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Any idea how to get inside the cover of the center brake light to replace the bulb. 2006 ES330 ..... I tried the trunk, I tried yanking the cover forward, no clues.... help please....
Well I finally got it.... here is a clue.... I used a putty knife. There are 4 clips that hold the housing to the rear deck. Two in the back by the window and two in the front closest to the rear seat. I used a putty knife to push in (towards the rear of the car) the front clips. They released one at a time and I was able to remove the housing, un clip the wire, remove the housing and bring it into the house. The bulb socket DOES NOT come out (or I couldn't figure out how). You need to remove the red lens and replace the bulb from inside. Reassemble the housing plug in the wire and clip it in using the rear clips first then press down on the front.
Well I finally got it.... here is a clue.... I used a putty knife. There are 4 clips that hold the housing to the rear deck. Two in the back by the window and two in the front closest to the rear seat. I used a putty knife to push in (towards the rear of the car) the front clips. They released one at a time and I was able to remove the housing, un clip the wire, remove the housing and bring it into the house. The bulb socket DOES NOT come out (or I couldn't figure out how). You need to remove the red lens and replace the bulb from inside. Reassemble the housing plug in the wire and clip it in using the rear clips first then press down on the front.
Hope this helps someone else
On my 2006 ES330, no putty knife required. Instead, push the whole housing firmly to the left (towards the passenger side). It will move at least half an inch. Now the clips will freely disengage by simply pulling up first the side closest to you, then the back. I had the same confusion about getting to the bulb. Seems like the socket wants to snap out somehow, but instead I had to go through the red plastic lens housing and awkwardly replace the bulb. Whole process took less than ten minutes. I used a Philips "long life" 7443 instead of the original 7440 because that's all I had. Voltage rating is slightly higher (13.something instead of 12.something). Seems plenty bright. Hopefully last time I'll ever have to do that.
Last edited by Helmut; Feb 21, 2022 at 06:08 PM.
Reason: typo
I changed the light bulb on it with a GS350 LED cluster High mount brake light. Had to put a resistor on my 2005 ES330. Had the dash indicator come on, telling me the bulb burnt out.
You can actually remove the bulb socket from the whole housing. Disconnect the wires and then twist the socket counter-clockwise. You have to twist it sort of hard because it snap fits into place. Once you get the socket to click out of place you just pull it out from the housing. It should only need to rotate this far.
This is what the socket looks like on the bulb side, you have to line up the "teeth" with the hole pattern to put the socket back in. I only figured this out because my center brake light assembly was already loose and flopping around everywhere so I just took the whole thing apart
ES330 Center Brake Light Out
