How to Replace Wiper Blades and Bulbs

Two of the easiest jobs on a car, and both are safety items. Neither needs a tool on most vehicles.

• Time: 5 minutes for wipers, 10–30 for a bulb
• Difficulty: beginner
• Saves: $10–$35 on wipers, $17–$80 on a bulb

Wiper blades

Replace them when they streak, chatter, skip, or leave a smeared band right in your eyeline. Most last six months to a year. Illinois winters are hard on them — if yours have been scraping ice all February, they are done.

Buying them

The driver’s and passenger’s blades are usually different lengths — check both. Every parts store has a lookup book or screen at the wiper display; give it your year, make and model. Many will also fit them for you free right there in the car park, which is worth knowing if the weather is foul.

Do not forget the rear wiper if your car has one. It gets ignored for years.

Changing them

1. Lift the wiper arm away from the glass until it locks upright.
2. Lay a folded towel on the windscreen underneath it. If a bare metal arm snaps back onto cold glass it can crack it. Ten seconds, worth doing.
3. Find the release. Usually a small tab or button where the blade meets the arm. Press it and slide the blade down and off the hook. Look at the new blade’s packaging — it shows the exact fitting for your style.
4. Slide the new one on until it clicks. Tug it gently to confirm it is locked.
5. Lower the arm back down slowly. Never let it go.
6. Test with washer fluid before you drive off.

If the new blades still streak, clean the glass properly with glass cleaner and wipe the new rubber with a damp cloth. Old wax and road film cause more streaking than worn blades do.

Bulbs

Walk round your car once a month with the lights on, and press the brake with someone watching or with the car backed up to a wall or garage door so you can see the reflection. A burnt-out brake light is invisible from the driver’s seat and is a common reason to be pulled over.

Buying the right bulb

Bulbs are identified by a number, like 9005, H11 or 7443. The lookup book at the parts store gives it from your year and model, or the old bulb has the number moulded into its base. Buy them in pairs for headlights — they age together, and mismatched brightness is obvious and annoying.

Changing one

1. Lights off, engine off. Let the housing cool if it has been on — they get genuinely hot.
2. Get to the back of the housing. Headlights are usually reached from inside the engine bay behind the light. Tail lights are usually reached from inside the trunk, behind a carpeted panel or a pop-out cover.
3. Unplug the connector, then twist the bulb holder about a quarter turn counter-clockwise and pull it out. Some have a wire spring clip instead.
4. Swap the bulb without touching the glass.
5. Put it back, twist to lock, reconnect the plug.
6. Test it before you close anything up.

Some cars are genuinely awkward. A few need the wheel turned and a plastic liner unclipped, or the whole headlight unit unbolted, or in the worst cases the front bumper cover removed. Look up a video for your exact car before you buy the bulb — two minutes of watching tells you whether this is a ten-minute job or one to hand over.

When it is not the bulb

• Both headlights out at once is almost never two bulbs. Check the fuse or the relay.
• All the brake lights out but the tail lights fine — often the brake light switch above the pedal, which is cheap.
• A bulb that keeps blowing means a wiring or voltage problem, not bad luck.
• Hyper-flashing turn signals — the indicator suddenly blinking fast — is the standard way a car tells you one of those bulbs is out.
• LED and HID units are usually a sealed assembly, not a bulb. Those are a different and much more expensive conversation.

Information only, not professional advice. Work on your own vehicle is at your own risk. See the disclaimer.