To Kill a Padidle
So I was driving home yesterday after work as I always do. I noticed that the reflection of my lights from the car in front of me was giving a few points away to anyone playing a game of Padidle. I went over to Wal-Mart and used an electronic gadget to find out what kind of light my car needed. I found one for about $10 (Sylvania 9007 XV).
Now mind you, I never changed a cars lights before except for a red tail light once. The head lights are a bit harder to get to and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I spent a few minutes mucking around trying to pull the wire out while trying to avoid getting burnt by the engines heat. I soon gave up and drove home, panicked that I may get pulled over for a burnt out headlight as I pass the police station on the road that I live at the end of.
I got home ok and tried again and gave up again. I was not having any luck. During my lunch break today and after work, I tried again and still failed. I just got some dirty hands. I did manage to find the ring that I could twist off and move around, but I didn’t know what to do with it so I put it back.
Tonight a while after I got home, I stuck it out and tried a bit harder with more determination. I wasn’t going to give up so easily. I was mainly after that power cord. I would wiggle it up and down, left and right. I tried twisting it, pushing it in and out. The thing wouldn’t budge.
I would keep looking at the new bulb in its package for any clues as to how to remove the old one. I felt around for anything that might release it like a button or something. I was afraid that I would break something if I wasn’t doing it rite. After about 10 minutes it finally came out. It was just stuck in really tight.
So after that, it was easy to do the rest. I got the ring off next and then pulled the light bulb out. The bulb itself was also stuck in pretty tight but not as bad as the powercord. Getting the new bulb in was easy. I felt so proud of my accomplishment of replacing a headlight.
It sounds like such a simple task. I was actually starting to consider bringing the car into a local garage just to replace the bulb with the one I had purchased. I would have felt very pathetic, but I was determined to get that bulb changed one way or another.
Tags: Padidle, Headlights, Automobiles, Troubleshooting, Dodge, Neon, Dodge Neon 2000
September 17th, 2005 at 7:41 am
I’ve had the exact same problem as you with changing the head and tail lights in my car. Having never done it before, I didn’t realize that you basically have to twist your hand off at the wrist to get the stinking rings off. You’d think they’d be a bit easier to get loose.
September 18th, 2005 at 6:25 am
All the cars I’ve owned I’ve never had that sort of trouble. - The most trouble I had was when I replaced the lights on my MR2 after high-beams weren’t even putting off enough light. Getting access to the cage was easy, but I was missing some screws, or shall I say it was, and getting them back in was a pain because of gravity. Oh well. - Can’t wait to see how it goes on my camry. Just a brief look at the light makes me hope its just a bulb. I’m sure if I had to replace the light it’d cost upwards of $100+. That’s progress.. progress in profit for the auto manufacturer and after market parts.
September 18th, 2005 at 5:26 pm
I hate it when things are stuck like that. Like you said, you’re never sure if you’re going to break it or just break it free. Sometimes you just have to play with it long enough that you get pissed off enough that you don’t care..
On the up side, I doubt any cop would have given you a ticket if you explained your situation and showed them the bulb you had just bought, especially if you were close to home.