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How many Swedes does it take to change a lightbulb?

3K views 14 replies 11 participants last post by  laxian55 
#1 ·
Had a business related road-trip this week from Virginia, to New Jersey, over to central PA, then back home this afternoon, so I took the Aero.

On the way home, the SID tells me a headlight is out.

No prob. I'll hit AutoZone and pick up a new bulb when I get home. While I'm at it, I'll check the battery (see my soon-to-come post on valet parking...), and refill the washer fluid.

I pull into my garage, pop the hood and, still in my suit, figure I can pop these lights right in.

WTF??? I can't get my hands anywhere close to pulling the bulb out. What engineer would decide you have to pull the battery out on the driver's side, and the inlet between the airbox and turbo just to get a freakin' headlight bulb in???

Sheesh!

Well, the good news after all this, after 6 years of owning this thing, this is the FIRST time I've had to change the headlights.

OTOH, I seem to recall on my Talladega, there was no way of getting to the fog lights without pulling the entire front facia off...
 
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#15 ·
I drilled a 1/4" hole in the bottom of my lip so i could get a phillips onto the bottom of the fog light and remove the retaining screw, they you just have to contort your hands in there to get the bulbs in/out. Only slightly easier than removing the whole front end.
 
#3 ·
ya, my 02' Aero with the HIDs suck! same goes with the city lights along with the cover that covers them up. plus when i take the corner lenses off to change bulbs it almost never fails that i cut myself and draw blood on the clip that you have to push down.
 
#4 ·
Thats funny, only the xenons are a problem. The regular halogens seem to be easier.

.........or so says the WIS
 
#5 ·
I had Xenon's in my Audi (sorry, momentary lapse of reason in a long history of Saabs...). Xenon's were a relatively new technology in '99, and the dealer claimed they never burn out.

Tell that to my wallet. $300 to replace.

We traded for the Aero and had the opportunity to get them on it. They do look cool, but I ain't payin' $300 for replacement Xenons when they do decide to go...
 
#6 ·
The life of a xenon bulb is supposed to be substantially longer than a halogen, which offsets the cost (a friend of mine has a 2000 or 2001 a6, 300k 'ish and original bulbs and he drives at night about 1/2 the time), but yeah i agree the lights are a PITA to get to (i haven't yet had to on the '05 which has xenon lights, part of the reason) but looking at it says it all, the 2000 aero was hard enough, and the newer ones def. are tighter. On a plug side, the fog light bulb can be changed in no time, which is good since they seem to like blowing out.
 
#7 ·
300 bucks? Where are you buying these things? I purchased two D1s bulbs from an Ebay vendor for $120. I know thats not really cheap but it's a hell of a lot less than $300(they are sylvania, not cheap knock-offs)
TOM
 
#8 ·
Remember: That was back when they first came out. Little choice back then.
 
#9 ·
I just had to replace the bulb (halogen) on my moms wagon, drivers side.

I was able to just barely get my hand in between the battery and the back of the light. The hardest part was trying to get the damn spring clip off the bulb. And of course the connector didn't come off with out a fight.

But in the end I did it. woo hooo
 
#10 ·
I replaced the drivers side halogen when I bought my 9-5 and it was easy, I just replaced the passenger side and it was a little hard to get to but I managed. So far I've also replaced one of the back up lights, one of the upper stop lights, the left turn headlight thing (don't know what those are called, the ones that are mounted with the fogs and shine to the side when turning) and also swapped the front driving and left turn lights (the guy before me had put the left turn where the driving light was supposed to be and the driving where the left turn should be. Genious guy eh?)
 
#14 ·
How many Swedes does it take to change a lightbulb?
Somethings wrong here, it should be: How many Norwegians does it take.....and so on, at least thats the joke in Sweden. (and the Norwegians have the same amount of jokes about us). Its strange that SAAB let it be so complicated, since they get so many minus points in tests in car magazines in Europe, if it is hard to change a light bulb?
 
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