How Many Hours Does it Take to Change a Park Light?

Changing a park light bulb in a 2004 Audi S4 turned out to be a little more involved that I initially expected…

It all started when the Audi politely notified me with a message on the dash, stating that my right parking bulb had failed. “No worries, easy fix”, so I pop the bonnet.

Oh, yeah, that’s right, they wedged a V8 in here. I need to get to the back of that headlight cluster somehow. Time to start ripping off plastic covers. But, since I don’t want to risk breaking any of the covers, I thought I’d be a good boy and check the manual for instructions first.

Qualified mechanic?! Prfft, whatever. Let’s have a go.

First cover off was the one that would sit at the back left of frame if I hadn’t already removed it. Lift the end closest to camera up while pulling forward to pop it off the red lug that can be seen on the firewall. Then we have to remove two screws that hold half of the air intake in place:

With that out of the way and looking straight down you can see the metal clip that holds the backing of the light housing in place:

Push that clip down and you can remove the backing. Well, actually you can only take it off, try as I could there was no way I could wiggle it out past the hoses and wires to fully remove it from the engine bay. It can be seen here resting behind the headlight cluster:

This time we’re looking toward the front of the car, back of the headlight cluster and you can see the little housing that the park bulb lives in on the right, with the motor for leveling the main beams on the left:

A quick set up shot for that last one so you can see the angle that the shot was from:

Here’s the tricky part – reaching the bulb housing and removing it from the back of the headlight cluster. A gentle squeeze on the housing releases the clip. Which sounds easy, but when you have to squash you hand in to get to it:

It’s very fiddly, very little room to move. Normally you hear “kids, get a grown-up to help you”, well, in this case, it would be advantageous if you had a small child to assist you. Eventually, SUCCESS! Bulb is accessible:

Right, it’s an H6W, down to the local auto retailer to grab one.

[lots of time passes]

Several retailers later and I still don’t have a bulb. They’re very similar to a BA9, except that have offset pins. I could perhaps file off one of the pins so that it would fit (as others have done), but then the car will probably keep telling me that the bulb has blown when it’s actually working fine. For this reason I kept hunting. Found someone that could supply… Now, BA9s can be had for about $2-5 here. Guess what the H6Ws were quoted to be at? Go on, have a guess. Now double it, twice, and add 27. Yup, $147, EACH!. W.T.F. Anywho, kept hunting. Eventually finding them at $14.9, each. Still expensive, but after the 147 shock I was fine with that (the 147 quote maintain they had the decimal point in the right place). Anywho, bulb in and tested:

Then contort hand to get it back into place again (careful not to touch the glass and leave oils on it of course since these little guys are halogen and surprisingly bright, though at 6W they shouldn’t be running too hot).

And finally we have a working park light bulb in place (having remembered of course to replace the backing to the headlight cluster and all the other plastic bits):

And a video just ’cause I can: