Hi,
There may well be a guide for this elsewhere but just in case !!
I have removed the headlamps MANY times on various A2s and every time I have done it I have prodded, pulled, levered, cursed, forced (often pulling the whole connector out of the headlamp with the plug still attached to the socket). With the plug ending up damaged.
With something as simple as removing an electrical plug I tend not to think that I have to find a guide on how do that.
As I have done each one I seem to have MORE trouble rather than less and the plugs are getting more and more chewed up !!!
Being a typical bloke, I don't ask for directions when I am lost and similarly I don't go looking for guides for "simple" stuff!!! (i.pretty stupid!).
I recently bought a couple of headlamps to experiment with the DRL tubes etc. BOTH had the plug still in and the wiring cut instead. Both were from a different seller and so they obviously both couldn't get the plug off. So I am definitely not alone.
But having the two headlamps to experiment on I thought "why not see how this silly plug actually works".
It is pretty simple, as most things are when you KNOW how it works.
This picture shows the little flap that is the cause of all the frustrated attempts at removal. It prevents the plug from coming off,
This picture shows where you need to insert a flat bladed screwdriver.
This picture shows the flap moving slightly as you press the screwdriver towards the wire
This picture shows that when you have pressed the screwdriver fully, the flap is now completely out of the way
The biggest problem of all is that if you now think that the plug just slides off then think again!, it takes quite a lot to pull it off.
That is one of the reasons why the "blokeish" trial and error never works, even if you have managed to get it right by accident, the plug just doesn't want to come off.
If you have damaged your plug trying to get it off and you no longer have the little tab at the top to press against, at least you can now see why just pushing the screwdriver down the slot does not help. In fact that just presses the release tab the opposite way and makes the plug even less likely to come off.
You have to somehow get that tab moved away from the body of the socket. If it really won't budge you have few options, one is to just use brute force and use the screwdriver between where the plug meets the face of the headlamp. This is risky, but it will force the socket and plug out together (still connected) and that will give you chance to force a very slim screwdriver UP in between the flap and the socket and so lever it away that way.
Having pulled the socket and plug out on many occasions in the past, I have always found that no damage was caused and it clips back in securely anyway. But this whole approach is only for when everything else has failed!!!!
Hopefully this might help other "blokes" who struggle in the cold and dark in silence (apart from several swear words).
Steve B
There may well be a guide for this elsewhere but just in case !!
I have removed the headlamps MANY times on various A2s and every time I have done it I have prodded, pulled, levered, cursed, forced (often pulling the whole connector out of the headlamp with the plug still attached to the socket). With the plug ending up damaged.
With something as simple as removing an electrical plug I tend not to think that I have to find a guide on how do that.
As I have done each one I seem to have MORE trouble rather than less and the plugs are getting more and more chewed up !!!
Being a typical bloke, I don't ask for directions when I am lost and similarly I don't go looking for guides for "simple" stuff!!! (i.pretty stupid!).
I recently bought a couple of headlamps to experiment with the DRL tubes etc. BOTH had the plug still in and the wiring cut instead. Both were from a different seller and so they obviously both couldn't get the plug off. So I am definitely not alone.
But having the two headlamps to experiment on I thought "why not see how this silly plug actually works".
It is pretty simple, as most things are when you KNOW how it works.
This picture shows the little flap that is the cause of all the frustrated attempts at removal. It prevents the plug from coming off,
This picture shows where you need to insert a flat bladed screwdriver.
This picture shows the flap moving slightly as you press the screwdriver towards the wire
This picture shows that when you have pressed the screwdriver fully, the flap is now completely out of the way
The biggest problem of all is that if you now think that the plug just slides off then think again!, it takes quite a lot to pull it off.
That is one of the reasons why the "blokeish" trial and error never works, even if you have managed to get it right by accident, the plug just doesn't want to come off.
If you have damaged your plug trying to get it off and you no longer have the little tab at the top to press against, at least you can now see why just pushing the screwdriver down the slot does not help. In fact that just presses the release tab the opposite way and makes the plug even less likely to come off.
You have to somehow get that tab moved away from the body of the socket. If it really won't budge you have few options, one is to just use brute force and use the screwdriver between where the plug meets the face of the headlamp. This is risky, but it will force the socket and plug out together (still connected) and that will give you chance to force a very slim screwdriver UP in between the flap and the socket and so lever it away that way.
Having pulled the socket and plug out on many occasions in the past, I have always found that no damage was caused and it clips back in securely anyway. But this whole approach is only for when everything else has failed!!!!
Hopefully this might help other "blokes" who struggle in the cold and dark in silence (apart from several swear words).
Steve B
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