Hi guys. Just been and bought a new H7 bulb for my 2000 a4 quattro 1.8T sport and tried to put it in but failed miserably Tried to do it without taking the headlight out but can't get the retaining clip back on so can someone give me some detailed instructions on taking the headlight casing out so I can get better access. I believe there's 3 screws holding it in place but can only find 2 of them on the top of the headlight.

Thanks v much

There's no reason to remove the headlights to change the bulb. Doing so requires removal of the bumper which you don't want to do.

To change the bulb, just pop off the little door on the back side of the headlight. There should be two clips at the top and two tabs at the bottom. The tabs on the bottom slide into slots and the clips..well...clip into the top. Two remove the back just press down on the two tabs and push them towards the rear of the car. Once they're clear of the back housing you can lift the little door out of the slots and change the bulb. Putting the door back in is the same process in reveres

you actually dont have to remove the bumper. there are two on top and one down in the hole on the side closest to the fender remove that third and itll slide right out.

i never took my bumper off to get my headlight housings out..unscrewed the few screws and wah lah.

might be the facelift cars then, there were 4 bolts holding the headlight housing in, two of which were absolutely not accessible with the bumper on

You may need an extended torx bit to get to the 3rd one. A helper holding a flash light heled me a ton the 1st time I took out the headlights. And when you put them back use a bit of tape to hold the bolt to the torx bit because lining up that 3rd bolt sucks, even with a magnetic bit I had to try a couple times to get it back in, its tight in there. (thats what she said.)

and by the way its always good to replace in pairs...

i did not know this about pre-facelift cars but I looked at couple DIYs and sure enough its true, what a pain in the ***.

http://www.audifreaks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1059

Thanks for rubbing it in

Hey boys,
Thanks to the info in this thread I just diagnosed/replaced the H7 bulb in my daughter's
99.5 A4 in about 10 minutes.
Needed to pull the bulb wires a bit to allow the clip to fit over them. Only complication.
Thanks.
mbhandball