Last time I took a car across to France, one of the requirements was to have a full set of spare bulbs on board: How does that work when the replacement is a complete LED light unit costing several hundred pounds (and you would need to have spares for both sides)?
That could take up a hefty chunk of luggage space in a Jazz, Ibiza, Swift or Polo GTi.
Is the Prius headlight unit a complete substitute please?
Depends on your model - I just noted it on a parts website to highlight the cost of replacing a bulb. Then someone gave examples 7 times more expensive.
Thanks for the tip. The problem is straightforward. When fumbling to get the bulb inserted in its correct position, it somehow went in too far. I managed to grab hold of it with long nose pliers but it slipped again and went right inside, into the actual headlight bowl. There are at least three films in YouTube showing how to remove the actual headlight but these in live info more than a dozen nuts, bolts, rivets, and whel
….wheel arch protectors before dropping the bumper. I have bought an extending magnet aerial-type tool which might just do it.
A flexible four-claw grabber tool works a treat as well.
So, what then happened? Yesterday, using my new extending magnet, I got the errant bulb up to the opening at the back of the headlight shell…and that’s where she stayed. A whole hour of tugging, twisting and fiddling and for the life of me I couldn’t extract the damned thing. I gave up. For more entertainment I thought I’d give the nearside bulb a go. After all, I’d discovered the tiny lever on the side of the three pin socket. Twenty minutes later, I gave up for the second time. There was no way I could get a decent purchase on the socket/plug so I gave up again. I phoned my local MX-5 specialist in Chatham and he said that Yes, the bumper has to be dropped. Well I am sick and tired of struggling with these stupid light blubs and will have to pay a silly amount to have it done by an expert.
1 Like
You are not alone !
Had to get local Mazda to finish off my attempt to replace the front number plate housing that I got from MX-5 Parts a couple of years back [fed back on the item purchased]
AND recent embarrassments have been to ‘accost’ a 30 something refuge collector to open an Adblue Container; a 20 something Tesco trolley collection chap to unscrew a Radiator Top Up Container and most humiliating having to ask my non specialist mechanic to unscrew the Cap because I thought she needed an engine oil top up [note to self…next time you check the dipstick use your reading specs] 
They were all complete gents: ‘Crumbs that’s really stiff’ and did seem to struggle a bit but perhaps were just being polite 
My dignity insists that nowadays they are not only producing ‘Child Proof Caps’ but ‘Old Lady Proof Caps’ 
2 Likes
I may just be you’ve bought the wrong lamps…
I had a Mk2.5 and had no real trouble changing light bulbs although extremely fiddly. But I do remember that Mk2 cars had straightforward headlamps with an H4 bulb and the output was poor. Mk2.5 had 2 projector headlamps with a very unusual lamp with a brown plastic base and a 90 degree fitting - HB4 and HB11. The light output from these was much better as two lamps were lit in each lamp. You don’t mention the age of your car-but these two lamps are unlike any others.
I’m wondering if you’ve bought an H7 by mistake because there’s no way a large H4 would fall through, the base is far too large.
My Mk2 is a 2001 model. I have bought a pair of Osram Night Breaker 200 H4 12v 60/55w bulbs for her and it’s one of these that I struggled with and which found itself right inside the headlamp ‘bowl’. Tomorrow I have booked her in to Freelance Mazda in Chatham as I am exasperated with them. At 77yrs, and in the cold and the rain, I’ve had enough of the unequal struggle and will have to hand over some pension money to someone more able than I to fit two bloody bulbs having extracted the ‘lost’ one.
Getting Old Eh…Not for the faint hearted 
Recently had to pay 3 young dudes £420[ plus a less than a year old chainsaw] to complete the low level clearance of a wild hedge that I’ve been reducing for months on ‘good arm muscles’ days
‘Pension Money’
I’ve found that in the past ‘When I’ve had the time to DIY I’ve not had the money’ and ‘When I’ve had the money to DIY I’ve not had the time’
Now that I’ve got the time and some Disposable Income…I’m having to pay other people to do the work for me 'cos muscle strength of a gnat 
But like you I continue to try to do things for myself…even when it hurts and try not to get too annoyed with myself
And sometimes you get ‘freebies’ [the local borough council has just emptied my black bin because I’m on ‘Assisted Collect’ and can’t get the darn wheelie bin down 3 small steps !]
