2009 D3 drivers headlight bulb. Just raaaaah!!
 

With the support of our sponsors I set about changing the drivers headlight bulb. Stripped out the air box, old bulb ballast twisted and removed and the bulb stayed put. Not quite what we were expecting...

A little faffing and jiggling later and the bulb popped out.

Fitted the new bulb in to the igniter (?) holder. In and and out for over an hour. It just will not sit in and do its little 1/8th turn to lock in.

Went back to basics and removed the bulb. The holder / igniter(?) I can put in and out out now without looking in 10 seconds - Just not with a bleedin bulb attached to it.:Confused::Confused:

Must have had 3 hours at it now over the past 2 days. Even our sponsors are stumped.

In an ideal I would just remove the whole damn light and do it that way but neither have the time or the experience to be dropping a bumper etc off.

Im truly stumped.

So for those that have the done the job before -

Is it bulb and igniter back in as one unit and then attach the wiring ?

I can put my finer inside the back of the lamp and know there is nothing preventing the bulb going back in

Just - what the heck is this all about?!!!!! :Confused::(:(:(:(

You are not the only one to have had this issue, I felt like putting a hammer to it!

The answer is simple, inside the igniter there is a brown (or white?) ring with notches. This needs to line up with the notches for the bulb. This way the bulb goes in properly and the igniter will turn fully.

It will make sense when you see it, I searched the internet like mad but there wasn't much info on this

https://xenons4u.co.uk/media/catalog...1/013m_1_1.jpg

The green notches should be clear of the plastic ring (red area). This plastic ring is what is stopping the ballast from turning fully as the bulb is not seated correctly.

Appreciated folks.

I am going to find out how to upload pics properly as I spent a good while over with Prestige looking at a removed headlight and having a practice on that one first.

Best advice I can give in the immediate is - ignore the Youtube videos.

Certainly IGNORE the one that suggest you nip off the trigger pin for the igniter lead to make reassembly easier (that cost me an immediate second hand igniter courtesy of Marie :-() )

More to follow....+++