Removing the Headlamp Units on 1995-1999 Vectra B

Do your headlights seem dim? It is possible that your headlamp bulbs have been put in crooked, there is not much room to access the clips and it is easily done. Mine were, and they had been misaligned to compensate, making the problem worse.

1. You may have just enough access to the right hand headlamp to check or replace your bulbs. If you remove the air filter it is easier, but you still cant see the clips and bulbs very well, and they can be easily fitted incorrectly with the bulb not fully seated in its base.

2. The left hand unit speaks for itself, there is no way I can get my hands in at all. As it takes only about 30 to 40 minutes in total, it is better to remove the headlamp units to be sure the bulbs are fitted correctly. And you may find more problems, as I did.

3. Start by removing the 3 screws that hold the front grill in place. All screws are 8mm hexagonhead.

4. Looking down behind the grill from above, gently pull the grill upwards, pull out the 3 locating clips being very careful not to break them, and lift the grill up and out.

5. The bumper is secured to the headlamps, remove the 2 screws and ease the bumper forward a little. You can see my car has had a shunt and the bumper is slightly split.

6. Remove the screw at the inside-front of the headlamp unit.

7. The next bit is a bit tricky. Looking down between the indicator lamp and the main headlamp unit from above with a good light, you need to find and press down the white barb clip on the indicator lens unit that clips the indicator lens unit into the headlamp unit, and pull the lens unit gently forward towards the front of the car. The photo shows the barb clip being depressed with my thumbnail, but I could only take the shot with the unit out of the car.

8. Once the indicator lens is out you can see the bottom headlamp unit screw. Remove the power cable from the indicator lens unit and put it somewhere safe.

9. Now you can get to the bottom headlamp unit screw with a ratchet. Its a bit tricky but soon comes out. Be careful not to drop it or you might not be able to retrieve it.

10. The headlamp unit is a very tight fit, but will come out by careful wiggling and gentle pulling. Be very careful, mine is an old car and all plastic parts on it are brittle. I broke the top bracket on my right-hand headlamp unit by pulling it too hard.

11. Only now can you see if the bulbs are seated fully home and the clips are properly in place. This is the sidelight bulb (type 501) and main beam Halogen bulb (type H4). The clip holding my main beam bulb was not fully secured, as you can see. It was impossible to see this with the unit in the car. It felt like it was properly secured but evidently it was not.

12. I replaced my glass sidelight bulbs (type 501) with LEDs. Carefully remove the holder by twisting in one direction with thin-nose pliers until it loosens, and then gently pull it out. The bulb pulls out without twisting.

13. The LED just pushes into the holder. NOTE: LEDs only light when they are put in the right way round, so reconnect the plugs and turn on your sidelights to check before refitting the headlamp unit. If it does not light just pull it out, turn it 180 and put it back in the holder again.

14. I compared two different types of LED the left photo is a cluster of 4 LEDs, and the right photo is a single larger LED (yes the headlamp unit is upside down here, but its just for testing). I decided to use the cluster LED, it looks better and the light was a little brighter too.

15. With the unit out I could also easily see that the clip on my dipped beam bulb (type H7) was also bent and not clipped in place properly, and that the bulb was sitting crookedly in its holder. It was now easy to straighten the clip and refit it, making sure the bulb sat fully home.

16. With the left hand headlamp unit out I found yet another problem my air intake wotsits securing bracket had broken off and the intake pipe had pulled out, and the wotsit itself had dropped down into the wing well.

17. When I bought the car the left-hand top headlamp bracket was broken. I fixed it with a piece of aluminium strip bent to shape, glued and screwed to the headlamp and the old broken bracket piece, and drilled to accept the original screw.

18. But when removing my right-hand headlamp unit I broke the top bracket on that too! So be careful with yours. I left that job for another day, as it takes about half an hour to make the metal bracket and glue and screw it to the headlamp unit.

19. And another problem: the plastic barb clip on my left-hand indicator lens unit was broken. A couple of cable tie-wraps tightened the receiving hole in the headlamp unit, and the problem was solved.

20. The repaired top bracket and tie-wraps I used to tightly hold the indicator lens until I can make a permanent repair.

21. All reassembled and ready to go. Because my headlamps had been misaligned to compensate for the bulbs being put in incorrectly (must have been a DIY mechanic!), I had to realign them properly once the bulbs were all correctly seated and secured. This is easy to do, using the adjusters at the top of each headlamp unit. Of course one of my adjusters was broken, making the job a little more difficult than it should have been.