How to change a headlamp in a Lucerne

polarzak

I have a dead lamp in my 06 Lucerne, and thinking it was easy to replace like my 00 LeSabre, I removed the three bolts hoping the whole unit would come out and I could replace the dead bulb.
Not so..it was loose, but will not come out. There is no way to change any bulbs without the whole head light assembly pulled out.

I read on another site, that you have to take the whole plastic bumper off, in order to remove the headlight assembly. Does anyone know if this is true?
Anyone had experience with this? Thanks. Bill

bill5983

Yes, you have to take the front bumper cover off, also you have to take some screws out of the inner fender well to get to the bolt on the very end of the headlamp assembly.

nace818

I can't imagine it being that difficult to change a headlamp bulb. You have to go to a bodyshop to do this now if you are not mechanically inclined. They should not be designed this way. Rediculous!

nace818

My Buick dealer quoted me a price of $136.00 to change my headlamp bulbs. I really would like the brighter lights to help me see better in early a.m. when I leave for work. But that seems expensive to change a headlamp and that does not include the price of the bulbs. I did notice a round unscrewable panel in the front fender wells just barely big enough to get my hand in once it is removed. Does anyone know what this is for?

nace818

Answering my own post, but I decided to go with a full HID conversion since the bumper cover had to come off anyway. It's beautiful. If anyone has night blindness like I do this is the answer, Much better at night and they look really good aglow.

jp001

To replace the drivers side headlamp you do not need to remove the bumper as the dealer instructions call for. Take off the front shield that goes across the front of the engine. On the drivers side take of the air box and filter cover-there should be 3 metal clips on the lower motor side of the box. When open, slide out the engine electronics module and put it on top of the engine. There is plenty of slack to move it safely out of the way. Remove the lower part of the filter box using 3 torx screws-mine were tight. When these parts are removed you can access the back of the headlamp assembly. I followed the dealers recommendation and removed the tire, wheel well liner, 3 screws on the assembly and had a very difficult and lenghty time getting the work done. The way I first mentioned works well and you should be able to get the bulb replaced in under an hour. Also 2 additional things, you need to remove the flexible rubber air hose from the engne to the intake and also a connector on the side of the air box. It is not easy to forget to recconect the large air tube, but the sensor connector on the side ma be easy to forget.

nace818

IMO, it is just not right for it to be so difficult to change a bulb. Bad engineering on a fine car.

nace818

Does anyone know about the fog lamps? Is it the same difficult procedure of removing the bumper cover first to change one?

aatherton

This video shows the bulb being replaced by loosening the fender liner with the wheel turned. Looks quick and easy.
http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/2006_Buick_Lucerne_CXS_4.6L_V8/lights/headligh- t

fedmack

Hey nace818 -
I have been thinking of making the HID conversion on my 2006 CXS but I have some reservations about doing it. My fears are:

1. Getting a cheap/low quality HID kit. Which one do you have?
2. Where to locate the ballasts. Seems like it would look bad, rattle, Etc.
3. Flickering lights... Do you have any issues? Did you need any resistors?

Please let me know how your HID conversion went. Thanks.

nace818

I had a shop do it, so I'm not sure of the brand. I've had no issues until recently whrn one of the bulbs went out, but it had been about two years since installed. So I guess that is not reaslly an issue. I just recently saw the video with only the fender liner removed to change a bulb. Whwn I first had it done the shop removed the front bumper cover. Maybe this has to be done to put in the ballast. I haven't had any rattles though. By the way, the burned out bulb was replaced for free. My initial insatllation cost was a bit steep though at $480.00.

haig2

The headlamp bulbs can be very easily changed, without going through any of the pain and cost described above. Nothing is really wrong with the car's design. There is a lot wrong about how dealerships do things.

Thank you aatherton for pointing the way to the simple way to do this: by loosening the plastic mudguard that is in front of the tire in the wheel well, and reaching in to get to the socket that holds the bulb. A counterclockwise turn did the trick.

I first contacted my Buick dealer and asked them to do the job. They quoted me a $250 charge to change a light bulb, claiming it takes more than 2 hours to do, and required disassembly of the front fender. Obviously that may be the case to replace the entire headlamp assembly, but to change a light bulb? I purchased a Sylvania 9006 bulb for $11 and did the job in about 15 minutes: most of the time involved loosening the plastic pins that hold the mudguard, as I didn't have the right size tool for this.

After that I called the dealer back and spoke to the shop head. He laughed at me and said that he knew all about the quicker method. However, the dealership handles all of the work they do as a "flat rate" shop, and follows the exact procedure that GM calls for in its manual. If the work involves disassembly of the front fender to change a light bulb, so be it... UGH!

cc692605

I just did a 07 lucerne cxl and i just took off the wheel, removed inner fender liner and it was a straight shot to the back of the headlight...  Tight squeeze but sure beats paying the $100 the shop wanted to replace saying it couldnt be done without taking the bumper cover off!