The passenger side headlight in my 1999 Oldsmobile Silhouette is out. I bought the replacement, and tried to follow the owner manual instructions on how to replace it. The manual pretends that a hand can reach into this little space available. I have little hands, and it is impossible. It looks like I would have to remove at least one bolted down part to get access, but I was hoping someone with experience could advise me on a wrench free method of accessing the bulb.
What’s the bolted-down part? I used to have a car that was built so that you really needed to remove the battery to access the passenger headlight. Otherwise, there really wasn’t enough clearance to pull the lamp capsule out, let alone get the new one in.
Another possibility - it might be easier to reach up to it from below.
Yet another possibility that was they way with our old Jeep: the whole headlamp assembly could be pulled loose from the front without even opening the hood. This wasn’t an “official” way, but was more of a “Jedi Master” trick ideal for people with big hands. Unless an Olsmobile tech wanders along to agree with this, don’t try it as your headlight assembly may be screwed in or otherwise likely to be broken by attempting to pull the whole thing off.
My manuals don’t cover this in detail. It’s not uncommon to have bulb access blocked, often on one side of the vehicle but not the other. If your hand won’t fit in there, there’s really no alternative to removing something for access.
I was afraid of that. The intervening part is someting electrical, I think it might house the fuseable links, I’ve never looked inside. When I repace the battery, I have to remove that, plus a support strut, and then the battery hold down bolts at the bottom so I have to use two wrench extentions plus the socket. It has side mounted terminals, and the first time I replaced it I got a battery that had both top and side terminals, and I couldn’t reassemble the parts because there was no longer enough clearance, I had to take it back for one with side terminals only. In order to top off the master cylinder as the brakes wear you have to use tubing and a syringe as there is only about three inches clearence from the top of the master cyinder to the overhanging edge of the sheet metal closest to the windshield. It is the most damnable car to work on I have ever seen.
This problem I can solve. Do NOT top off the brake fluid reservoir to accomodate normal wear. It’s not meant to be at the MAX mark all the time, only when pads are new. As the pads wear, the level will slowly drop down to the MIN mark, at about which point a brake warning light will come on, and at which point the pad wear will justify (or require) replacement. If the pads don’t have wear indicators, it’s the only warning you get; if they do, it’s a good back-up to have (wear indicators don’t always work). Topping up defeats this warning, and doesn’t really accomplish anything useful. Furthermore, if during pad replacement the pistons are reset without opening the caliper bleeders, the added fluid will have to be removed as the reservoir refills. If you think it’s hard getting fluid in there, try taking it out. 
This problem I cannot solve. 