How to Replace Headlight 1998-2003 Ford Escort

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Hi, I'm Don from 1A Auto. I hope this how to video helps you out, and the next time you need a part for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks. In this video we're going to show you how to service headlights on this 2001 Ford Escort ZX2. First we'll show how just how to change the bulbs, if that's all you're looking to do. Then we show you how to replace the whole assemblies if yours are dull and faded or broken. At 1A Auto we sell excellent replacements. No tools are necessary if you're just looking to change bulbs. If you need to change the whole assemblies, you will have to remove the front bumper cover, which only requires a Philips screwdriver and a 10mm socket and ratchet with extensions.

We replace the bulbs by removing the cover, twisting it off, and grab the big ring, pull that off, slide your bulb out. That goes back in, level and tight to the right, locking ring snaps over, connector slides back on, push your harness in, and resecure your cap. Then with your blinker bulb, twist the socket, pull out the bulb, replace it with a new one by pushing it back in, aligning the notches in the lens, seating it and twisting. Twist the socket out the back of both your park lamps, locate the socket, twist it to remove, and then the bulb pulls out. Line your tabs back up, and twist again, seat the bulb in the socket.

On each side you're going to need to remove the Phillips head screw here and there's a 10mm bolt right there. Ok, fast-forward a little bit here. This car had been taken apart and had some damage done to it so it was missing a couple of fasteners. There is usually another screw in the fender well, just above where we're working now, that you need to remove, another Phillips screw. Ok, so note the two red arrows here: there are two 10mm bolts inside the fender. You want to peel back your inner fender and you'll see the two bolts that hold the fender to the fender cover. And not a great shot, you can't really see it with the camera that we had, but you can see kind of up in there there's two 10mm bolts, those two 10mm bolts. There's one 10mm here on inside the fender well.

So I'm going to peel back the inner fender well and use a six-inch extension with the long socket to get to that ten. Ok, and we'll speed it up here. As you can see, as Don is taking that out, you can see fender cover starting to kind of separate from the fender, or, I'm sorry, the bumper cover start to separate from the fender. Again there should be two bolts on each side. In our vehicle there was only one left in one, and one of them was just barely holding on to anything. Our car's kind of up from the North-East, a little bit rusty, so the fasteners kind of were seized together.

Under the bumper there's going to be four of these Phillips head screws, or 8mm screws: one there, here, here and here. In most cases there's going to be a splash pan right here, but in this case there isn't. Ok, so just go ahead, remove any of those screws from the bottom side.
I'm removing the four 10mm fasteners: one on the bottom, on the top, two on the side. And we'll just fast forward here as we remove those four nuts and bolts that hold the headlight in place. I'm pulling the headlight out and removing the two connectors.

We've got the old part, and we've got the new part from 1A Auto, it looks the same, and it's going to go in just the same as the factory one. I plug my harnesses back in first, clip my harness back into the back of the cover, and slide the lens back in. Make sure you're getting it on all three of the posts and that your gasket seats up against your fender correctly. Then I put the four 10s back in. We'll speed it up here as we put those fasteners back on and then tighten them up. Then obviously repeat the same thing for the passenger style.

I'm going to adjust the headlights with the 4mm adjusting rods that come off the back. The one right here is for left and right, and you'll find another one right down by the blinker and that's for up and down. Put the bumper cover back up. Put the three 10s up the top first, screw them in place. The two bolts that are supposed to go in, in the corner of the fender here, in this case we only have one, but there should be two, and we're going to fit, and we're going to push it through and I've got Mike here, he's going to help me. And so just kind of in summary of what we did is we just fed the bolt through the fender first, then mated it up with the bumper cover and then tightened it up.

Ok, once you have those bolts in that are next to the headlight on both sides, then put the bolts up through the bumper cover into the fender, and then the screws that hold the inner fender well, and as well as the fasteners underneath. Plugging my lights back in.

We hope this helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the internet. Please feel free to call us Toll Free 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the internet and in person.