This spring I lost my low beam. Its fairly easy to swap out a headlight, but I had the digital camera handy so here's a quick description.
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The low beam is a tight squeeze to get to. You can gain some hand-room if you drop the air dam down and work from the bottom. Also, with an 8 mm socket you can remove either the fuse or relay box and move them out of your way. This is a necessity if replacing a high-beam, but just convenience if doing a low beam. |
The low beam in the Falco is an H7. Its a single filament halogen lamp, about 55 W and pricey at $15 (from a local Napa auto parts store). Carefully remove the connector by rocking it. Then remove the rubber weather guard (there's a tab on it to pull). The tricky part is releasing the bulb holder. Its held by a hinged piece of wire. The wrong way to do it is to be impatient (and blind) like I was and put a Philips head screwdriver to the screw. The wire will spring loose and you'll have a puzzle to put together (I removed a high beam and had a look at how it was secured to figure out the low beam). The proper way is to push the unhinged side of the spring further in towards the bulb, then slide it to a side to clear the tab that captures it. It will then swing open like a door and the bulb holder can be removed.
| The black plastic holder with the electrical tabs on it is not included in the replacement bulb, so don't throw it away. |
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If you want to test the old bulb, put 12 V across it, or use an ohmmeter (it will read very high impedance if blown, certainly less than 1 ohm if good). If its bad, rock the old bulb out of the holder. Its always a good idea to avoid touching lamps when you replace them. The oils in your fingers will create leakage paths and reduce the life of halogen bulbs. When you've seated the new bulb, rotate it in the headlamp until the tab falls in place, then swing the wire hinge back in place. Replace the weather guard and the connector and you should be good to go.
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