PHOTO: Mary van Balen “Hurray,” I shouted.
“It’s on!,” my neighbor said.
I was never as happy to see a headlight shine bright as I was tonight. My daughter and her friend had taken me to dinner and while driving home I remembered that I had two new headlight bulbs in the back seat for her to install. I called. She said the owner’s manual would give me directions and the job should not be difficult.
“If you can’t get it, I can help tomorrow night.”
“OK. I’ll give it a try when I am home.”
I turned into the driveway and pulled close to the garage incase the job lasted longer than the evening light. The manual made it sound easy if I could figure out what the “hold down wire” was and if the power steering fluid holder came out easily. In just a few minutes I had the new bulbs out along with a packet of some sort of grease that the salesman said I could put on the connectors.
Pulling off the plug was easy. So was removing the rubber weather seal. The “hold down wire” that looked mysterious in the manual’s diagram was the only problem. I found a little wire with my fingers and pushed it this way and that. I am not sure what I did, but suddenly the wire moved and the lightbulb almost jumped out.
“OK,” I said to myself, “that wasn’t hard.”
I greased the connectors on one of the bulbs, pushed it into the hole and seated the tabs in the correct places. Then came that pesky little wire. I worked and worked at it. I even went into the house, opening the door with a tissue over my now dirty, greasy hand, and brought out a flashlight. I had learned one lesson: Don’t take something apart without noticing how it went together.
Luckily, the driver’s side headlight was still in place. I went over and after a bit of tugging, slid out the steering wheel fluid canister, removed the rubber weather seal, and took a good long look at the “hold down wire.” This one was much cleaner than the other. I could see where it went, but my fingers couldn’t slide the other one into place.
I walked to a neighbor’s house and carefully rang the doorbell, managing to avoid smearing it with grease.
“Hello! How are you?” he greeted me with a smile.
“Do you have a moment? I have a favor to ask.”
“Sure.”
“Have you ever replaced a car’s headlight bulb?”
“Well, I tired once, but it got so complicated that I ended up taking it to the dealer. But, I’ll give it a try. I can take a look anyway,” he said as he sat on the steps and put on his shoes. Luckily, as it turned out, Honda had made my job considerably less complicated.
We walked across a couple of lawns to my car. I explained my trouble with the little wire, and together we looked at the one still in place. He felt around and tried. I tried while he held the flashlight. (My husband always appreciated someone aiming the flashlight at the right place. It does help.)
Finally, I managed to put the wire behind the tab to secure the bulb. I can’t claim a lot of method. I just kept moving wire with my fingers until it clicked into place.
“I had to push it UP. That is what did it.”
The rest was simple once I reread the manual after unsuccessfully trying to replace the weather seal AFTER plugging the bulb connectors into to plug. As my neighbor had gently observed, the hole in the seal was not big enough to go over the plug.
“OK,” he said, “let’s see if it works.
Replacing the driver’s side bulb went smoothly. My neighbor slid into the car and tried the lights again. Two bright spots (extra bright, if one can believe the bulbs’ packaging) appeared on the garage door. Success!
Having someone to hold the flashlight and talk to as we figured it out was a help. It made the job pleasant. Good neighbors are one of life’s blessings; success in a new endeavor, one of life’s simple joys. I went inside, wishing I had some of that smelly orange soap that was always in our basement to clean up after greasy jobs. Soft Soap citrus worked. I used a dental bridge brush to clean under my nails. I have to sell bras and pj’s tomorrow and can’t have grease monkey hands.
I called my daughter to share my success, opened a box of Junior Mints and turned on the TV to watch the Red Sox play Cleveland: 14 – 2, Sox. A good evening to celebrate.
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