In the reflection off a purple mini van on my way home from work last night, I realized that my driver's side headlamp was out. This was disconcerting for two reasons.
1) I was pretty sure I heard someone say that the VW dealerships like to replace the whole headlamp assembly ($110 - $140) instead of just the bulb.
2) This was the first thing that wore out on my car since I bought it. And it brought back all the bad feelings about cars that I had before I bought one new. (Picture me pumping my tire up with a bike pump every day before school and pouring water into my radiator on the way home, all to keep an aging Volvo alive.)
However, with a little web research, I found out that I could just pop off the back of the headlamp assembly and replace the bulb with little effort.
Two screws, four plastic coverings, and two spring loaded high gauge wire guards later and I popped out that burnt bulb and replaced it with no problem.
Total cost: $14.
Sigh. I love the net.
