Remember the old days when a headlight blew out, you could just go to a parts store, buy a sealed headlight replacement, and with a screwdriver, install it in 5 minutes? Not anymore. The sealed headlight units of yesteryear are all gone and replaced with new, brighter, fancier, halogen headlights. While they certainly have their benefits, installing them is generally not one of them. Save yourself the labor charges at the local repair station and invest in a couple of tools if you don't have any. The tools you'll need to replace the headlights in your Pontiac Sunfire will be cheaper than the labor charges at the service station and when you do it the first time, you'll realize it might be kind of pain to do than the old days, but it's certainly doable
Lift the hood and locate the air intake splash shield. This is the plastic cover running along the front rail of the vehicle and covering the headlights access. You will notice some plastic pins holding down the splash shield. Simply lift the head of each pin up about a quarter of an inch and pull it out of the pre-drilled holes. Remove the splash shield when you've extracted all the pins.
Locate the two retaining bolt at the top of each headlamp (on the left and right side top) on the front frame rail. Remove them with a ratchet and socket.
Slide the headlight assembly out being careful not to scratch the bumper.
Unplug the wire from the back of the headlight. You may convince it with the screwdriver to release the tabs from the lock clip on the headlight, but be careful because it's plastic.
Turn the bulb retaining ring to the left and remove it. The old bulb will fall out now.
Insert the new bulb being careful not to touch the glass part of the bulb. Halogen headlights can be compromised or damaged by oils and alkaline in our skin. Place the retaining ring over the headlight and turn to the right and plug the wire back into the bulb. It would be a good idea to turn on the power and check the headlight now to make sure it's working properly before putting everything back together.
Replace the headlight assembly retaining bolts.
Replace the splash shield and insert the pins. Pushing down on them in the pre-drilled holes is all you'll have to do to lock them.
Remove any tools you might have left under the hood and close it.
