Front Cornering Lamp Bulb Replacement?

The driver side cornering lamp on the 99 Riv. is blown and needs replaced.
Do I remove the headlight to replace the cornering light bulb?
Any links to some tips or info?
Thanks
Bert

This is from the website in my sig http://rivfaq.bravehost.com/corner_lights.htm.

98riv wrote:

This is from the website in my sig http://rivfaq.bravehost.com/corner_lights.htm.

Preciate it.
Bert

Be careful pushing down on the bumper cover to squeeze tools in to get at the screws. I pulled one of my cornering lamp housings last year to see how it came out. Not hard, but be careful, don't rush it. Later I bought a new set of housings also, from gmpartsdirect.com. They look fantastic, not sure I want to put them on anytime soon though. Might just save them for a little freshening up in a few years.

98riv wrote:

This is from the website in my sig http://rivfaq.bravehost.com/corner_lights.htm.

Thanks to your instructions it went smoothly

Replaced both bulbs and cleaned/polished both lenses.
Actually the "Happy Wife" cleaned and polished the lenses.

Used a small mechanics magnet to keep from losing the bolt during removal.
Replaced the bolts with Phillips head screws and used dental floss tied around the heads to keep from losing them during installation

Also sprayed the retaining clips and the holes where they snap into the fenders with WD40, they were tough to get out. Thought one was going to break...

Thanks again.
Bert

ibmoses wrote:

98riv wrote:

This is from the website in my sig http://rivfaq.bravehost.com/corner_lights.htm.

Thanks to your instructions it went smoothly

Replaced both bulbs and cleaned/polished both lenses.
Actually the "Happy Wife" cleaned and polished the lenses.

Used a small mechanics magnet to keep from losing the bolt during removal.
Replaced the bolts with Phillips head screws and used dental floss tied around the heads to keep from losing them during installation

Also sprayed the retaining clips and the holes where they snap into the fenders with WD40, they were tough to get out. Thought one was going to break...

Thanks again.
Bert

Just to clarify, Jack the R originally wrote the instructions. I just put them on the website. I updated the website.

My corner lamps are getting pretty bad, so I will have to clean them when the weather gets a little better.

Is it possible to replace the bulb without taking the entire housing apart? My driver's side cornering lamp blew sometime today...

You have to take the lamp out to get to the bulb. But the lamp is really easy to get out. One bolt underneath. Take Bert's advice and use a mechanic's magnet to make sure you don't lose that bolt. Then there's a clip between the corner lamp and headlight. Use a flathead to pop it loose.

Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't say that...

No worries, it's very easy to pull the lamp assy out.

Anyone remember what size socket it is so I don't have to do trial and error?

No, but it's easy to slip a socket in there to find out.

7mm!!

Thanks, I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

I decided to replace both of them, and you know what, it wasn't that bad! I put a piece of felt between the socket wrench and the bumper so that it didn't scrape off the paint as I turned it, I strongly advise anyone else to do the same. I even took the time to use the magic eraser and clean that little lip on the inside of the cornering lamp lens. Doesn't look good as new, but much cleaner than before.

Here's the setup I used:




It's something you'd expect Chicken to come up with, using a pair of toy neodymium magnets latched onto the shaft of the socket wrench, and it worked very well...the first time.


See, here's the problem. The first bolt on the driver's side stuck right to the magnetized socket and came out without a problem. When I went to do the passenger side bulb, which still worked fine, the bolt was being very difficult and didn't want to come out at all. So I stiffened up an envelope, stuck it under the loose bolt, and tried to take it out with that and a flathead screwdriver. Well, the bolt really doesn't like me, so it found a way to fall off deep into the bumper. I took the wheel well molding off, looked all over, magnet-probed all over inside, but couldn't find it.

What's the size of the bolt that I need now?

I lost one last year, replaced it with a self-tapping screw. Don't recall the size but it was close to the same and worked perfectly.

Did you tap on the bumper directly underneath where the bolt fell? You should hear it jingling around in there. If you can get the bolt to fall towards the middle, you can loosen the air dam (3 clips with pins in them) and that piece will fold down so the bolt will roll right out.

I replaced them both with regular screws, using Bert's dental floss trick, and when one of the replacement screws fell in(floss slipped out of my hand), hitting the bumper a bit got it to tumble right out the corner where it fell down. Still can't find the original though, it's probably on the road or stuck in some poor guy's tire by now.

Hey i have cool blue headlight bulbs, but my cornering lights are still the yellow-ish color, i want o replace them with white or blur bulbs. What type of bulb does the cornering light take, and is it hard to replace? Thanks for your help

bulbs are listed in the little owner's manual

Albertj

IBx1 wrote:

Anyone remember what size socket it is so I don't have to do trial and error?

I'm changing my lenses today, and found that a 9/32" fits tighter than a 7mm... Along with trying to magnetize the socket, I also put a layer of masking tape inside to give it a tighter grip on the screw when removing.

Once the screw is removed there are two spring clips to release, a lateral one in front and a longitudinal one at the very rear... Here's a photo:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3549625130_beda18e606.jpg?v=0
FIRST gently pull the front of the lens outward, toward the side of the car, THEN pull the lens straight forward to disengage from the rear clip. Also, be gentle with the socket gasket, it likes to stick to the lens.

Ibmoses's dental floss idea when replacing the screws is ingenious!

Anyone know of a brighter bulb to replace these 3057's with?

I put a little WD-40 on the clips so it snapped back together easily.

Bert

Eldo wrote:

Anyone know of a brighter bulb to replace these 3057's with?

LEDLight.com has a 3157 (p/n 44634) that is a direct replacement for the 3057 with 19 LED's and (p/n 84563) with 27 LED's that are not only brighter but have lower heat generation, shock and vibration proof. They claim virtually unbreakable. (others with 32 and 36 LED's)

They have a large catalog of 12v lights. Check them out.

Rickw wrote:

Eldo wrote:

Anyone know of a brighter bulb to replace these 3057's with?

LEDLight.com has a 3157 (p/n 44634) that is a direct replacement for the 3057 with 19 LED's and (p/n 84563) with 27 LED's that are not only brighter but have lower heat generation, shock and vibration proof. They claim virtually unbreakable. (others with 32 and 36 LED's)

They have a large catalog of 12v lights. Check them out.

Thanks for another tip, Rick

For those who don't want to spend the $$ for LED's, or just don't want to wait for shipping, I found that the standard 3357 bulb replaces the 3057 with 25% more candlepower (40 vs 32...)