Parking Light on 02-03's
 

Has anyone ever replaced their parking light on and 02 or o3 without removing the headlight itself. The space is so small and unless you dont have baby hands looks like I might reomve the entire headlight unit to get to the bulb.

removing the headlight is pretty easy. took me no more than 5 mins. i would suggest not trying to bend your hand ways that it doesnt bend and just take the light out. BTW, the headlight is held on by two bolts up top, then just fanagle it out. (in case you werent sure.)

Thanks Hooper, but the only problem is that I have that HID anti-theft kit install by the stealer sometime ago. There is something holding it in place at the bottom. I might have to go through the front fenders and see what's inside there that's holding it in place. Eventually I'll pretty sure I will get it out.

i got the parking lights out but it took me a few tried and i didnt have to take out the head light and my hands arent that small either

Just be careful with the "pins" that push in near the fender. When I popped my headlight out the first time, I put a small scratch on the fender.

Those parkin lights are a headache... my driver side led isnt even all the way in. You shuld get someone with a small hand to get the driverside in.. i had no broblems with the Pass side

There is a clip underneath the light, and you will need to kind ease it out of there. There is also a male - female connector on the side of each light and easing that out will be kind of a chore.

By the way, I'm having an issue with my driver side turning signal. It blinks twice as fast as it should on the inside and it doesn't blink at all outside. I just fitted the 2k2 lights on my 2k1 and they are used. Has anyone had this issue before?

i was able to change the stock parking light bulbs with some yellow ones to match the fog lights. it was a tight squeeze but i managed to get the bulb in and out in just a couple tries and scraping my hands a bit =/ no need to remove headlights tho.

I can get to my parking lights without removing the headlight....and i have pretty big hands.....

This means you have a burned out bulb. Replace the bulb and then it will be OK.

I've done the parking lights several times.

I have big hands, and it is a very tight spot. It's difficult to do, but just take your time and you'll be able to do it eventually. Or if you really have to, you can either (a) use some needle-nose pliers to help out, or (b) have somebody with small hands help out.

I can assure you that with the DataDots kit installed (I have it), it's NOT worth removing the headlight just to replace the parking bulbs.

-Brian

I replaced my stock parking light bulbs three times. Each time I did it without removing the whole headlight assembly; however, it was hard for me to get my hands in there (especially on the driver's side). I ended up learning to do it by touch alone, since it was almost impossible for me to see what I was doing after I finally managed to get my fat hands in position.

I can't figure out what idiot decided to put a dirty "white" bulb in right next to a HID headlight. The first time I replaced the bulbs, I tried LED clusters in an attempt to come closer to the HID white of my headlights, but they were too blue. I got different LED replacements, and they were too purple. I finally got sick of trying to match the white of my headlights, so I bought two cheap amber bulbs at Walmart. Now my parking lights are amber, and I am very happy with the results. For me, the parking lights either had to match the headlights perfectly, or they had to be intentionally colored differently from the headlights. The stock dirty "white" bulbs just looked plain ugly next to the HID headlights.

Yea it is a hassle but its doable, just gotta get your hands in the right position and squeeze your way in there. :) Mines even more of a***** cause i got DDE wires and everything running around there tangling me up.

do you have a picture of the amber parking light? i got yellow to match my fog lights and looks nice but from the side it seem to have too much different colors going on with the orange light on the bumper and yellow fogs/parking light and white hids =/

Yeah I agree it's probably not worth the hassle to take everything apart just to change the parking light. I just a very ackward place to get to, so I think I might just have my wife try to get in there since she has smaller hands.
And while I am doing that I might just try to get some bulbs to match the HID lights better. The stock ones just dont cut it. I was even thinking of re-route the parking light and putting it in the high bean section of the lights and making the stock parking light a dummy light that does nothing. Kinda like the "city lights" on some of the european cars (2004 VW Golf for example). However I would have to order a city light adapter to do this which would fit just below the high beam. No drilling necessary. Just clip it on. However, I am not sure if I might pursue this project.

I also used an LED cluster the first time and found the same results as you. Only my cluster was a bit too green, definitely looked strange. One of them burnt out recently, so I went for my lungs and bought some PIAA Super Plasma bulbs for the parking lights. I've had the Super Plasmas in my fogs for a year now, and no matter what others may say, they match the stock HID color pretty nicely. Unfortunately, the smaller Super Plasma bulbs don't match the larger ones; they're basically just normal halogen color with a slight hint of white. (What a waste of money.)

I would also like to see how the amber looks. I think irish did this a while back, but I'm not positive.

Thanks.