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this might sound a little dumb, but i need a tutorial on how to remove the front bumper to get the headlights of a gen 1.5 off. thanks for any help.

im thinking it is just the bolts i see visually from above, i.e. where the grill connects and a couple more in front and behind the headlights. thanks for the help.

-mark

You don't need to take off the bumper to remove the headlights. There are two bolts on outer end of each headlight. Remove the corner lights to expose them. Then, it's two bolts on top of the lights, one is on each end of the grille. Then, your headlights will come right off.
If you take off the center bolt holding the grille, you'll be able to take off the bumper. The grille snaps in from the bottom center and each end, so to take it off, you'll need to pop it out. When you take off the headlights, you'll expose the one or two bolts there. Also, there are two bolts in the fender well, behind the corner lights. If you have the fender liner (which I don't), you may have a few more bolts.

Hmmm, the headlights are fairly tighly wedged between the bumper and the metal beam across the top of them. It's possible to get them out without removing the bumper, but I had to push down fairly hard on the bumper to create enough clearance. I think removal of the bumper is the best way to remove the headlights.

I couldn't really follow your description too well Astro (more likely my fault than yours). I see the center bolt that attaches at the top of the grill to the car, but even after removing all the bolts at the top of the grill it doesn't really pop out from my bumper. I tried pulling on it with a decent amount of force, but it doesn't want to give.

I did notice the bolts behind the corner lights, but I'm at a loss as to how to get to them for removal. I can touch them with my fingers when I put them through the corner light holes, but I need a socket wrench in there to remove them. Even my smallest rachet is too large to work in that small space, and I can't get to it from the engine bay because it's behind one of the sidewalls.

Any tips and/or pics would be greatly appreciated!

with ASTRO.. i did the same thing... did not take off the bumper.

its really not that hard to take out the headlights ..you just have to be patient and have enough light so you same wiggle the headlight housing just the right angle.. but yes i did have to put some preasure on th edge of the bumper. but if you want" to take off the bumper good luck i cant help you there.

Hmm. Well I know I can get the lights on and off without taking out the bumper; I've done it a couple of times. There's definitely a lot of tension on the headlight housing when I'm doing it though. I was thinking that doing it without the bumper would be a simple slide in and screw on the bolts.

Akui wrote:Hmm. Well I know I can get the lights on and off without taking out the bumper; I've done it a couple of times. There's definitely a lot of tension on the headlight housing when I'm doing it though. I was thinking that doing it without the bumper would be a simple slide in and screw on the bolts.

it would be simpler without the bumper...but taking off and putting on the bumper isn't that simple.

but if u still want the tutorial...i'm doing this from memory. u'll need to remove:
1. 3 screws that hold the grill from the top.
2. remove both corner lights to expose clips.
3. going into the front wheel wells, u'll need to unclip the plastic cover to see 1 screw right next to the wheel well and 1 bolt near the corner lights.
4. 6 screw/clips that holds the splash guard to the bumper under the car.
5. 2 clips that's between the grill and the lower grill.

i think that's it...

Hey thanks for the instructions.

It so happens that if you completely take out the grille (not just the top 3 bolts but actually unhook the bottom and remove it) the lights are far far easier to remove. There's no need to remove the bumper at all. But again, thanks!