But it’s good to look at the back garden and think…well I got that hedge down by myself from about 15 feet…sure it took me months …but I did that 
Guess what I’m saying Paul is…Focus on what you achieved not on what you didn’t
And forgive those that seem greedy or think you’re past it [the young dudes said ‘You know there is a Cost of Living Crisis’…when I said ‘How Much’?] 
Kindest
1 Like
All so true. Gone are the days when I used to remove and refit engines out of my Minis and Citroen 2CVs. Even disc brakes were a synch but when I kneel down on the ground now, I need something to pull myself up with. I fitted new HT leads last week without managing to break something 
I drove over to the Mazda place this morning, about 12 miles away only to discover she was booked in for TOMORROW so the minds on it’s way out too. Time for a new battery now because as she turns over, it’s become very lethargic, much like her owner
1 Like
Empathy 
Word to the Wise though…“So the minds on its’ way out too”
Probably Not based on your posts because me thinking is [and you are a generation ahead of me] it’s probably due to STRESS/BRAIN FOG
'cos Life’s become so complicated me thinks in comparison to my day…let alone yours
Modern Tech making life easy for us…sure if you understand it enough
Finally sorted out my insurance today…it was a marathon and highly stressful…Confused.Com aptly named…what a palaver for a fairly simple Policy…in the middle of a conversation where I gave up and said ‘just take what you want I’m beyond caring’ was suddenly told ‘Oh some other underwriter has come in whilst we speak at £47 cheaper’
This was the amount I should have been charged a fortnight ago
Put the phone down and cried like a baby with relief
Shattered but boy will I sleep tonight after all the mental gymnastics
3 Likes
Paul…a final thought before I forget it
My theory as to why us more ‘mature folk’ seem ‘slow’ 
Mature Person: ‘Shall I measure this space in Imperial or Metric’
Younger Person: ‘What’s Imperial ?’
Mature Person: ‘Shall I keep this music cassette or modernise with a CD’
Younger Person: ‘What’s a music cassette?’
So…you get my drift as to why us mature folk seem ‘slow’
IT’S BECAUSE OUR BRAINS HAVE LOADS MORE INFO IN THEM DUE TO OUR LIFE EXPERIENCE THAT WE NEED TO CHECK OUT BEFORE DOING THINGS
They wont even know what a cd is…
Yep…and quick word to the wise
Currently going through all my music cassettes [play beautifully on my 2007 stereo system but not the flexibility of a CD] to donate to my designated animal charity [Hurry before they stop accepting cassettes]
Suzi Quatro Legend CD arrived…No Plastic Cover [Cardboard Only…which is good for the planet me thinks but will get dog eared like me vinyl which date back to stuff I inherited from my late dad…at least Vinyl holding it’s value and quite rightly because they play perfectly on the system in spite of their age]
Change & Modernisation not always for the better
1 Like
Thank you for that advice but I wouldn’t put my problem down to ‘brain fog’ but God awful accessibility. After sixty years of doing simple jobs on cats and motorcycles, this bamboozled me. I have small hands too and I’m a retired draughtsman so used to working in fine detail, but whatever I did I simply could not get the bulbs in. And then one magically fell right inside the headlight bowl. To cut a long story short I took the car to my local MX5 specialist who removed the bloody bumper and headlight and extracted the bulb which was now broken. He stuck an old bulb in and changed the N/S one and said to get another Osram 200% bulb and he’d fit it. Yes it cost me silly money but the car was now legal and usable.
Today I received a nice letter from TfL to say I’d drifted into a Ulez zone at Sidcup last week and cough up £90 thank you very much. I’ve not driven in London for years and on this occasion I was up there to see my grandson play football for the Maidstone District team and was both late and struggling to find the school playing fields. I’d clearly failed to see the signs.
1 Like
A retired vet and a draughtsman!!