My car failed State inspection today (Virginia) because of faulty side marker light . That's the first time I ever failed state inspection in over 40 years of driving.

Anyway, I tried to follow the Generic DIY for marker bulb replacement and have a few comments. For the left front marker, it is not necessary to jack up the car, or even remove any phillips screws or bolts along the wheel well itself. The three 10mm bolts on the bottom of the car that attach the wheel well cover, when removed (along with that section of the cover), provide plenty of access.

When I removed the bulb and socket, water came pouring out, as has been previously reported by some. Although the car has never seen salted roads, the corrosion was enough to keep the new bulb (#194 for 2002 RX300) from making consistent contact. See old and new socket below.

 

The socket is really in two parts. The retail price for the part on the right is about $14.00. The other part shown (in dark grey with cut wires attached) is part of the wiring harness and the two parts unfasten (with effort). I didn't figure this out until too late and had to splice the wires back together later. I did drill a hole in the bottom of the marker light assembly (as other have suggested) to drain water out in the future.

Many thanks to those who have written stuff like this up in the past.

 

my bulb burned out due to excess water accumulation. I fixed the problem with a 1/16" drill bit and a dremel tool.... carefully drilling the bottom middle of the lense housing alowing excess water to drain..

 

you all are rx engineers!!

 

OR, just fill the socket with grease.
This will prevent corrosion as well.

Salim

 

When I had the side markers, I had the problem with water on the rear markers and we ended up putting some kind of black epoxy to seal it.

 

Just for curiosity, where did you think the leak was (i.e., where did you epoxy)? If you sealed where the socket attaches, I would think it would make bulb replacement difficult. I was wondering myself how the water got in, since there is an O-ring where the socket attaches.

 

Right where the white line is.

However, unfortunately I only did it on the rear driver's side here, but on the passenger side rear, I had water seep in there and it rotted out the socket where the bulb fit in.

Now, I knew there was an issue on the driver's side (reason we did the epoxy), because I once was poking around back there (as I do a lot with my RX) and noticed some water back in that area. Namely, a greenish sponge like material that I think was used to help seal up the area.