headlight bulb badly stuck ("seized"?)

[saucy626]

Long story short: had a headlight bulb out, decided to get a set of Silverstars, passenger's side went in fine, driver's side won't budge more than ~1 CM when I try to unscrew it. I'm going by the owner's manual's directions for changing headlamps. I went back to Advance Auto Parts and they told me I should've used Permatex somethingorother to stop it form "seizing up" in the first place, but didn't really tell me anything about what to do about it. Any advice on how to get it out without breaking stuff would be greatly appreciated. The car in question is a '96 Z26 if it makes a difference.

[berettaboi]

let wd40 soak on the affected (infected? lol) areas for a day or 2 and it should not be a problem anymore. you don't need to pull out the complete housings to get the bulb out, if that's what you are thinking. (it may be easier if you have some fat hands...)

[DTMAce]

PB Blaster I find works better than WD40 as well. May just have to wiggle back and forth, as far as you can turn, then back, and again and back. It should work loose. Remember they only need to turn a quarter or so then they just pull out of the housing. They usually go in then turn and lock.

Yeah, you don't pull the actual housings. Just lift the plastic flap over the lamps (if you have it) then remove the bulbs, replace, reinsert. Done.

[Koots]

My giant hands usually require me to remove the whole housing to do a clean job.

I know it's not that hard on my Corsica (Even easier on my 02' Silverado) to pull the whole headlight housing out, which would really help you at removing this without breaking anything IMHO.

I've got paws, not hands, and tend to break stuff that requires a gentle touch, so I put extra steps in place to limit those accidents.

[Money pit Beretta]

Bulb grease is what it's called. You should buy some and put it on the contacts. It keeps moisture off the contacts.

[Koots]

I'd imagine dielectric grease would work just as well. I use it on most of my electronics, but that's because I bought a, relatively, huge sized tube of it from the GM dealership.

[Money pit Beretta]

It's a good idea to do that Koots, I do it too. I use it on sensors, plug wires,flashlights and even the coax for the TV in the house.
The old bulb grease was more like grease, the new stuff I'd say is just dielectic grease.

[Koots]

It definitely makes things easier to take apart, that's for sure. Especially GM's weatherpack connectors.

[Money pit Beretta]

Well that is true, but I use it to aid the connection. Still that is a nice side effect!