Well, this should be easy. I have a 2005 XC-90, 5 cyl. I assume the proper way to change the low beam bulb is from inside the engine compartment, but it looks so crowded in there, maybe it's properly done from the outside. It's the bulb on the passenger side. Any advice will be appreciated.

 

Yeah you open your hood.

Take the LOW BEAM housing plate off. Could be clipped in place and or a screw on cap. Remove that cap.

Take the bulb holder out and pinching it together and it should swing outward.

Take the bulb out and take the wiring harness off of it and put the new bulb on the wiring harness and reverse your setps from there.

 

It was very easy on my 2006 V8. Pulled the flat headlamplocking tabs and the whole lamp housingcomes out- allowing you convenientaccess torelease the bulb locking springs. I did, however,have some difficulty unscrewing one of the bulbs (can't remember if it was the H11 or H7) but it finally came out. New bulb installation was very easy. Good luck!

 

You might want make sure you dont have the xenon bulbs before grabbing ahold of the bulbs. There is a lot of voltage there. Just a warning to check first.

 

Thanks for the tips. In the XC-90, it is impossible to see the back of the headlamp - my first impression is that I'll have to pull the engine to get back there (just kidding) - but there's not a lot of room. It's probably one of those things you can do by feel, or perhaps the factory would say to remove part "A", then remove part "B", then change the bulb. There are two "clips" that slide up vertically; my guess is that removal of theseclips allow the headlamp housing to be removed, but it's very hard to see and there is very little space to move the housing - I know I couldn't get it out withpout removing some brackets, etc., but maybe it will slide sideways enough to get my hand in there and find the cap/bulb. Anyway, thanks for your help. If I figure it out, I'll post instructions for the next person that has this problem.

 

You shouldn't have to move the headlight housing at all. Just get in there and do it. Not much room on my s70, but I did it multiple times.

 

Check your owner's manual. That is what I did. The whole housingcame out and can be replaced in less than a minute - litterally. The bulbs take a bit longer to replace due to the spring loaded clips. My locking tabsslide up/downfrom the top back end off the lamp housings - one on each side of each lamp. Don't know why yours should be any different.

 

Well, I changed the bulb. Actually, there is not enough room to get a hand behind any of the four lamps – just too crowded. I had not read the previous post before I went to work on the problem this morning, but he is correct.I discovered that those ingenious Volvo engineers made it quite easy (if you know how) – there are two metal slides about 1 inch wide that pull straight up. When both are removed, the entire headlight assembly slides forward, and the electrical wires are long enough to tip the assembly on its side and easily get to the black cap behind the bulb. The rest is just like you said: unscrew the cap, unhook the electrical connection from the old bulb, turn the old bulb about ¼ turn and it comes out, then reverse all that. Probably a three minute job. By the way, I had looked in the owner's manual, but didn't find any info about how to change the bulbs - just how the lights are controlled and the specs. Thanks again for everyone's help.

I love my XC-90. I only have 45,000 miles on it. The only expensive maintenance was a break job at about 30,000 miles, which surprised me a little - the dealer said the break system is the best, but wears the pads quicker than other vehicles. My radio went crazy, but the dealer replaced it under warranty. The 5 cyl is a little weak, but you get used to it - I assume I'm getting better gas mileage.

 

I just changed the low beam bulb on our 2003 XC 90 yesterday and was dumbfounded to find that the manual is totally wrong regarding the replacement bulb!
The book (and the book at the auto parts store) all say that the low/high beam bulb is an H7. So that's what I bought.

Low and behold. when I take out the low beam bulb it's an H11.

Back to the parts store I go and re-check their book. Turns out that farther down the list the H11 is listed as a high beam replacement. But that's the only bulb that fits in the low beam side of the headlamp. Both the connection and the socket the bulb lock into match up with the H11 bulb.

Anyone else have this issue?

 

Hi, I’m late to this thread I did this job on Friday and had to redo it again this morning because I got the h7 in the wrong spot and I’d like to offer my advice

TAKE THE HEADLIGHT OUT
Seriously it’s quicker than removing the air box or cpu, you can see what’s happening to put the new globe in and removing the bumper then headlights is much less frustrating, make sure you unplug the harness and any cables that might catch first, you can see what’s happening and reassembly is a breeze

Friday I watched a thousand videos nd read every forum, yesterday I pulled the headlights, 20 minutes start to finish

Good luck and I hope people see this answer