How to replace low beam headlights on 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander

(Go to step by step instruction if you just interest in how to replace the light bulbs)

Last week left low beam headlight on my 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander was gone.  I went Lordco and told a shop attendant that I want brighter headlight bulbs instead of 3000K regular light bulbs.  She sold me a pair with 4500K light bulbs, which cost me around 80 bucks.  She told me that the light bulbs did cost more but I did not need a conversion kit for the lights.  I was disappointed after I got the lights replaced as they look almost the same as my old lights before.

Before I started to work on my Outlander to change the lights, I went to driver’s manual and did research over internet.  Let us see what I got on the manual and internet:

Manual (see the picture below) 

Comments: This is why I hate these manuals.  You can never get useful information but some bull shit!

Someone posted on internet

The Owner's Manual should have all the info you need for this. If not, read on:The procedure is the same for most modern cars that I know of.

First, don't touch the glass part of the new bulb. Any kind of debris or contaminant on the glass part will dramatically reduce the life of the bulb. That includes the tiny amount of oil deposited if touched by even clean hands.

Look under the hood, at the back of the headlamp assembly. You will find an electrical connector going to the assembly. Push down on a little tab (it's obvious once you look in there) and pull gently back on the connector to remove it. If it is hard to push the tab enough, push with a medium screwdriver. It may take a little patience to get the connector off due to dirt and grit. Just go slow. It will come off.

The part of the connector still in place is actually one end of the headlamp. There's a ring holding the lamp in place. Turn this ring counterclockwise (from the point of view of the car; that is, clockwise as if you were in the driver's seat) a quarter turn (maybe less) and pull the ring off. Now the lamp is only held in by an o-ring friction fit.

To make things a little simpler later, note the orientation of the lamp's electrical connector. Pull the lamp out, slide the new one in paying attention to keep the orientation of the electrical connector the same as the one removed, secure with the ring, and reconnect the electrical connector.

Last, test the new bulb high beam and low.

That's it. It's much easier done than said.

From http://wiki.answers.com

Comments: I really appreciate those people who posted useful information over the Internet so many people like me will be able to learn from the stuff that they posted over the Internet.  But at meantime I also wish those people who did nothing but bullshiting all the time could get out my face as they are doing nothing but just wasting my time.

Tools that you might need to work on the lights 

• 10 mm combination wrench to remove your battery
• Needle nose pliers to work around tiny space where your fingers cannot reach
• No.2 Robinson screw driver to push on and off wire clipper that holds light bulb socket in place
• A small flat screw driver is also very helpful for the job

Step by step instruction of how to replace low beam headlights on 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander

• Disconnect battery terminals and remove the battery from your car.  This is for safety reason and also to make a room for you easy to work on your left (to driver) low beam light.
• Open watertight boots in the back of low beam headlight unit in order to get your screw driver in there to push wire clipper off your headlight bulb socket. Refer to picture 1)
• Remove the blown light bulb and install a new bulb (Caution: do not touch the light bulbs with bare hand! Wear gloves or with clean cloth to hold the light bulbs when you install them. The light bulbs are very hot when they are on.  The life time of your bulbs can be severely decreased by your oily hand marks. Refer to picture 2) and 3)
• Reverse the procedure of removing the headlights to put everything back.  Refer to picture 4)
• Test your lower beam headlights

Tips for working on this job:

You must be a handy and very patient person as this job is not easy to work on.  It took me hours to figure it out and get the job done.  The worst thing is that you have no room to work around those lights.  I got small hands but I still could not get my hand to work in there in most circumstances.  You have to try those tools that I listed here to find out which one make you feel comfortable to work around.   What I found out was that No.2 Robinson screw driver is very helpful to push wire clipper on and off the light socket.  Get a longer (about 8” long) Robinson screw driver and stick the tip of screw driver into the eye of the clipper to push the wire clipper on or off the light bulb socket.  Pushing the wire clipper on and off the light bulb socket is the key of the entire job.  The job will be done in very short time if you know how work on those clippers.