Theta

The 'second layer' as you said is actually heat pressed into the wheel area - that's not removable.

The only way to replace the bulb is by removing the lamp, itself, which does require all of these steps.

Just a word of caution on that, since I thought I could take that secondary part out, too. Those are heated press-fittings.

eboggs_jkvl

There are some really dumb ***** for engineers on this car! That is plain stupid!


Elmer

Theta

Those heat pressed panels have to be for weight reduction while maintaining or amplifying rigidity. There's no other explanation - a company wouldn't do that to their own techs unless they had to with the design.

Instead of heat pressing, they could have used fasteners, but that wouldn't give the rigidity since those fasteners would just be every 6 inches or so in the plastic/poly-carbonate shell - that would just snap. By having it pressed, it melds with the other layer.

That's my take on it, anyway. Otherwise... doesn't make much sense.

Complete Street

Soooo any luck on just being able to check the connection?

My dealer told me I may have a loose connection to my headlight. He didn't want to keep the car for 4th of july weekend to diagnose because he wanted me to be able to drive it... so I blame him that the tree limb came down on it the same day lol.

M3ToC7

What was the end result? My drivers side headlight is now out. Is this repair under warranty? Only had the car for 5 months. Seems a lot of work to change a bulb.

Anyone know of a good Chevy Service area in Northern Baltimore?

cam30era

Yes, this is covered by warranty.

JW Motorsports

Luckily these bulbs don't fail as much as the halogen bulbs do.

What's the bulb type on these?

Theta

Edit: I stand corrected. The bulbs are D3S.

Theta

Oh, and ready for this one? List price on the bulbs is.... drumroll please....

$280. Each.....

eboggs_jkvl

I got a pair of 6K for $245.

Elmer

Theta

Exactly - they're usually $100 a pop for quality, authentic Philips/Osram 4300K or 5000K.

6000K, depending on manufacturer, can be cheaper/more expensive, but there are some OEMs that still make 6000K (contrary to popular belief).

For reference, as everyone has most likely figured, the factory bulbs are, indeed, 4300K.

I was going to swap to 5000K or 6000K before learning of this clusterf.... Oh well.

eboggs_jkvl

I'll swap them out when the winter gets here and I can work in 70 degree temperatures in the garage. Right now, it's in the 90s most of the time and too damn hot to work on the car in the garage.

Elmer

JW Motorsports

I've been selling the D1S bulbs for the C6 for years.

Anyone up for the challenge to install a set of 6000k and/or 8000k?. All I need is comparison pics from you. I would like someone that can do it quickly.

eboggs_jkvl

I can keep the ones I have as spare. When do you want it done? I'll take a ton of pictures to document the work.

BTW, they are D3S, not D1S. 6K would be nice.

Elmer

eboggs_jkvl

I believe they are D3S, not D1S.

Elmer

JW Motorsports

Thanks. I believe I can get those too.

I'll pm you when I find out.

y2kvett

My Z51 does not have a Front Center Air Deflector. June production...is it supposed to have one?

Theta

If you're referring to the lower deflector (under the radiator panel), this is normal. You will simply have two smaller flaps on each side.

eboggs_jkvl

I take it you either changed your mind on the light thingie or you couldn't get the bulbs?


Elmer

eboggs_jkvl

Ok, I have absolute instructions for changing the bulbs. I now have 2 6K bulbs operating on the front of my car. (Well, those and a new Z06 grill, I did both at the same effort. Have to have the nose off to do either so, I was in the neighborhood!)

1) YES, you do have to remove the nose but that is ALL, no other steps are required to get the bulbs changed. You do not remove the wheels, the wheel liners or anything else that I don't list! Got it?

Ok, here goes.

1) Remove the 3 fasteners in the wheel well that are on the front edge right next to the side light on each front wheel well.

2) In the engine bay: Remove the two black covers at the front of the fenders and the take out the fasteners on the top edge of the nose. two push pins and 4 torx bolts

3) Crawl underneath:
Remove all of the 7mm fasteners that sit directly on the nose cover.
Remove 4 10 mm bolts from the rear of the Air Deflector. The air Deflector can now be removed.
Look again in the area that the air deflector exposes. There are 5 or 6 MORE 7mm bolts to come out.

4) Separate the nose in the wheel liner below the light pod to get at the side light connection. You can bend in the fender liner to get the connection in view. There is a small lock that has to be slid away from the connector and then squeeze and pull. Do that for both sides.

5) Ok, ready to remove the nose. Lift up at the last edge of the nose cover exposed in the engine bay. This is the hardest part of the entire process. the edge of the nose going over to the side fender DIRECTLY TO THE headlight pod has 2 tabs that need to pop out of a retaining clamp. This is the short piece that is touching the front quarter panel. IT IS HARD to get them to release. I used a trim removing tool to get under the far edge (next to the light pods) to get the the nose to pop out of the retainer. DO THAT for both ends of the nose covering at the area next to the headlight pods at the seam touching the quarter panel. Once you get those to pop out of the retaining clip, the cover will almost fall off the front to the floor (WHICH you have covered with a large soft cloth to protect the nose paint, right?). It would be best to have a partner when you take off the nose. Once it starts to come off, it can fall to the floor if you don't have 2 people to support the ends of the nose piece.

6) Remove three bolts (each pod) that hold the headlight pod in place.

7) THIS IS IMPORTANT! PAY ATTENTION!!! The black clip that was such a pain in the *** to get the nose to release will be in your way when you try to remove the pod. The black clip is held in place by 2 7mm screws. NOTE THE LOCATION OF THE CLIP. Mark it or whatever you need to do because you MUST put the clip back in the exact location it started. Failure to put it back in the same spot will cause a misalignment of the nose in relation to the fender and that will look like feces!!!

8) Disconnect the electrical connection on the light pod and slowly pull the pod off the car.

9) Open the big round plastic cover on the pod. (Small counterclockwise turn will do it.)
Disconnect the light from the wire plug (pulls straight off)
There are 2 tabs that you now need to turn to unlock the light bulb. They are black and sit at 180 degrees to each other on the base of the light bulb.
Turn the tabs.
Pull straight out on the light bulb base. (Needless to say, don't even THINK about touching the bulb glass with your bare hand.)

Reverse these steps to install the new bulb.

Put the pod back into it's position on the car. Reconnect the connector.

Put the nose clip bracket back in the exact location and tighten down the two 7mm screws.

Do the other pod.


To put the nose back on, it is pretty much in the reverse order of taking it off. I would remind you that there is a piece of trim under the car that needs to be INSIDE of the nose piece as you get everything started for the install. Be sure to get the two tabs of the nose piece that fit under the light pods in to the slots and then lift the nose back into place. I lined up the "hard part to get off" first and used my palm to push those tabs back into place at the black clip.


When you run out of stuff you took off, you should be all set!


No, I did not take pictures. I was working!

It's not really that hard to do. Just take your time and be careful to not scratch up the paint!


Elmer