I have a Honda Civic and I would like to know in advance how to change a lightbulb in the headlight. Tell me about different bulbs and cost. Is there standard bulbs for a brake light, blinker light, back-up light, basic headlight? What do these cost? Would Pep Boys or AutoZone be helpful if I said hey I have a bulb out on a Honda Civic…which type of bulb do I need? How do I pry off the plastic cover over the bulb? Do I need a screwdriver? Or any type of special tool?
Most, if not all, auto parts stores have a way for you to look up the bulbs you need for the car. For those that don’t, you’ll have to ask an employee. If you have a newer Civic, I believe you don’t pull the cover of the light to change the bulb, you pull the bulb out from the back of the assembly under the hood, at least every newer car I’ve had does it that way… I’ve never had a Civic.
You can check here for car repair questions if you can’t get a quick answer in the thread.
The instructions on how to change a headlight bulb are typically in the owner’s manual. They were on my Beetle and on my Matrix and on the other cars I’ve owned.
Unless you have the godawfully expensive $400 headlights, and your civic probably doesn’t, it’s about $5 for a halogen bulb. They’re usually labeled by standard (H1, H2) in the manual, as to what your car takes.
When I got my Concorde, I scaned the drivers manual to see how much fun changing the headlights was.
Envision my joy to discover that step one for headlamp replacement was removeing the front of the car.
Some engineers need to get out more.
My wife has a '96 Civic.
Unless things have radically changed, yes you will find bulbs cheaply at any auto parts store. Always replace both headlight bulbs at the same time! It’s very easy to change. Pop the hood and move the rubber dust boot behind the headlight assembly. The bulb is house in a plastic bracket that can be removed by twisting and pulling. Simply change the bulb (try not to touch the bulb, the oil on your skin is not good for them) and reverse your steps.
Of course, consult your owners manual for detailed steps but it should be this easy.
I’ve changed the new bulbs and it isn’t all that easy for the not mechanically minded. One thing to be sure of is not to touch the bulb with your bare fingers. Buy some rubber gloves or use a handkerchief or something. The bulbs run very hot and the oil from you fingers on the bulb creates a region of abrupt temperature difference (high temperature gradient) and can lead to cracking the envelope.
Because I’m civic-minded, I’m going to move this to our General Questions forum.
As for the turn signals and tail/brake lights, you’ll just have to look carefully. There’s either going to be screws (usually phillips) sunk into holes in the plastic lens from the outside, or they’re accessed from behind. You may need to pull the trunk carpet back to find them - once you’ve found them, the socket usually comes out of the lens with a quarter-turn, then pull. Your prize will be the bulb, now naked to the world, but still in its socket, at the end of some wires like some sort of electrical lollipop - it’s either going to be a “push slightly in and turn counter-clockwise a quarter-turn then pull it out” bayonet base or a “just pull it straight out” wedge base. Don’t plan on finding any household-type screw threads here. A replacement wedge base just pushes straight in, and a bayonet goes straight in, then push slightly and turn clockwise. A variant of a wedge base to be aware of has a plastic base that may or may not go in only one way - usually, a wedge base is just two wires folded back on the bottom end of the bulb. Most bayonet bases also go in just one way - watch for the positions of the pegs sticking out of the side of the base.
Another variant is for the lamp assembly to be held in with wingnuts that are inside the trunk. Unscrew two to five wingnuts and the entire lamp assembly comes loose. You then look at the backside of the thing from outside the car to find the sockets.
If your car has “tail, brake, backup, turn lamps all in one foot-long chunk” lights that’s a pain to get out, plan on replacing all the bulbs at once so you’re not disassembing the car again in a month when the next bulb goes out.
Yep, I have a 98 Civic and this is about right for me. Although, I think I went in through the wheel well becuase I couldn’t get the dust shield thing back on using the slot/hole it had in it.
But yes, there are different bulbs for headlight, turn signals, etc. I went to Autozone and there was a directory which had all the part info, as with wideshield wiper blades.
Recently had the bulb changed at a local Firestones. $15 for the bulb + $30 for tax and labor. The bulb burned out after a week, so they had to do it again today. I checked under the hood after they were through and replaced the back cover on the headlamp assembly. The geniuses there had left it on my battery. Judging by the oily stains they left in my car interior, I suspect they left oil on the bulb last time. Hopefully they didn’t do it again this time.
On most recent cars it is very simple to change bulbs, access is almost always from the back of the unit - in the boot or under the bonnet (hood).
I have an Accord that is for the most part similar to a Civic (daughter had a Civic a year ago).
I changed a headlight bulb a few months ago, took about 10 mins. - Park outside the shop, remove dud bulb, buy a new one, fit it, check it, drive away. £3, about $5.
Some light bezels must be removed to get at the bulb socket/base. If the fastener doesn’t resemble anything in your toolbag, get the correct tool as opposed to damaging the fastener. Many vehicles use Torx™ fasteners on light fixtures. Also, a tiny dab of white lithium grease on the bulb socket (keep off of halogen glass as noted above) can help to preclude water entry and corrosion.
The easiest way, of course, if you’re not mechanically inclined, is to find a friend who is and drop by with a plate of cookies or a six pack while deploring your headlightless condition. But it’s a good life skill to master, and it’s not rocket science.
As you may have gathered, there’s no one answer – depends on the make of the car, the intelligence of the engineers and the sleaziness of the marketeering department (for a while there, I suspect there was a trend towards making servicing complex so you’d pay to get it done). But generally, manufacturers seem to have gravitated towards making it pretty easy to do light changes yourself. So basically, look at the owner’s manual to get the bulb number or go to an auto parts store and let them look it up. Auto parts stores are a bit more expensive than your average Walmart, but sometimes it’s worth paying for the expertise if you don’t know the part number.
Usually a headlight is a matter of removing a rubber boot from the base of the bulb, twisting or unplugging it, replacing the bulb (yeah, don’t touch it), and then reverse the process. In smaller cars, quarters might be close and you may even have to remove or shift the battery.
Good advice in all auto repairs, even the most trivial. Give yourself leeway to make a complete botch of the job – if you’re replacing a headlight, don’t do it at dusk. Do it first thing in the morning so after you break a fitting or drop the brand new bulb on the sidewalk you can still dash over to the still open parts store and buy a new one 
OH! And the covering for the headlight? The transparent bit? Scratches easily. Don’t put it on the sidewalk. Put it on an old shirt or something. Very important, that bit.