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Changing HID bulbs in a 2011+ Touareg

26162 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  volkswagens-for-life
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Hi There,

After my last 3 Audi's I found the stock USA 4150K color temperature HID bulbs in my 2012 Touareg rather yellow. So I ordered a couple very white (but not blue) 6000k D3S bulbs for $150 from these guys:
Philips D3S Replacement HID Bulbs

The driver's side install was a little fiddly but not too bad, while the passenger side was quite the pain. I couldn't find instructions on how to change the HID bulbs for the 2011+ Touareg so I just winged it (the manual tells you how to change halogen bulbs but that HID are for the dealer). I did not remove the headlight assemblies like on the older model Touaregs as it seems you'd have to remove the grill and possibly bumper.

Directly behind each headlight is a rectangular hatch, you have to remove two screws on the top two corners then press a latch in the top center. This allows the hatch to hinge rearward on bottom tabs, then be rotated out of the way enough to access the bulb. The bulb rotates 45 deg counter clockwise to come out, then you gently remove the wire retaining clip and pull the wire, then remove the mounting ring with the one obvious clip. The couple gotchas are:

1) On the outboard screws on both headlights there is not enough room to use a screw driver. I used a couple-inch long hex bit with the T15 Torx on one end and a small ratcheting wrench on the other.

2) On the passenger side I had to remove the air filter box. The two obvious top clips allow the cover and air filter to be removed. Then there is one upper front bolt that allows the filter box to be pulled upward once the air intake hose clamp and a couple other wires are disconnected. The trickiest part was getting the box reconnected to its intake, I end up reaching through the box into the intake and making a fist to pull the intake onto the box. Took a few tries. Once the intake was connected to the box then it sat back into its bottom pin holes, got bolted on the top front, had the wires reconnected and was good to go.

Since I turned the ignition on before reconnecting a wire on the air intake I had to clear an engine fault code for the air mass sensor.

As it took me 3 hours, I'm not sure I'd do it again but I do like the much whiter light. The OEM bulbs were from Sylvania but the replacements from Philips seem every bit as bright (they are rated the same) and to me a nicer color for seeing things like pedestrians, bikes, road surface etc.

Enjoy,
Trent

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Hello is it D2S or D3s? I have a 2014 and hidconcepts website said I need a D2S. I checked the manual and it doesn’t state as well. Thank you
Weird just checked this morning it is listing D3S. Thanks!
I purchased this vehicle 4 years ago and recently realized it was time for a change. I placed an order Philips X vision today and hopefully. I'll gather all the information and tools + courage to tackle this project.
I agree it is not as simple as other cars.

This is probably the most straight foward instructions I've found here on the forum.
T15 Torx Bit

It was a pretty easy procedure on my T3. Definitely not a 2 hour job but you should be able to do it in around 30 mins.

1. Read the procedure in the owners manual for halogen bulb replacement, it's very similar for the xenon lights.

2. Remove the 2 screws in the upper right and left corners of the bulb cover (I think they're security torx).

3. Take off the outer covers on the back of the lights. I was able to get the drivers side off without removing anything else but for the passenger side I had to remove the air box. This is mostly straight forward but there is a snorkel from down below that plugs into the air box on the front side. It has 2 tabs that hook them together then it just pulls out.

4. Remove and replace bulbs.

5. Install is reverse of the removal.
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Thank you for the write up, Would you know where I can purchase extra T15 screws that are used on the back light covers?
Hello

How did you swap out the passenger side? specifically how did you remove the air box?

Thanks!
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