Dark roads can be difficult to navigate with full assistance from your Honda Civic's fully-functional headlights. When one or more of the bulbs within the headlights burn out or break, driving can become frustrating and increasingly dangerous. Although the thought of having to work around the complex components under your Civic's hood can seem intimidating, a bit a clever engineering from the folks at Honda have made the task of replacing a burned-out bulb fairly simple. Just be careful not to touch the glass portion of you new halogen bulb, as they are very sensitive to finger oils.
Turn on the headlights and determine which bulb needs to be replaced. Alternate between both high- and low-beams. A 2000 Honda Civic uses a single #9003 bulb in each headlight, which is responsible for both beam patterns. The filaments for either beam may burn out, but leave the other filament in operating condition. Turn off the headlights once you have determined which bulbs are damaged.
Open the Civic's hood and locate the headlight that is housing the damaged bulb. Remove the bulb's wiring harness by squeezing the sides of the connector and pulling it back off of the headlight prongs.
Loosen the plastic bulb cover on the back of the headlight, twisting it to the left to unlock it. Pull the bulb cover away from the headlight. The back side of the bulb should now be accessible.
Squeeze the legs of the bulb retention clip together and swing the clip away from the bulb. Pull the bulb out of the headlight and discard it.
Insert a new bulb into the headlight and secure it into place with the retention clip. Place the bulb cover over the bulb and twist it to the right until it locks into place. Connect the wiring harness to be bulb by pressing the harness' connector onto the bulb's prongs.
Turn on the headlights and test the bulb's operation in both high-and low-beam. If the headlight does not operate correctly, check that the wiring harness is connected securely. Once the headlight operates properly, turn the headlights off and close the hood.
