ticu

Uplander 2009.
I believe the front right turnsignal light is burnt (the click noise sound is different). The book says I need a 3157 NAK bulb. I only saw at Canadian Tire 3157 NALL. Sould I buy it or it won't work? Also how do I get to the bulb. The manual ony shows how to remove the headlight block but doesn't say clearly how to get to the turn signal light. Thanks

srp204

Just had the same thing, the blub is the amber coated blub. Now the fun you remove the locking pin, remove the one screw\bolt (12mm I think) then get a screw driver and carefully pry around the rubber molding and you can swing the headlight assembly forward to reach down to the lamp housing. Get a good grip and turn it ccw, the housing pulls out and the blub is a simple pull out and plug in the new one. The housing has 3 tangles that need to be aligned to reinstall the housing, it's not HARD to put it back in is a little annoying. You will then require the driver to get the molding back in place. Next time I do it I'm going to spray the molding with a soapy solution to make it easier. NOTE: this is not something you do at the store parking lot and I'd suggest to run the van through the carwash first to avoid wasps being attracted to the dead bugs in the grille.

fscoles

In order to prevent buggering the rubber gasket around the headlamp, I also loosen the plastic grill near the headlamp by first lifting up (with a screw driver or a plastic trim fork) on the nearby black plastic fastener heads to remove them to move the grill out of the way from the headlamp. This doesn't hurt anything, the fasteners can be reused. A local body repair technician showed me this trick. FWIW the "NA" on the lamp label refers to a traditional Sodium lamp output, which appears as amber in color. The NA automotive lamps simply have the amber colored glass envelope. LL is "long life", and K is for a krypton gas lamp which has good brightness and long life, so LL and K are pretty much the same.

Papa Bear

I would think the dealer would put one in for you under warranty. Watch how the tech does it so you'll know next time.

fscoles

P.B., the chevy dealers must be nicer in your "neck of the woods"..last year I witnessed a local dealer charge a man $75 to replace a blown turn signal bulb in his newer Cadillac (he told me it was still under full GM warranty and he had purchased the car at that dealership new), because they had to remove the front bumper to get to the bulb and they charged him over $10 for the bulb, even though he had purchased a good bulb at Walmart for $1.60; it had to be their bulb so they could warranty the repair. The service manager told him the GM warranty does not cover consumable parts like bulbs. If in fact his bumper must get removed to replace a lamp, then some GM designers should find other jobs.

Evil~Within

There is a "L" shaped lever on the right top of the headlight (passenger side turn signal) (reverse left and right if you are on the driver's side)
1. turn L shaped lever counter clockwise 1/4 turn and then pull it up; releasing the right side of head light.
2. there is a 10mm bolt on the left top of the headlight that needs loosened or taken out.
3. with a plastic trim tool remove the push clips on top grill (pry up gently and remove)
4. swing out head light starting with the right side carefully.( step 3 gives you the clearance, just pull gently on corner).
5. signal is just below the headlight opening. 1/4 turn and it pops out. replace it with a 3157na that is orange in color.
5. reverse process to put it all back together. <!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Papa Bear

Do you mean that light bulbs are not warrantied under the 3 yr "bumper to bumper" warranty ?? I thought that "bumper to bumper" was all-inclusive barring damage or negligence.

Perhaps Jeff Morris, Chevrolet Customer Service , who posts here can shed some light on this... click the contact info on his profile page. https://chevroletforum.com/forum/members/chevrolet-customer-service-37376/

Threads like this is where GM could really score some points. Putting a fire out BEFORE it's out of control.

Evil~Within

when i worked at the dealer the bulbs were only coverd 12mo/12mi not 3yr/36mi headlights were coverd though

ticu

I finally changed the bulb myself a couple weeks ago using the very useful techniques explained in three of the previous replys (Evil~Within,fscoles and srp204 ). Thanks very much , it wasn't hard to do it and I am not a very handy individual, so if I could do it, anyone can do it. Thanks again.
P.S. I couldn't perform this step though: "3. with a plastic trim tool remove the push clips on top grill (pry up gently and remove)" but it worked even without it. Basically I was under the impresion that those "push clips" (or "fastners" as fscoles names them) would just brake if I forced them out. Like I said, the headlamp ensemble came out without removing those pins though.

dieselscout80

For what its worth the front turn signal bulbs can be replaced by reaching up from under the front bumper (no tools needed) on my 2007.