I just posted on my adventures replacing the head lights in my 328 and announced that next project would be a rear light repair. Today I had a very exploratory look, but I am a bit baffled how to proceed. First, the problem, as stated in my previous post, is that the head and rear lights of my 328 were previously replaced with LED but started to malfunction. I have replaced the head lights back to halogen. Somewhat elaborate, but overall fun project! Now, the right rear light, still LED, only has half illumination, see below. I also show the leftt side for comparison since that one still functions fully. However, during my exploratory look, going into the luggage compartment, removing the panel to get access to the rear lights, I have no good idea how to proceed. I include some photographs of the lights from the back compartment. I see three bolts with nuts, but they are placed at an impossible angle to reach with tools. I could l turn one with my finger, but the others are too tight. But I have not way to reach this with any of my wrenches. Also, due to the small compartment, it is impossible to keep a visual while working on anything inside the rear light. Also, I am not even sure these bolts are the right way to open the rear lights. Any pointers from the experts? Is there an easier way to get to the inside of the rear light? Or if not, how can I loosen those bolts and nuts?
If you just need to get at the bulbs, you only need to bend these 4 tabs slightly outward and then you can pull the metal bracket out. Be very careful bending those tabs, they are plastic and can be brittle and break. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Oh brilliant! That indeed looks a lot easier. Thanks so much for the pointer, much appreciated! The hobby time of the weekend is over for me, but I will update with the results later.
As speed cat said, you can pull the bulb socket by speading the plastic tabs on the housing. If you wish to remove the entire fixture you need a 1/4" 7mm deep socket and 6" 1/4" extension to reach the nuts. Also, it looks like you have plugs riveted into the holes in the steel structure that would need to be removed to allow access to the 2 upper studs.
Thanks to the good folks of this forum, this project was fun too! I used some bolt and nuts construction to open the plastic tabs, so I could have very fine grained control (listening to the warnings above!). Then it was very easy to remove the socket. One of the LED replacement units was not working. So I bought a replacement (another red LED for now, perhaps I will eventually replace all these back to halogen as well, not sure yet). And now both halves are working again!
