How To - Change The Rear Taillight Bulbs
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Lexus Champion
Joined: Jul 2001
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From: North Carolina
How To - Change The Rear Taillight Bulbs
This is a write up for a OEM replacement of the rear taillight bulb. The replacement is the same wattage (5W) and color (Clear) as OEM.
This was my first time manipulating the rear lamps, so I took extra time, plus, it was a little dark – say a total of about 15 minutes per side.
Here’s what you’ll need:
• A flat head screwdriver
• A Phillips head screwdriver (why do they call it a Philips BTW?)
• 10mm crescent wrench or socket
• 1 package of Sylvania 7443 bulbs – 2 bulbs come in 1 package – Autozone for $5
• paper towels
1.) go ahead and open the NEW bulb package now, and use a paper towel to lay them out so you can easily pick them up later – **don’t touch the bulbs with your bare hands**
2.) pop off the two in truck access lid to get at the two 10mm nuts underneath
Note: I pulled back the trunk liner to get at these more easily since it was dark, but of course there are holes already there to take off the nuts.
3.) Undo these two nuts and place them somewhere safe
4.) Take your flathead screwdriver and pop out the two covers just inside the housing closest to the trunk; the come out very easily, so don’t let them fly away
5.) Take your Phillips head screwdriver and undo the two screws underneath and place them somewhere safe
6.) Now with both hands, coax the lamp assembly out bout 6” or so and let it hang by the wire assembly – its not heavy, so don’t worry about straining it
7.) Now n this case, I needed to change the Stop/Taillight bulb in the bottom section. These fittings are very similar to the others on the GS – rotate it about a Ľ turn counterclockwise, and you’ll feel the detents undo, then pull the bulb assembly from the lamp assembly
8.) In this case, you can remove the bulb from the fixture with your bare hand since you’ll be throwing it away. Pull with a little force, and it’ll snap right out.
9.)**Using the paper towel** get the replacement bulb and snap it into the fixture; it will take a little force, but you’ll feel it snap.
10.) There! Now just reverse steps 6 through 1 and that’s it.
Not sure why this one went; you can see the difference in the bulbs. My dash warning was illuminating intermittently, so just figured I'd go ahead and change it.
I've got a 98 with ~50k. I usually take more pics, but I had my camera on hi-res at the time.
HTH
Here are the pics:
1
This was my first time manipulating the rear lamps, so I took extra time, plus, it was a little dark – say a total of about 15 minutes per side.
Here’s what you’ll need:
• A flat head screwdriver
• A Phillips head screwdriver (why do they call it a Philips BTW?)
• 10mm crescent wrench or socket
• 1 package of Sylvania 7443 bulbs – 2 bulbs come in 1 package – Autozone for $5
• paper towels
1.) go ahead and open the NEW bulb package now, and use a paper towel to lay them out so you can easily pick them up later – **don’t touch the bulbs with your bare hands**
2.) pop off the two in truck access lid to get at the two 10mm nuts underneath
Note: I pulled back the trunk liner to get at these more easily since it was dark, but of course there are holes already there to take off the nuts.
3.) Undo these two nuts and place them somewhere safe
4.) Take your flathead screwdriver and pop out the two covers just inside the housing closest to the trunk; the come out very easily, so don’t let them fly away
5.) Take your Phillips head screwdriver and undo the two screws underneath and place them somewhere safe
6.) Now with both hands, coax the lamp assembly out bout 6” or so and let it hang by the wire assembly – its not heavy, so don’t worry about straining it
7.) Now n this case, I needed to change the Stop/Taillight bulb in the bottom section. These fittings are very similar to the others on the GS – rotate it about a Ľ turn counterclockwise, and you’ll feel the detents undo, then pull the bulb assembly from the lamp assembly
8.) In this case, you can remove the bulb from the fixture with your bare hand since you’ll be throwing it away. Pull with a little force, and it’ll snap right out.
9.)**Using the paper towel** get the replacement bulb and snap it into the fixture; it will take a little force, but you’ll feel it snap.
10.) There! Now just reverse steps 6 through 1 and that’s it.
Not sure why this one went; you can see the difference in the bulbs. My dash warning was illuminating intermittently, so just figured I'd go ahead and change it.
I've got a 98 with ~50k. I usually take more pics, but I had my camera on hi-res at the time.
HTH
Here are the pics:
1
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