How To Replace Headlight Bulbs on Your 2008-2012 Chevy Malibu

Replacing the headlight bulbs on your Chevy Malibu can be a little tricky. You will have to at least partially remove the front bumper to get to the headlight assembly and gain access to the headlight bulbs. While it isn’t the most difficult car to change headlight bulbs on, it can be one of the more time consuming. Follow these instructions to make the process go a little easier.

NOTE: Here's a great video on the headlight removal process that will make changing the bulb that much easier.

Step 1:

First, remove the eleven 10mm bolts and four plastic pop rivets which are holding the radiator cover down.

Step 2:

After you remove the bolts and plastic rivets, lift off the radiator cover and set it aside.

Step 3:

Turn the steering wheel all the way in the opposite direction of the burnt out bulb to make enough room in the wheel well area. Some people may find it easier to just remove the vehicle's front wheel altogether for more work space.

Step 4:

Going underneath the front bumper, you’ll need to locate the 7mm bolts on the plastic underbody cover and remove them. There’s also one plastic rivet on each side that will need to be removed.

Step 5:

Next, remove the pop rivets that hold the wheel well liner in place and pull back the liner to access the two 10mm bolts holding the bumper cover in place. The closest bolt to you will need to be removed, while the one closer to the outside of vehicle just needs to be loosened.

Step 6:

Now that you’re at the headlight assembly, you’ll notice that it’s held in place by four 10mm bolts. Remove these bolts and pull off the bracket above the headlight.

Step 7:

The headlight assembly will finally be free from the vehicle and the bulb is now accessible. To tell the headlight bulb apart from the high beam — the high beam has a light blue plastic label. To remove the bulbs, grab the base and rotate 1/4 turn counter clockwise to unlock it and pull it straight out.

Step 8:

Pull the bulb from the power connector, you may have to use a flathead screwdriver to get it out.

Step 9:

Install a new bulb and push the base back into the headlight assembly.

Step 10:

From here, it’s a matter of reversing these steps and putting everything back into place.

*Note, while you may have noticed that one specific bulb is burnt out, it might not hurt to inspect the rest while you’re in there for signs of damage. It might even be worth it to change all of the bulbs while you’re in there to keep from having to redo this process in a week because you replaced a low beam and not a high beam.