one's own as opposed to just paying someone else to do it. On the other hand, there's still something quite satisfying about spending $16 and a few hours to fix something that I'm pretty sure would've cost me north of $100 at the dealership.
I had one headlight and one taillight out. The first lesson is to never trust the owner's manual, which has a single paragraph on outside bulbs amounting to "it's tricky, don't bother". A few web searches and some general tinkering around with gloves and a flashlight got me access to both with only minor difficulties. The headlight was indeed burnt out, and getting a new bulb was the $16. The taillight, on the other hand, was simply unplugged from its socket and rolling around free in its compartment - I needed some needle-nose pliers to get it out, but once re-plugged it worked fine. Even more curious, however, was that I found a *second* loose bulb in the same compartment, or a type that as far as I can tell isn't actually used anywhere in my car right now. Possibly one of the optional fog lights that I didn't get? Must've been left in there accidentally by the factory, I guess.
Also, it's amazing how much light you can get out of 1/4" of filament.
I had one headlight and one taillight out. The first lesson is to never trust the owner's manual, which has a single paragraph on outside bulbs amounting to "it's tricky, don't bother". A few web searches and some general tinkering around with gloves and a flashlight got me access to both with only minor difficulties. The headlight was indeed burnt out, and getting a new bulb was the $16. The taillight, on the other hand, was simply unplugged from its socket and rolling around free in its compartment - I needed some needle-nose pliers to get it out, but once re-plugged it worked fine. Even more curious, however, was that I found a *second* loose bulb in the same compartment, or a type that as far as I can tell isn't actually used anywhere in my car right now. Possibly one of the optional fog lights that I didn't get? Must've been left in there accidentally by the factory, I guess.
Also, it's amazing how much light you can get out of 1/4" of filament.