Originally Posted by Magic Hat

I wouldn't bother for simply unplugging old bulbs and inserting new ones (as long as you're not the kind of person who can't resist prying things out with screwdrivers). If I was doing anything that involved cutting wires then yes I would.

Originally Posted by Jagnut07

Hi Seth, I figured out how to get the indicator bulbs out and back but now struggling to get back covers on again. Being such a pain i have decided to replace my HID units while i have the covers off. Also people who i follow tell me my HIDs are different colors. Maybe that one was replace on my 2005 under warranty back in 2008. However looking for replacement i find two Sylvania options - The original replacement at Sylvania D1S Basic ($99) and another, the Sylvania D1S zXe ($115). It would seem the later is whiter brighter light. Any idea if this zXe will fit with no other mods? Appreciate anyone advice/experience.

Originally Posted by Jagnut07

Hi Seth, I figured out how to get the indicator bulbs out and back but now struggling to get back covers on again. Being such a pain i have decided to replace my HID units while i have the covers off. Also people who i follow tell me my HIDs are different colors. Maybe that one was replace on my 2005 under warranty back in 2008. However looking for replacement i find two Sylvania options - The original replacement at Sylvania D1S Basic ($99) and another, the Sylvania D1S zXe ($115). It would seem the later is whiter brighter light. Any idea if this zXe will fit with no other mods? Appreciate anyone advice/experience.

Originally Posted by jahummer

Yes they will fit. They are whiter because the color temp is cooler at 5k compared to 4.2k for OEM.

Originally Posted by MEC

Changed out my lamps about a year ago. Here is the link to what I bought (way less expensive than the Sylvania equivalent and they have been in the car since January 2016).

https://www.amazon.com/Xenon-Headlig...ype=automotive

Also, there are some tricks to getting the assemblies back together which are found on this site as well. Small, long fingers help! :-). Did 4 lamps in less than 30 minutes after initially struggling, then finally doing more searching, reading and printing.

In any case, I went with 10,000K lamps. Not too blue, but give the car (2005 XJR) a much more current look. Then I also changed out the fog lamps. Went to amber. Here is the link for those;

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by Seth

I've now checked again and timed myself. This time I beat my previous record and completed the entire procedure for the right hand side in just under 8 minutes!

I have taken pictures of the step by step procedure I followed (similar to the above quoted procedure) and this is my contribution to assist fellow forumisters to understand what we are talking about.

Here it goes (See pictures labelled Step 1-7 for your reference. PS. Can anyone tell me how I can attach pictures so that each step can have its picture under the step text?):

1. Remove the front engine plastic cover by removing 6 plastic "screws" as shown in picture 1 (step 1 pic).

2. Note the position of the wire clip holding the plastic cover against the light unit, and Unclip wire holding the HID light unit as shown in picture 2 & 2b

3. Push plastic HID light cover backwards from the top, then wiggle it left to right to loosen the bottom. PS. You may need to slide your finger downwards to loosen the bottom part of the plastic light cover. See picture 3

4. To remove the plastic cover from the "hole", tilt it slightly sideways with the top part pointing towards the middle of the car. See pic 4

5. Pull it upwards to remove it. NB. The bottom part of the plastic cover is bigger and you may need to use a little bit of "force", not excessive, just a little nudge out. See pic 5

6. Remove the electric wiring from the D1S HID bulb before unclipping its wire holding the globe in its slot. See pic 6

7. Unclip the wire holder and remove the globe. to get to this stage from step 1, will take you roughly 5 minutes or less. See pic 7, 7b, 7c

8. To close up, indeed you need to follow the above steps in reverse, but let me caution you by outlining the following:

8.1. You will find step 6 too time consuming if you have gigantic fingers like mine. It is not easy to clot in the electric wiring onto the D1S HID bulb. It takes patience, silence, and lots of sunlight for first timers as you may find yourself easily spending 5-10 minutes trying to slot the electric wiring in. Once in, the biggest hurdle would have been overcome.

8.2 The next big hurdle, albeit slightly less intense is completing step 4 to replace the plastic cover. the trick here is to first hook in the lower tip onto a rectangular wire clip at the bottom to ensure that the plastic cover is airtight once you've clipped its wire holding it tightly against the HID light unit. You need to ensure that the cover neatly slots in the guides and is airtight before you clip on the wire holding it against the light unit. Once done, then the job is done. I reckon for first timers, completing this step can take another 5-10 minutes.

In total, for first timers, it could take you 30-40 minutes to replace one side. Perhaps less for the other side. With lots and lots of practice, you can beat my current record and do it under 8 minutes per globe.

Good luck.