My Octavia drivers manual page 284 indicates that removal of the headlights is easy in order to replace bulbs. I have unscrewed the plastic nut at the rear but cannot get the locking lever to move very much. Is there a knack to doing this? And how far does it pull out?

Yeah, you have to push it down slightly/lift it up slightly, then pull and usually they do seize a bit, requiring massive effort!! I used my MiniMaglite as lever to gently persuade the thing to move. Maybe WD40 would help?

Edit: up or down? one or other

Edited 4 August, 201015 yr by Golf-Fiend

Yeah, you have to push it down slightly, then pull and usually they do seize a bit, requiring massive effort!! I used my MiniMaglite as lever to gently persuade the thing to move. Maybe WD40 would help?

Thanks Nick -- will give it a go. Concerned because my local garage here in France is telling me it's a four hour job as the whole of the front end has to be dismantled!!!!

They'd be correct if you had a Seat rather than a Skoda. There's locking tab on top of the hockey stick shaped lever that you need to lift before the lever will slide towards the centre of the car. Getting the light out the first time is always a bit stiff unless the car is very new. The really annoying part of removing the lights is releasing the wiring to separate the whole light fitting from the rest of the car. A very short flathead screwdriver can be got into the tab at the bottom of the plug to release it. However depending on what bulb you want to replace it may be as easy to just open the back of the light fitting while its still connected to the car.

.........and if you do take it out (which is fairly easy) make sure that you relocate it correctly.

Yep, as said - fairly easy and definitely NOT a bumper off job. Plus there's the bonus that once you've done it once, the lever works a lot more easily for subsequent times you might need access.

Just needs a bit of brute force the first time really...

i swear my left one still isnt seated correctly dispite trying to sort it 3 times lol

same as mine be ultra careful when putting them back in..................a few of us at one of the Scottish meets had a "moment" when my headlight wouldnt go back in properly (you know who you are )

As has been said, just push down and pull the small lever at the side out (it only moves a centimeter or two), then just wriggle the lights out (you will need to pull out the cable pluged into it first, this has a locking plastic catch to push in when you pull it out of the socket (dont just yank it!). Once you know what you're doing its a couple of minutes each side. I guess if it doesn't move at all you can perhaps try to spray it with some WD40 to loosen.

If you are changing bulbs the main/dipped and indicators can be swpped in a few seconds, but the small W5W sidelight is a real pain to reach - you need long thin fingers or a long nosed pair of pliers (and I had niether) as again it has a locking plastic catch that needs to be squeezed in when you pull the bulb out, but it is very inaccessible. In the end I levered them out with a couple of small screwdrivers (one to keep the catch pressed, and another to lever out)

I just had a go at removing mine as i'm off to France next week and was looking at adjusting the beam. Simple enough to remove, just don't drop the unit! Devil of a job to get back in exactly the correct position though. Took several attempts and each time it looked sort of OK until compared with the other one. Not sure what I was doing wrong but it's fine now.