Does anyone know the steps involved in removing all 4 tail light lenses from a wagon?
what if any parts have to be removed in order to gain access to remove tail lights?
thx
-Mike

 

The upper light units have to be removed before the lower units.

Working inside the car release the upper light unit access cover by prising it off with a flat blade screwdriver.
When fitted, remove the speaker to access the bulbholder
Press the retaining catch down and withdraw the bulb holder from the pillar. Disconnect the wiring connector.
Using a long socket, undo the two nuts and remove the light cluster from the vehicle.

Lift up the the outer rear floor covering on the side where you are working.
Remove the access cover on the lower light unit.
Depress the two retaining catches and withdraw the bulb holder. Disconnect the wiring connector.
Fold back the luggage compartment floor panel and undo the screws and remove the sill guard.
Release the side trim panels for access to the two light cluster retaining nuts.
Using a long socket remove the light cluster from the vehicle.

 

Thanks for the direction I'll Give it a go

 

Just to add to Bill of Durhams advice.

The only tool to remove the small nuts holding the tailight lens is an 8mm tube spanner - trying to remove the nuts with anything else is simply just a waste of time.

But before you do, tie a piece of string onto the tube spanner and then secure the other end of the string to something. This will save you from having to watch your tubespanner disappear down inside the bodywork - like I did.

If the tubespanner it tied to something it can be retrieved easily.

 

pardon me for my ignorance but what exactly is a tube spanner, I have not used that name used on a tool before (yes I google'd it, haha) and I'm not sure if it I may call the same something else.

 

Hi MickySq

I'm from Australia and maybe the old tubespanner is known by a completely different name elsewhere.

I would describe it as looking like a piece of tube with with the end(s) stamped in a hexagon shape to enclose the nut and a hole drilled through it to insert a turning bar/handle.

Tube spanners come in various sizes and lengths and can be bought individually or in a set.

Hope this rings a bell as I'm sure you'd know of them irrespective of what they are called.

 

sounds like what I would call a deep socket??

anythhing like this?:

 

No.

We use a deep sockets for removing spark plugs etc. Deep sockets are completely different to tube-spanners.

Unfortunately I haven't got a digital camera to take a photo to illustrate to show you what a tube-spanner looks like.

The best way I can describe it is this.

Just imagine if you take a piece of pipe (e.g. 150 mm long), heat the end to cherry red-hot then force the red-hot end over a suitable size bolthead, gradually tapping each part of the tube with a hammer on a sturdy anvil until the end of the tube takes on the exact shape of the bolthead.

Hey presto! You now have a tube spanner.

Does this description ring a bell now?

 

Volgrrr's description is spot on but we call it a box spanner in the UK.

Who would believe English is our common language?

 

Not too clear photo of tube/box spanner, but it should give you the idea. The spanner underneath shows the holes for the bar to turn it.

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/6520/boxspannerbn5.jpg

 

Thanks for the back-up Bill of Durham.

Actually, I have heard them called box spanners here in Aussie (keep in mind there are a lot of people here who came from the Ol' Dart - my wife's one of them. Some of my ancestors arrived from the U.K some considerable time before this, and they were important enough to have armed escorts, though I doubt any could spell tube-spanner leave alone know what one was).

Anyway, I hope MikeySq can find one somewhere, irrespective of what they're called.

 

The only tool I have seen like that is the spark plug wrench that came with my motorcycle. The bike needs that wrench because of the design of the DOHC engine, the space/hole where the spark plug goes is really narrow and a regular spark plug wrench or deep socket will not fit because the metal of the socket is too thick and there's not enough clearance to fit it in.

Other than apearance the tube spanner and the socket look to do the same job. Is the space where the tube spanner fits to remove the hardware to remove the tiallight so narrow taht a deep socket with an extention will not fit?

 

Not at all MikeySq,

An 8mm deep socket would do the job quite well.

But just make sure you tape the deep socket securely to the extension bar and tie some string to the bar as good old Murphy's Law states that an object will usually drop off into a space where it is either very difficult or quite impossible to retrieve it - as mine did.

 

They do, invariably, fall off and disappear down the hole.

Bill's law says that the space will be too small to retrieve the dropped object but big enough to let it roll around and drive you to distraction every time you are in the car.

 

that's so funny... when i first got my car there was this annoying noise in the front'ish area of the car it really bothered me on what it could be after a few days i figured out what it was and i took the front seat out and where the rear floor heat duct was under ythe drivers seat somehow a golf ball got in there and was rolling back and forth... it was a pain to get out too hahaha

 

took the little buggers out tonite, not that big of a deal but thanks for the info guys. I would like to add though that it was handy to havea magnet pick up tool to catch the 8mm nut when i loosened it off the light, i dropped one nut abyss but managed to get it back so on the others I had the magnet there waiting to catch it. also I taped the nut on to the 8mm socket when i re installed them so it wouldn't fall

-Mike

 

oops

 

Are you installing new lights?

If so did you buy new ones yet?

 

I would have liked to buy new lights but the price that they are going for is is a little too high for what i want to spend right now, and there are other more important parts that i would replace first.

The problem with mine is that they were faded really bad, it was almost like someone tried to clean them with some sort of harsh solvent or something and the plastic was tarnished or something. They way they liiked when they were dry is that they almost looked white. So what I did I removed them and tinted them with a translucent taillight paint called NiteShades by VHT. The paint cost me 16 bux so that was a lot cheaper than replacements and the end result looked OK wit my car, especially where it has tinted windows.

-Mike

They are a little wet here so they don't look as bad as when they are dry, looks a little worse on the left one but in sunlight both are pretty bad



The red had to be masked to get the amber and clear portions to give extra pre coats so they would mix well with the red when full coats were put on

 

The box spanner being used as a support is a spark plug spanner. In 1962, when it was bought, socket sets were too expensive for the average motorist so everybody had one of these in his tool kit.

As you can tell by its age, I like to get value for money!!