Changing car’s
headlights is not
a difficult task

THEY CAN be called “one- .

eyed jacks” or:pirates with eye
patches, but whatever the title,
- those drivers: who have only
one working headlight on their
car truly should be ‘called dan-
gerous — especially since
changing a headlight, whether
itis the sealed-beam type or
the halogen-bulb variety, is not
_an earth-shattering task.

«. By Duncan Haimeri
Contributing Writer

| Street lamps and highway lights

may, seem to do a reasonably ade-

- quate job.of illuminating the road-

. ways, but for a driver, it’s impossi-

ble to tell if an approaching vehicle

 is'a motorcycle ora four-wheel
‘vehicle. .

., This is especially true when the

. - missing headlight is on the driver’s

“ side‘of the oncoming ‘car and. it’s’

hard to tell how close the vehicle is

- to the centre-lane markings.’ ae

“It’s"possible ‘that the burned-out
= headlight cannot: be easily detected
“from insidé thé car. This is one rea-
- son for.a ‘weekly walk’ around the

, vehicle to“check for worn tires,
. burned-out ‘Stop lights, missing
hae plate ‘lights and bumed-out

in either low or high

“A burned-out high beam is not)

: ‘eas bad asa defective:tow beam but

: s a vehicle should have the full com-
“plement of lights that are in’ work-
ing order. .

Another way to check the head-"

lights is to look at the reflection of
“your car's lights in a store window,
like, when you stop for milk on the
way home at.night.:

A-quick flick of the: high- beam

“switch, will tell ‘you if the:high

‘beams are'also working correctly.

‘To replace a halogen-bulb lamp,
unfasten the’socket from the rear of
the headlamp unit and ‘insert;the

new bulb into the socket. Always

‘make sure that your bare fingers do

not touch the glass surface of the
bulb because that could bring about
premature bulb failure.

On the sealed-beam headlights,
some dismantling is involved. The
headlight trim has to be taken off
and this sometimes requires a spe-
cial screwdriver.

Once all the chrome is off,
remove the headlight retaining ring
and pry the electrical socket off the
seaied-beam unit. To replace the
sealed-beam unit, reverse the proce-

_ dure,

The sealed-beam headJamp only
fits one way, the printing on the
front should be upright. The small
glass knobs are used for headlight
elevation adjustment.

To avoid putting. the headlights
out of adjustment, do not tamper
with the inset adjusting screws.
These are the ones that are not hold-
ing the headlight retaining ting in
place.
+. If you examine them closely,
you can see the springs that are
used to keep them in place once the
adjustment is made.

If the headlight socket is dirty,
clean it up before setting it on the
new sealed-beam unit. If the con-
nector that fits on the blade lugs on
the headlight also looks a bit dirty,
clean it up with a small hobby file.

Replace the chrome trim or
headlight surround on the car and
you are all set.

By the way, if it’s a fellow
employee who has a burned-out
headlight, sometimes putting a
penny into the headlamp fund each

day can shame that person into

replacing the headlight.

Of course, with inflation these .
. days, the person might insist that a
“penny doesn’t cut it anymore and

that you should donate a nickel if

“you truly want to get it changed this

decade.
Distributed by the Los Angeles
Times syndicate.

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