This 2003 Honda Accord came in with the complaint that the driver’s headlight bulb keeps blowing. The owner has changed the bulb several times in the past few months and stated that he has been very careful not to touch the glass portion of the bulb (any kind of oil left on the glass portion of the bulb will cause it to blow. I have seen several with etched finger prints in the bulb).
On to removing the bulb for inspection. The forward inner fender liner has to be loosened to access the bulb from the rear.
There are a few push pin retainers that have to have the center portion pulled out and then the inner portion. A screwdriver along the outer edge as shown will not remove the retainer. I was trying to show the broken edge of the inner portion of the retainer.
In this picture you can see the inner versus out portions much better.
There are also somme 10 mm headed bolts along the bottom edge that have to be removed.
With the panel loosened up and pulled out of the way you can now get to the bulb. The headlight bulb is the lower one in the picture.
When I pulled the bulb out and inserted a new bulb I noticed that the bulb wiggled a little bit like the o ring was loose. I removed the bulb from the other side of the car to compare bulbs to see if the wrong bulb had been installed and found that the o-ring was a different color and size. In the brand that I stock, the orange/red o-ring is a standard bulb. The yellow o-ring is installed on long life bulbs in the same brand. I installed a new long life bulb with the yellow o-ring and the bulb has not blown since. That was 6 months ago.
