I know there are a lot of headlight threads on the site but i am thoroughly perplexed and cant find an answer. The service manual (and every other source i have seen) lists our lows as 9006 and our highs as 9005, however when i consulted the manual on replacing the low beam lamp (simply reaching in behind the headlight and turning the bulb and i pulled out the high beam 9005 lamp. I double checked myself and also turned the lights on to ensure that what i had was indeed my high beam and it is. Ive never had a problem with my lights being adjusted incorrectly or anything to my knowledge but from reading the service manual it sounds like my highs and lows are switched in my headlights. So my question is which socket has the highs and which has the lows, my car is set up so my highs are in the smaller socket closer to the center of the car and the lows are closer to the sides of the car. is this backwards or what. can someone clear this up for me. Thanks.

Inside lamps are high beams (9005). Outside lamps are low beams (9006). The daytime running lamps are the high beams at lower voltage. To use the lows in the day you need to turn on the switch.

It is possible to substitute 9005 bulbs for 9006 if you modify the mount by simply cutting out a tab with a dremel or pliers. Some one could have done this in your case. Check the bulbs for modification.

AA is correct. Another tip for the future, the bulbs on the right side of the car have left-handed threads. God knows why...

Really? I never knew the bulbs were marked "L" & "R". Have I gotten lucky all this time?

Correction, the bulb-sockets (in the headlight assy) are reversed on the right side, resulting in having to turn the bulbs right to remove and left to install...

Thanks for clearing it up guy s, i took a look at the FSM and realized i was interpreting it wrong. and about the sockets changing direction from left to right, reminds me of some older (i believe) Chrysler vehicles that would do that with their lug nuts. turn to the from tightened on both sides and turn to the rear loosened.

You guys that are, or have used, the PIAA bulbs(extreme white plus)... any problems with the installation? I finally had a little free time this evening to swap in the low beam 9006 PIAA bulbs I got from Summit in the winter, but it all came to a screeching halt on the passenger side.

The female sockets on the stock bulbs are not identical. The driver side has a single guide/slot inside the socket, centered. But the passenger side has a pair of these guides/slots(whatever you call them..), set apart equally far from center. These properly match up with the stock male connectors. Problem is, the PIAA bulbs are both the same. They both have just the single centered guide inside the female housing. There's no way the passenger side stock male connector will fit into the PIAA bulb.

I figure either PIAA screwed up when they packaged these, or my stock wiring isn't quite stock these days, or it's necessary to take out the dremel and grind off the single guide on the passenger side PIAA bulb. Anyone else have this problem? I didn't want to rush into trying to take the dremel to this socket housing, and was running out of time, so I stuck the stock bulbs back in.

Anyone have any feedback on this? I'm intending to check with Summit and/or PIAA tomorrow, but was hoping there might be some insights here first. If you don't understand my explanation of what these guides/slots are in the female socket, I'll snap a pic in a while after I have the kids to bed.

Sorry for the long boring explanation.

Also, on the passenger side bulb, were you able to change the low beam bulb easily? I could get it done with the help of my daughter's smaller hand only, but of course then I found the socket problem. I haven't checked the FSM yet, but I'm guessing I'll find directions that say there is some headlight assy removal required, or special tools from GM.

As for removing the headlight assys you won't need GM tools. You *may* have to drop the bumper cover, which is way easier than it sounds.

As for the headlight socket issue, not sure. Kinda wonder if you got the low beams and the high beams mixed up but I doubt it. Kind of wonder if the PO changed a socket (any splices?). I don't know anyone else who has your problem. I'll wait until you post pics.

Albertj

A pic of the PIAA socket. Note the single guide at the top of the housing. My passenger side male connector has a double slot design, no way to get it to fit without modifying it.

No need to drop the bumper, my daughter can get her hand in there easily and plug in the stock bulb. My hands are simply way too big for the passenger side. The driver side is easy of course. No signs of the wiring having been spliced in the past.

No, I don't have the lows and highs mixed up.

The stock driver side bulb socket is identical to the PIAA I posted.

I may take the easy way out and dremel off that single guide, very carefully. I don't think it would be missed.

I don't want to go blaming PIAA of mis-packaging these bulbs, if my Riv is the only one here with non-identical low beam connectors. Would be great if someone could confirm whether or not they have the same or mismatched connectors too.