How to Replace the bulbs in factory fog assembly

Owners manual just states to have your subaru dealer do this as it may be difficult.

 

Where the fogs sit, there is a huge piece of plastic.

Do I access the bulbs from underneath in the wheel well?

What do I need to remove to access the stock fog bulbs for replacement?

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Jared

this is for a 2006 Outback Wagon 3.0R VDC Limted

Ha.. sounds like the pain in the ass thing I had to do for my 03 Forester XS it said the same crap "take the car to a SUBARU dealer" Phfff.. the only reason is becuse it's a very tight space and if you have large hands then it's an issue.. also if it's anything like my forester I had to do everything by feel... I pretty much had to feel my way around the socket where the bulb sticks in.

I am not worried about that so much as just getting to the assembly is a pain in the ass.

 

I know there are other Wagon owners with factory fog that have changed bulbs.

I can wait it out.

I am not sure about fog light but it's pretty easy to remove the entire bumper, once you have the bumper out it’s really easy to change it. Search the thread of how to install custom grill and you will find the instruction of removing bumper. To remove the bumper, the main trick is the bolt inside of wheel well.

yea the only way i figured out was to remove entire bumper. this is for a 08 LGT

Jack the front of the car up. There's a couple of pop its holding the front of the wheel liner in place. Pull them out, you can then pull back the liner to get access to the bulbs, take 10 minutes for both

^^^

I didn't jack the car up, but it would help a lot.

 

 

OP- You can wedge yourself in there and do it out on your driveway without a lot of help. Unless you are a giant.

Hi i have the 2007 Outback but its the sedan.

I believe its the same for both its so easy.

You ll need a flat screw driver.

1. You have to pop a few push locks thats what i call them they look like plastic screws take the ones that are closest to the end of the bumper out.

2. Then you can bend the plastic underguard just enough to fit your hand don't worry it wont break.

Its tough plastic once you look from the bottom you ll get an idea.

very easy

^^^

I didn't jack the car up, but it would help a lot.

 

 

OP- You can wedge yourself in there and do it out on your driveway without a lot of help. Unless you are a giant.

 

If your car is lowered, then you need to

 

Unless you have the body of Paris Hilton

My friend does! I shoved him underneath to do the job. I stood there and drank beer!

Going from above ->

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15343&highlight=fog

 

Going from underneath ("traditional" method) ->

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9316&highlight=fog+light+bulb

 

Installed new PIAA fogs tonight and after a drive in light snow they are much nicer than stock. I used the "top" method and slid the fog light assembly out the front.

replaced a busted piaa foglight yesterday afternoon. 15 mins with jacking up the car. NO way for me to get under the car without jacking it up. Hell, I can't get the jack under the car:lol:

i'm a small guy (5'5") and my hands are pretty small too.. or rather they're the right size for my height. so things were pretty simple for me. it was my first time doing it too and only took me about 15 minutes in total.

 

i didn't jack up the car. i just lay on the ground beside the front corner, near the fog. i reached in, removed a few popits, pushed the shroud/covering off to the side a bit (never took the entire thing off) reached my hand in, undid the tab securing the bulb assembly in, removed it, swapped bulbs, replaced assesmlby, and put popits back in.

 

i really don't think anyone needs to jack up the car to replace the foglight bulbs.... just need to reach in there, that's all.

 

i wish i still had the link to the instructions that i found here on the forums using search, but i don't have it bookmarked anymore, so you'll have to search it yourself.

^ I like "going under," too.

 

I'm about 6-foot, even, medium build. I've been told by some orthopods and whatnot that I've got pretty big forearms for a guy my size, but I'm definitely not Popeye, either.

 

I still like to go from underneath, although I will confess that on my slightly lowered + chin-lip'ed (DIY lip) vehicle, I found it nearly impossible to do this "by feel," even parking the car over my garage lip (to give me an additional inch or so of wiggle room). I had to jack her up. And no, this is far from my first time in that area.

 

Here's the old description of how to go from underneath:

 

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9316&highlight=fog+light+bulb

 

Here's how to go from the top, via Roundboy's Walk-Through, also now pretty dated.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15343&highlight=fog

Very easy swap, did mine in 15m....

Shouldn't there be plenty of clearance to begin with, you know, since its an Outback?

 

I jacked up the front of my car on a slight downward slope and moved around the mud shields to get the foglights in the bumper, but I'm lowered.

is it normal to feel like you have to "force" the plug/harness back into the assembly? i'm trying to re-connect my fogs and i feel like i'm having to force the connector in.

is it normal to feel like you have to "force" the plug/harness back into the assembly? i'm trying to re-connect my fogs and i feel like i'm having to force the connector in.

 

If I'm hearing you correctly, there is difficulty putting the assembly back together. I attribute it to not enough slck on the wires. Once you connect the wire from the H3 bulb, it's tough keeping the ground wire connected.