Chevy Malibu headlight bulb replacement 2008-2012 

It's like the headlight bulb went down the assembly line first and they built the car around it. Welcome back, Will!

Who would have thought that changing a headlight bulb would be so involved? Some engineer making $200,000 a year spent hours coming up with that design. Anyway, great job of making a not-so-simple job much easier. Keep up the great work!

Thanks. I’ve got to do my Malibu. Good job!

I just tore out my friend’s bumper to fix the headlight. Getting it off wasn’t the problem. Putting it all back together, WAS A NIGHTMARE! Omg. Never again

Got 45 minutes into this job with broken clips and rusted bolts when it finally dawned on me that this is why I happily pay good mechanics like you... made an appointment next week, thoroughly disgusted with GM.

Thanks for the very detailed video on this. I inherited a 2008 I use as a commuter car and have to replace the headlight. I’m thoroughly convinced these idiot engineers purposely do this so DIYer’s will get discouraged and end up taking it to a dealership and pay an exorbitant rate to have it done.

Good to see you back, hope everything is fine!

This is the only video I have seen where the installer correctly inserts the pin in the body at the back of the light! If you loosen that 10mm down to its last thread you can fit the light pin into the body and not risk dropping the bolt.

I replaced bulbs today for 1st time in 2011 malibu after watching video. Attempting to replace the bulbs with the bumper cover unattached as shown is a headache. The bumper cover is pretty much 95% unattached from the frame at that point! All that's left are about eight 1/4 head screws off at the bottom of the bumper cover. It'll be much, much easier to replace bulbs and not break something by taking the cover completely off. Otherwise, chances are you will almost certainly break something on the bulb housing.

I have a 09 and this video was very helpful! Changed it all by myself!

Thank you Will. Good job again. Have a blessed and safe week to you and your family.

Holy crap will!!! You saved my ass!!! Thank you so much. My daughter has 2010 Malibu this video was so helpful

Really helped me to replace my sister in laws on her 2011. Thank you

welcome back will! this makes people not to fix... and creates a hazard

Excellent video! The camera work was fantastic!

Thank you Will. Saved me $175

I've changed my bulbs over 5 times in the past 2 years. Changed the headlights still had the same problem. Talked to a friend changed the wire harness so far the lights have finally stayed on consistently.

Ive owned 4 vehicles in my life and this is the first time I have to take the whole front end apart. (1st GM vehicle too)

Dang. I had the EXACT same issue on the drivers side. I tried for so long. Being careful to not snap anything. I couldn’t get the drivers side headlight assembly back into the car and fitting the panel properly. There is a gap. Also didn’t have a proper light and other tools. So was just too hard to see. Gonna have to try again tomorrow and maybe remove that piece like you did. Hopefully that solves it. What a pain!

thank you for this good video

Mine is a 2012 and I hate having to change it

Thank you for showing this

I did mine last night and I almost never got my driver side one out. The whole assembly was stuck and after yanking on it I finally got it out. But I ended up putting it back in a little crooked. It's cocked toward the inside and down a little like my driver side headlight is crossing its eye or something. Ha. I only saw one tab to stick the assembly into and then the pin that goes into the hole. Can't figure out why it didn't line up like the other side.

I think Chevy designed this headlight assembly the way they did bc years leading up to the 2008 recession and their own Bankruptcy era, Chevy and most of GMs sales were down due to their horrible quality cars from the 90s-2000s, plus all the money Saab, Hummer, and Cadillac were causing them. So financially GM was strained and heading towards a Bankruptcy anyways, and to make back some extra funds they over engineered alot of crap in their cars so those cars would end up back at the Chevy dealer more often getting " wear parts " replaced that weren't covered under their warranty. There was alot of cost cutting and over engineering in this era of GM, all of their cars, and it really sucks. What makes it worse for these Malibu's is that the same headlight bulb runs as the DRL, so they're constantly on, making them dim way faster. Our 2012 LTZ thankfully has LEDs, but I'm sure after writing this comment one of them will go out due to shit luck 😂😭 but they're still going strong after 10 years and 70k miles.

I have a 08 Chevy Malibu that needs replaced the headlight lenses and the light bulbs in it I’m just trying to figure out how to do it the easiest way as possible it would be my first time doing this I’m kinda scared to do it lol I don’t want to mess anything up . I never seen a car with so many safety features in it lol could some one give me advice on how to do this and this video helps out a lot

Almost want to sell the car when a headlight goes out lol

Thankyou so much apreciated

How much do you charge for this?

Headlight designed by Apple engineers 😒

Damn... The bolt that's recessed up in wheel well is stuck! Tried a 10mm bolt extractor but all it did was round off the head of the bolt!! I'm afraid to use heat because everything around it is plastic, and it's so hard to get to in the first place, I'm not sure what to do??

After driving with my hi beams on for over a week, I finally had a non rainy day to do this. I got the bulb changed, but couldn't get the headlight back in there all the way like it was. It sticks out a bit and I can't figure out why. I managed to get all the bolts and everything back in, but it's still sticking out. Had to call it good enough for now because I was about to take a baseball bat to the whole car. Didn't even try the other side because I was afraid the same thing would happen and I really would smash the car to bits. So now I have one good low beam. I'll attempt to change the other side on my next good day off and maybe figure out what's wrong with the first side. Never would I have imagined such an ordeal to change a bulb. Used to be a 2 minute job you could do in the dark with a flickering dim flashlight.

Hi Will,you should link a paypal account so people can make a one off contribution to the channel if they don't want to bother with Patreon or an amazon link where you get a cut if they buy anything if they use your link to go to amazon.

Is the bolt by the driver side wheel reverse threaded? I tried going counter-clockwise, but it wouldn't budge.

How much space is between the body and bulb I'm going with LED and need about 2 inches of space

Neighbor bought an 09 and got a ticket about 2 weeks later for a bulb out. He decided the fines were cheaper than the shop rates to replace the bulbs !! LOL Took a couple hours to teach him how it was done.

What a pain but i guess its car makers doing it for you to use the dealership my car says can change bulbs without removing anything yep if your double jointed lol bumper off easier way

I just spent 45 minutes on this before I watched a video. Fuck this car. 😭

What a crappy design. Thanks for showing us.

How long did this take in real time

Ill sell the damn car before i do it again🤣😂

That why amarincan cars sucks.. 1hr for a ligth replacedment..crazy

This design of these lights are stupid makes it complicated

Shame on you Chevy.

almost every video shows this being done wrong

Yeah I forgot about you but I just saw this and thought...were has he been? You don’t have to social media distance.