2009 Malibu Headlight

[GrtArtiste]

A friend of mine mentioned to me that his car has a bad headlight, and his mechanic told him that to replace the bulb would involve removing the front bumper. Can this be true...or is he being told a whopper? If true I think my friend would rather get rid of the car. TIA for any assistance.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

That is a real thing. I've heard of cars requiring bumper removal to replace the light bulbs, but not sure about the Malibu

 

[Dave9]

Anything that can be covered realtime in a 12 minute video is easier than selling a vehicle and buying a replacement. That's less time than a wash and vac.

 

[Jmlo96]

Can confirm, you have to take the front bumper off. The above video is an acceptable method, but it's a lot easier just to take the entire bumper off. The headlight has a locater tab that IMO is a royal PITA to get back in place without breaking it. On my family members 2010 Malibu I just took the bumper off and replaced all the bulbs. Its not a quick job.

 

[Malo83]

Yup! pull the nose off.

 

[Kruse]

I have not done one of these, but my neighbor told me that his front bumper had to be taken off to replace the headlight.
He took his to the dealer to have the work done.

 

[daves87rs]

Yep, whole bumper HAS to come off. Helped a few folks do this already, including my brother’s 2009 Malibu. Buy good bulbs, replace all of them, ad hopefully you have to do it once in a while......

 

[97prizm]

Many Buick vehicles are like this. Not sure what the engineers are thinking or why it's allowed.