Odmark

How the hell do i replace these? I thought it was just regular Halogen 4 lamps but seems like the lamp itself is integrated with the headlight itself. Just a wire behind the lens if you know what i mean, kind of hard to explain.

You are not supposed to replace the whole headlight right? Very grateful for fast answers.

jaunty75

Yes you are! Back in those days, the headlight lamp itself was integrated into the lens housing, and you replace the entire unit.

This is what your headlights look like.



You replace the entire thing. It's not like modern headlights on cars today where you just replace the lamp itself.

For your car, you will have to remove the trim around the headlights and then remove the lights themselves. They're usually held in place with three screws around the perimeter of the light. You'll normally unplug the three-prong (low-beam) or two-prong (high-beam) connector on the rear first. The lamp shown in the photo above is two-prong, so it's a high-beam.


Here's a three-prong lamp.

Lady72nRob71

On these older cars, you DO replace the entire glass assembly. They should still be available at local parts shops or big box stores.

joe_padavano

Seriously? The one-piece headlight bulb is called a sealed beam. It wasn't until the mid-1980s that the current non-sealed beam headlights were made legal for use in the US.

Boy, do I feel old now...

rocketraider

Odmark is in Sweden. Europe has used composite and separate-bulb lamps for years longer than we have here in North America.

Yeah, at first I thought "he can't be serious" until I looked at his location. Then his question made sense.

I'm not sure he'll even be able to find a sealed beam in Europe.

joe_padavano

DOH!

I missed that completely. Oh well, RockAuto ships to Europe. Also, you can get halogen sealed beam replacement lamps.

droldsmorland

I still feel OLD!

rocketraider

Izzatchoo makin' them old man noises?!

Guy in my office says when he first gets up in the morning and starts moving around it sounds like somebody walking on bubble wrap with all the pops and creaks.

To kinda sorta get back on topic, I needed floodlight bulbs for one of the motion lights at the house. Apparently there is no such thing as a regular old PAR38 floodlamp anymore- they are all either LED ($$$) or halogen(which I think burn too hot). That and all the outdoor rated ones I can find locally are not a true "sealed" beam type- they have separate reflectors and lenses, glued together. I have already had one of those to separate and drop the lens onto the concrete patio, with predictable result.

It's like I've heard said- "Progress was all right once, but it went on too long."

joe_padavano

Sadly, Glenn, that isn't even funny anymore...

dancutlass

If you don't find any sealed beams here, you could convert to seperate-bulb lamps...
Try the headlights of a BMW E3, that's what I used in my 66, don't know if yours are bigger in diameter though Joe??

rocketraider

74 will still have round sealed beams so the BMW light conversion will probably work.

Didn't Hella produce separate-bulb halogen lamps at one time, that were a direct fit replacement for American 5" and 7" sealed beam lamps?

dancutlass

Don't know if they made them especially as a replacement for the American lamps, but the E3 headlights, I have, are made by Hella as well and they fit perfectly, so maybe Hella sold them as a "conversion kit"