Tail light assy removal

I am trying to replace my taillight bulbs with LED and I can't get the taillamp assy. loose. I have removed all of the plastic wing nuts in the trunk but it won't budge. Am I missing something?

You sure you haven't missed any of the wing nuts? Remove them all, and pull on the assembly.

cumminssmoker wrote:

I am trying to replace my taillight bulbs with LED and I can't get the taillamp assy. loose. I have removed all of the plastic wing nuts in the trunk but it won't budge. Am I missing something?

There's lots of wing nuts... after removing them all press toward the rear of the car on the metal bolt shafts to loosen the assembly from the rear panel. IIRC there are a couple different styles. Look carefully along where the lower edge of the assembly would be, from the backside, you may find a couple nuts you missed.

It could be stuck a little but definitely triple check to make sure all the wingnuts are off. Hate to see something break but tugging on one of those delicate assemblies.

It's probably stuck...the studs that are used to bolt the assembly to the car body are usually crooked to some degree. As nice as these cars are engineered, I don't think this is one of their strong suits lol. Anyway, the couple times I had mine out I tapped a bit on the studs and it came loose.

Just had mine out again last week. There are 4, I believe, HIDDEN nuts to remove that are not visible unless you lean your head way down in there and look inside the steel framework of the rear. A bit lower than the visible plastic nuts. And they are shorter. I missed them initially, but it wasn't hard to figure out there were more, once you try wiggling the assy out, or pushing outward on the studs you did remove nuts from. If it feels like something is holding still, then there are more. It comes out quite easily once you get all the nuts. While you're at it, check your high stop lights too. Didn't realize mine were both burned out.

Hey Dave, are the high stop lamps accessible from the trunk? I tried the LED swap a few years ago and my turn signals would not work. This is of course after totally reassembly.

pbrktrt wrote:

Hey Dave, are the high stop lamps accessible from the trunk? I tried the LED swap a few years ago and my turn signals would not work. This is of course after totally reassembly.

There is a plastic panel that needs to be removed to access the high stop lamps. Lay down inside the trunk with ur feet sticking out, and it'll be right at your nose. It's directly between the speakers. The LED's wouldn't work because of the flasher. Get an electronic flasher (preferably adjustable), and you can make LED's work.

Abaddon wrote:

pbrktrt wrote:

Hey Dave, are the high stop lamps accessible from the trunk? I tried the LED swap a few years ago and my turn signals would not work. This is of course after totally reassembly.

There is a plastic panel that needs to be removed to access the high stop lamps. Lay down inside the trunk with ur feet sticking out, and it'll be right at your nose. It's directly between the speakers. The LED's wouldn't work because of the flasher. Get an electronic flasher (preferably adjustable), and you can make LED's work.

You need side-firing or concave-lensed LEDs to make the CHMSL work properly - take a look at it before you order bulbs, OK? And if your bulbs don't have a chip inside to deal with polarity issues you might have to reverse the wires to the CHMSL to get it to work (not a big deal).

Albertj

Replace every bulb in the tail light assembly while you have it out. That way you you will have forgotten how it comes out by the time another bulb burns out.

Thank you for that info Scott. I believe my 95 uses a relay for the flasher unit so I don't know if it's doable. Not a big deal really. Albert, excuse my ignorance but what the hell is CHMSL?

pbrktrt wrote:

Thank you for that info Scott. I believe my 95 uses a relay for the flasher unit so I don't know if it's doable. Not a big deal really. Albert, excuse my ignorance but what the hell is CHMSL?

Center High Mounted Stop Lamp.

You're not ignorant. You called it high stop lamp . I misread your post thinking you wanted to put LEDs in the CHMSL (which would be a very good idea, I think). Sorry.

Albertj

I didn't have to lay inside the trunk to replace the CHMSL's. I just leaned over into the trunk, propped up on one elbow, little flashlight in one hand, and did the bulb removal/replacement in a couple minutes. Well OK, maybe it would be easier to just lay in the trunk.

BTW, the CHMSL bulbs are # 1156.

Got them swapped out last night after work. Once on my back in the trunk it was obvious what had to be removed. One push rivet and the panel pivoted out of the way and the bulb change took minutes. I think it took me longer to get in and out of the trunk than the job. Thanks for your help.

Hey patrick,
I'm in Muskegon too.
hit ne up sometime if you want to chat.
231 674-4111

WOW!! DUH!! I found the 4 "Hidden" wing-nuts. Thanks for the help. I didn't realize that this assy. was a structural element!

I noticed that from earlier posts Jimmy, I will definitely do that. I have admired both of yours but that 65 is nice. I had a 64 GS dual quad years ago that was too fast for it's own good. It would cover most the lanes on the highway when the front end got light and that crazy rolling speedo was pegged. If you ever need a break on parts give me a call. 231-744-1217. I work at the n. muskegon NAPA.

just finished tail light assy replacement. someone backed into it and popped out some lens.
was seen looking at damage, left no note, just ran ! now I really dislike woman on phones driving over sized suv's.
since I had old assy , took it apart to see if I could make changes I wanted to do on new-old light.
had some success.

cumminssmoker wrote:

I am trying to replace my taillight bulbs with LED and I can't get the taillamp assy. loose. I have removed all of the plastic wing nuts in the trunk but it won't budge. Am I missing something?

How'd those LEDs work out for you? I have read that they are awful for brake lights and don't put out near the lumens as a 3057 or 3157 bulb.