[jyl]

While attempting to replace the stock bulbs in my H5s with 100/80w bulbs sourced from Pelican (yes, I have installed the Sucro relay kit) I ran into a problem. The bulb (PEL-H5-80100, found at the bottom of page 7 in the "Light Bulbs" section of the Pelican site for the Carreras) has welded itself onto the socket.

OK, I know a photo would help here but I don't have my digital camera handy so I'll use words. The bulb comes in a black plastic holder. That holder slides into a gray plastic socket that fastens (bayonet-style, push and turn) into the back of the reflector. Then you use the bulb retainer (928-631-960-00) to secure the bulb in the socket. What has happened is adjacent parts of the black plastic bulb holder and gray plastic socket have melted together. So the bulb cannot be removed from the socket. I've tried prying and cutting - no can do - they are effectively welded together. The socket comes out of the reflector just fine, I had to do that to clean the inside of the lense and the reflector surface with isopropyl alcohol.

Where can I get the gray plastic socket? Pelican doesn't list it as a separate part. I have a bad feeling it is sold as part of the lense/reflector assembly (C-631-909-00) and I don't want to spend $135 for that. This was supposed to be an inexpensive way to get better light - I'm too cheap to get H4s without trying this first. Any ideas?

For now, I guess I'll get to compare the left headlight with the new 100/80w bulb with the right headlight with the old stock bulb (45/65w, I assume). After I dry out the headlights.

P.S. No-one needs to point out that this job is rated for difficulty as just above putting air in your tires.