How To Replace Headlight and Bulb 2003-07 Cadillac CTS

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Hi, I'm Mike Green. I'm one of the owners of 1A Auto. I want to help you save time and money preparing and maintaining your vehicle. I'm going to use my 20+ years of experience restoring and repairing cars and trucks like this to show you the correct way to install parts from 1aauto.com. The right parts installed correctly, that's going to save you time and money. Thank you and enjoy the video.

In this video, we're going to show you headlight replacement both changing the bulb and removing and replacing the whole headlight assembly which is the same. That's why in your manual, it doesn't tell you how to do the headlights because you have to take off the whole front bumper cover. Don't let that intimidate you though. When you know how to do it, it is not that difficult. It only requires basic tools. Those tools are a flat-blade screwdriver, a shop light or a flashlight, a 10-mm socket with a ratchet and a 6-inch extension, and needle nose pliers will help you out too.

Remove a series of pins here, here. There're eight total across the top, three in each wheel well and eight down across the bottom. To get these clips off, it's pretty easy. Use a flat-blade screwdriver, kind of pry in the middle, and pull up the middle of the clip, and then pull them out.

Now, these ones on top come up pretty easy. The ones on the bottom will be more difficult because they'll have sand kind of jamming up the works in. If you do come up to a difficult one, usually you can get them started pretty well. Then what I do when I have a hard time with them is I'll just use a pair of pliers and just use them and pull the clip out. The middle will come out sometimes. Let the middle come out, then just carefully pry the rest of the tip up.

Just take it a part. Just leave a couple of these pins in without their centers at the top here, and I'll show you why later. Now on each side, what I'm going to do is take your inner fender and separate your inner fender from your bumper cover and pull it down. Pull it right out. Right up in there, you can see a 10-mm bolt. You want to remove that 10-mm bolt on each side. Now you have to go in and loosen up two 10-mm nuts: one right there and one you can just see further up.

You'll need an extension, the longer, the better. The best one to use actually is about a foot long, but if you have this size, it would be okay. You tread up in here, the first one. You just need to loosen these up. Once you get them loose, they actually. Put your hand up in there and turn them a little bit.

Then to get to the second one, I'm going to squeeze the pins on the back of this marker light and push it out. I'm just squeezing right back there. Push that out. Disconnect it. Go in. Get that other nut. Now, you see we're going to do this on both sides. If you have those undone, then your bumper cover starts to come off, and now you have both sides loose. You take this pin out the top and pull this down slowly. Just going to pin this back in the hole. I'm going to remove this other pin I have holed in. This thing probably, you don't want to just jump off. Go down easy. Here's a connector right back here for the fog and parking lights. Disconnect it from this side. Disconnect it on this side. Then the whole fascia comes off.

Remove this little trim plug pry up on it a little bit and use a pair of pliers underneath it, pull it right up. Now there's three 10-mm bolts to remove, one here, one behind this flap, and then one down underneath right here.

Then we'll just fast forward through, taking off those three 10-mm fasteners. Out and off. Here's a connector right here. Push up and pinch the little tab here and pull it off.

As you saw, when I pulled that headlight out, the ball socket came out, so just pick that up and snap it back in to the fender. If you're going to change your bulb then just turn around right back here. Twist counterclockwise. Reach in, twist the bulb counter-clockwise. It pulls out. The bulb then disconnects like that. With a clean rag, make sure there's no oil from your hands on there. Same thing for the low beam, counterclockwise. It's down in there. It changes the same way.

A little do as I say, not as I do: I'm going to reinstall the light here and you might notice that I forget to reconnect it, so you do want to reconnect your light then install it. But as you see it's not that difficult to connect it once the light is installed either.

Here's a new headlight from 1A Auto. You probably saw that my original is really nice, and I'm going to put my original one back on, but I'm just going to take this chance to test-fit our light and make sure it fits well. Pull the plastic back from where it meets the fender. Make sure that this stud goes into the light down there. That bulb is going into the socket there. Just make sure. Look like our gasket kind of folded over from shipping.

I'm just going to fast forward as I put the two bolts and the nut on and then tighten them up. Again, If you break a headlight, 1A Auto, we have these nice new ones. They fit very well. Just doing a test-fit here. Actually off camera, switch back to the original one because it's in fine shape and then go on with it.

Pull off the plastic. We can see it fits nicely. One thing we really should've done before we installed it, but we're not perfect, is here's our connector. No worries. You just reach up in behind and feel the connection point, and it goes in there pretty easily.

I reinstall the trim plug that holds that flap in place. We've got two pins. Put in the middle positions here. This one goes in. That allows me flexibility so I can reach in behind here and connect the fog light connection. Same thing on this side. You're going to make sure you have these nice and loose, and these pins popped up some. Just real quick, I'm going to clean off the edge of that bumper cover and the fender. Put this pin, slide it back and just reinforce that stays in place. Clip right there. I hope it goes without saying, I'm showing you what I'm doing on one side and I'm doing it on the other, but I'm not necessarily filming it what I'm doing on both sides just to keep the video somewhat brief.

First, I'm reaching up there with my hand and just tightening the two 10-mm nuts by hand, some. Now using my 10-mm socket and ratchet extension and doing this on the ground so you can see you don't need a lift. You don't have to have it up in the air. Just turn your wheels to give yourself some extra room. Pull the bumper cover back and push it in as you tighten it and then tighten them up and then put the marker light on and obviously repeat the same steps for the other side.

Here for the 10-mm bolt that goes up in there, I use a small screwdriver. Put it up in there, find, make sure that the holes lined up, and then obviously use my socket-ratchet extension and tighten that 10-mm bolt up. Again, repeat for the other side.

Now you want to make sure that you have everything together. All this in. You make sure it goes together nice like that.
Once you have those steps completed on both sides, now I'm just putting the rest of the clips back in on the top and then on each wheel well.

As you see here, this should be up inside of here. Not the best way to do it. Kind of final thing as far as line up goes this here should also be bolted. A little fast forward here. I'm putting the pins in. As you can see, I'm reaching up through the little holes, kind of pulling down on that panel that helps to keep the panel together and make sure the pin that goes through both the lower fascia and that panel.

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