Bright Light, Dim Bulb

I discovered on Friday that my front left headlamp had burned out.

I could have sworn I'd changed it less than a year ago.

Anyway, I went and got a 2-pack of replacement headlamps (since it's cheaper and where one has gone, so will the other).

Of course, I had waited until night, though it had at least stopped raining.

It gave me a chance to try out my new River Rock 2AAA LED headlamp, a pretty neat, cheap and good headlamp available for $14.99 at Target (check out the review - 4 of 5 stars)

Since I've done it before, knew what to expect: a half hour bent over the engine (just stop that right now), contorted around the coolant reservoir and tearing up my knuckles trying to get the retaining clip back on.

I pulled out the old bulb (which was very burnt out) and put the new one in.

Surprisingly, the retaining clip went on easily. Too easily, as I should have realized immediately.

I then went to plug the wires back in, which is usually easy. Instead, I wrestled with it for about 15 minutes, with no luck.

I then took another look, and realized why the retaining clip had gone on so easily.

The bulb fits into a base attachment, which then is clipped in to the headlamp as a unit; the wires attach to the base.

I had neglected to take the base off the old bulb, which is why the clip went in easy, but the wires didn't.

It took about 10 more minutes, but I finally got the bulb changed.