Golf Mk4 Headlight Assembly - Broken fixtures

[swan7]

VW Golf(Mk4) GT TDI 2001

I was trying to replace a headlight bulb and fudged it up nicely. I thought the entire assembly had to be pulled out as there was insufficient room to do the replacement in-situ. Whilst trying to pull it out, I snapped one of the fixtures (small rectangular plastic bits at the top of the assembly) that secures it to the chassis, meaning it is no longer secure and moves around a little.

1. Would an unsecure headlight assembly fail an MOT test?

2. Is there a way of fixing this without buying a completely new asssembly? How much would it cost to replace?

3. Can anyone tell me the correct way (pictures would be great) to replace the bulbs (main & dipped) for the front headlights?

Thanks in advance.

[Mook]

1) Yes

2) Yes, try your local breakers for any Mk4 Golf, cheapest way to get the bits you need. IIRC, a complete assembly is around £250

3) You need lots and lots of patience. It can all be done with the h/l in situ. Remove the securing screws from the top of the h/l and tilt it forward as far as you can. Also, on the offside, remove the battery cover to give yourself more room.

HTH

[pingpongpo]

I don't think you need to remove the headlamp to replace the bulbs as I did mine a couple of months ago without doing it.

The nearside headlamp is a bit of a twat as there isn't a lot of room but the other side is not too bad.

[sotty]

I got a whole replacement n/s headlamp assembly for £70 for my 01 GT TDI from Eurocarparts.

Its a pain to replace becasue you need to remove the whole bumper. Took me an afternoons work. Plus you have to change out the adjusting mechanism and fittings (but its quite easy).

I have changed my bulbs "in situ" with some long nosed pliers alot of swearing and skinned knuckles!

[iflya1]

Hi all first post(ooh!)

I've changed bulbs insitu, bitchy but do-able.

The daft thing is, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle with a failed bulb, surely car manufacturers should be obliged to make changing the bulbs quick and easy.

Passat headlights are a pig too...

[benjie]

I always remove my bumper to change my bulbs because I have fat hands (forget the rest of me!) and just can't do it. Removing the bumper takes me 12min on my own (except my mate always has to do the boot clip because I can't do it - he also helps me slide the bumper off to make sure it doesn't hit the ground!)

I know what you mean about the clips, they're very brittle!