Getting a headlight loose

[SteveDallas]

Short story: I need to change a burnt out headlight in my car. The locking collar won't turn to release it. There are too many pipes/tubes/unidentifiable thingamahooies around it to allow me to get a wrench in. Is there some special headlight retaining collar release tool I don't know about? Any other suggestions to get enough leverage on it to move it?

Long story: I noticed the light was dead on the way home from work last night. I stopped by Auto Zone to get a couple bulbs. Since I have about 45 minutes in the morning between dropping my daughter off at school and leaving for work, I decided I would wait till then and make the bulb change in daylight instead of futzing around in the dark.

After various efforts by me and Mrs. Dallas and a neighbor I tried with the only tools I could find that would go in: needlenosed pliers, one on each side of the ring. I pushed down with one and pulled up with the other. It didn't move the ring, but I managed to lose my grip on the left side. My hand and the pliers came flying up to smash me in the left eye in a move worthy of the Three Stooges. Fortunately I was wearing my glasses--which needed a trip to the optician to straighten out the nose pad that had gotten bent--so I have a bruise along my lower orbital bone but nothing worse.