I have a 91 hiace super custom 7 pas. van and have recently burnt out a headlight. I have tried every way I can without ripping the headlight out to get the bulb but cannot. Can anyone tell me what the trick is to replacing the bulb. Thank you

tjack
B.C. Canada

I've been worried about the same thing. Ours hasn't blown, but it's one of those things we're all going to face sooner or later. If you find out somewhere else, please post the answer here.

Cheers,
P

Hey Guys. I'm a 4Runner man myself, but I felt obligated to reply here.

2 Things:

#1. I have a van (northamerican built) and you access the light bulbs through the wheel-well area. You need to remove the tire, and at the forward edge of the area is a removable access hatch. Maybe you have the same.

#2. I'm a big believer in getting after-market repair manuals. The 2 big ones are Haynes and Chilton. The Hiace does not seem to have one with these 2 big suppliers. However, you can purchase a repair manual form Toyota on CD. For a 1991....I recommend you do that.

Hi All,

I recently had the pleasure of figuring this one out. I was daunted doing this because headlights are often hard to get at... BUT it wasn't that bad!! Here's how it goes...

This is for the original headlights, not the ones they're making imports have now...

On the inside of the door there is a little plastic piece held in with one screw. Take this off.

Pull forward on the side lamp unit. It slides out.

The grate is attached with those little nipples. I got this off by gently prying with a screwdriver along the top, starting at one side and moving to the other. Once the top was off, the bottom came off easily. I did lose a nipple or two...

Once the grate is off you can access the screws holding in the main lightbulb unit. Undo these (I think there might just be two screws. Then pull it out - generally forward, but there are a few things to manoeuver around. In particular, the two direction adjusting screws (which are accessible from within the cab of the van) which are backed with some kind of sponge has to be pulled out of the holes leading into the cab. At first it feels like something is attached from behind, but don't worry, it is not wires, just the sponge gripping the hole.

Once this is out, simply screw off the back of the lens, and release the bulb. On my van, one of the adjusting screws was in the way, but was easily removed as it is held with just one screw.

Here is one BIG warning: The adjusting screws do not need to be touched in order to release the lens. I started there and stripped the adjusting mechanism (which is largely brittle 15 year old plastic)...

To put everything back, just reverse order these steps. Let me know if this is not clear.

Cheers,
PBS

I have a '93 Hiace and in the manual it says to replace the headlight you must:

Undo the screws on the outside of the van (headlight housing)
Pull the complete headlight unit out
Do the work needed at the back of the unit
Put the complete unit back in
Do up the screws again

Haven't had to do it yet, but thats what the manual says..

This seems a hell of a lot easier than trying to work on my old honda civic headlight.. Needed VERY small hands to get to the back and change the bulb..