Replacing Headlights on 911 3.2s and 964s

911s in ‘88 and ‘89 (and at least some from earlier 3.2 years; can’t quite find an exact demarcation point) had the same headlights that made it into the 964s. I had to pull them apart to replace my bulbs last night after noticing that my low beams were out. This video was an enormous help. In a short:

  1. Unscrew the bottom bolt on the rings which holds the rings in place1.
  2. Lift and pull to remove the ring, which is held in place by a small lip on the body-side above the bucket. If the lights haven’t been opened up in a while (20+ years in my case) it might take some effort to pull the rings. I used a hook tool wrapped in a microfiber towel placed into the bottom bolt’s hole and pulled hard on the right side. Left side lifted with no issue.
  3. Remove the four bolts which hold the light assembly in place (one each at 2:00, 4:00, 8:00, 10:00)2.
  4. Unclip the harness, remove the light assembly, remove the star-shaped retaining clip and replace the bulb. Use conductive grease to prevent connector corrosion.
  5. Assembly is the reverse of the above.

  1. The video says to remove the pugs which cover access to the adjustment screws, but this seems unnecessary to me. ↩︎

  2. The screws at 9:00 and 12:00 are for beam adjustment; don’t mess with those. ↩︎

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