Change head light bulb
 

How do you change the headlight bulb on the Mazda 3. I can't figure this one out.. any help on this one is greatly appreciated. :stickpoke

yay lots of new people today. Welcome welcome!

I've only changed the headlight bulb on the Mazda3 once but the procedure is basically the same as on my car anyway (if I'm remembering correctly). There's a rubber dust boot on the back of the headlight housing that you have to pull off. You can unplug the wires going to the bulb by just pulling straight back. Then there is a clamp that holes the bulb to the housing. Since you won't be able to see it most likely, I'll describe it with words. Think of it as a "C", with the top and bottom parts of the C encircling the middle part of the bulb (where the plug goes on). One part of the C (the top) is elongated to allow it to hook onto the housing on the other side, locking the bulb in place. The left side of the C is bolted to the housing and acts as the pivot point. You should be able to feel a little piece on the top (or is it bottom?) of the C that acts as a little handle (this is all very small stuff of course), which you can then push in (in being toward the front of the car) before lifting up (up being.. up toward the sky) just a little bit, and then release. The bulb should flop out. Be careful putting the new bulb in of course, absolutely not touching the glass (if you do, some 99% isopropyl rubbing alcohol should do the trick.). There is a tab on the bulb that will either point up or down, which you can find out easily by getting the bulb basically in place and then rotating it and feeling where it locks in. Once it is locked in, hold it in place carefully with one hand while you re-latch the C with the other hand. It'll all be very tight if this is your first time.

shouldnt it be in the manaul? it is in mine (p5) that spring clip was a PITA! it's finally not so hard anymore

the manual says to take it to the Mazda dealer... But I will definitely try what kansei just suggested. Thanks.

even for the low beam?! WOW! mazda is trying to steal all your money any way they can. for mine, it says to take it to the dealer for the fogs but tells how to change low.

Well I just took my 3 in for an oil change at the dealer and they noticed my passenger side headlight was out. They said they could change it, but to do so they needed to keep the car for a few hours because to change the bulb they need to remove the front bumper (all covered under warranty). This sounds really fishy too me tho. The dealer is Fremont Mazda in Fremont CA. Anyone have any info on this?

I think taking the bumper off is a little extreme. Plus it doesn't take a few hours to take off your bumper and replace a light bulb. (I smell a rat.) It should take an hour tops. I thought my mechanic told me that all he had to do was remove my battery and a couple other small items to be able to get in there to remove the old bulb. (This was on the driver side) In any event, it's not like changing bulbs on cars back in the day with simplicity, it's a little more complicated now. If you can't do it yourself, just take it to your mechanic instead of the dealer, it will save you about $50-$60.

hmmm.... I have a 2006 mazda 3 S .... I changed the low beams on my car ... in 20 minutes. You basically take off the rubber boot ... unhook the metal clamp/hook thing he he. Then you pull the bulb out. You have to make sure to take the plastic socket off of the old bulb and put it on the new bulb. Also make sure not to touch the bulb on the new one at all with anything or it could burn out faster.

But yea you should be able to change the low and the high beams bulbs ... on your mazda 3 without having to remove the bumper at all. Obviously you will need a flash light ... some patience and and maybe a finger massage after he he.

Now if you have HID lights on your mazda 3 ... that is a different story. You might have to have someone else do those .... unless you can get someone who has done those before to help ya.

Also fogs can't be done easier either.

Thank you
 

Your description of the clip around the headlight was extremely helpful to me. I couldn't get it off until I read your post. It saved us $74 having the dealer replace it.

Thanks this was a great help
 

Thanks this was a great help

Without your post, I would not have been able to do the job.
Thank you for this information.

Thanks Kansei! Im in Gresham Or, and the dealership told me the bs about having to take the bumper off at a cost of $125. Thanks to you I changed it in 15min!

Cant believe that dealers are telling you guys BS like this... removing the bumper! wow

glad you guys did it yourself!

The best guide I have seen was posted here:

http://howtune.com/articles/100-repl...b-on-a-mazda-3

I also watched a few videos on You Tube, but this guy's article is superb.