Rear Marker Light - How to Remove/Re-install

Summary: No need to remove bumper entirely but disengaging the side portion helps a lot. My light assy came out easily but the plug was super tight. No need to jack up car. I purchased a new TYR brand rear marker light assy w/ bulb from Rockauto.com for $53 shipped. It appeared every bit as well made as the original Toyota part. In fact, the new part has a better rubber plug on the back to allow evap of any collected water inside the lens. Otherwise fit was a smidge looser until reassembled then it was same as stock. Allow an hour or so.
Tools needed:
- 10mm socket (1/4" drive preferred but 3/8 prob works too)
- Flexible shaft socket driver OR wobble head U-joint to match socket above
- 14mm socket
- Socket wrench
- Phillips screwdriver
- small flat head screw driver
- needle nose pliers (I needed em, you may not)
- small jewelers screwdriver or pick
- safety glasses if you choose to crawl under car and don't like crud in your eyes
Steps:
1. Apply parking brake
2. Just underneath rear corner of car, behind rear wheel there is a black plastic cover approximately 10" x 16" held on with a 14mm hexbolt, a 10mm hex head screw and a Philips head screw. Remove these fasteners. Push UP (not down) to disengage a plastic press fit fastener along edge of bumper cover then twist/tilt/maneuver this black cover out of the way. Why Toyota uses 4 different fasteners here IDK.

3. Inside rear fender well, locate rearmost portion of fender liner. Pull forward from bottom edge to release plastic press in fasteners in middle of fender liner. Mine really popped/ flew. I used a small bungie attached to the strut/spring to hold it against the tire and out of the way.
4. Looking underneath the bumper at it's topmost point closest to rear wheel is another hex bolt, either 8mm or 10 mm. Unscrew.
5. Gently pull painted plastic bumper cover (NOT the black plastic inner bumper support) away from the car. There are 3-4 tabs along the top edge of the bumper cover that need to be released from their slots. Be gentle, wiggle and you should be ok.
6. Find the single 10mm bolt holding the rear marker lens in place. With the side of the bumper released it allows you a lot more room to maneuver your hand and socket. I used a 1/4" flexible shaft socket driver cuz its what I had. A wobble head ujoint works here too. Unbolt the lamp.
7. Disengage plastic pop in fastener holding elec wire for marker light.
8. Use small flat head screw driver to disengage plastic pop in fastener just under the lower, rearmost edge of bumper.
9. Holding the bumper cover away from car, pivot out marker light to inside the bumper cover. I found it helpful to lay parallel to and underneath the rear bumper so I could have one hand on the outside and one inside so as to hold/guide the marker light in and down.
10. Marker light should be hanging down below the bumper by the wire. Unplug wire at bulb or twist and remove entire bulb socket, then unplug. I used a needle nose pliers here it was so snug. Your entire marker light should be removed now.
11. Now is a good time to inspect and clean the female side of the plug. Mine was a bit wet/corroded so I cleaned up the contacts with a jewelers screwdriver.
12. Remove new bulb/socket assy from new marker light by twisting 1/4 turn. Plug it in and test by turning on headlights. The contacts on my new bulb were buggered so I straightened them and voila, it worked.
13. Assemble new bulb/socket into new marker light.
14. Reverse above steps to reassemble.
15. Reward thy brilliant handiwork with a sparkling malt beverage of your choice.
To reach the bolt, I used 1/4 10mm socket + 1/4 u-joint + 1/4to3/4 converter + 3/4 10'' extension + 3/4 wrench. I didn't have 1/4 wrench and long extension, so used 3/4. But 3/4 u-joint was too big to reach the bolt, thus converted it to 1/4.
Couldn't bet 15 mins for replacement
it took me ~30 mins overall, where 20 mins were spent to figure out how to remove the old marker from the bumper after unscrewing the bolt. Need to play with it, the space is really tight but possible to remove. The marker went into the bumper, then rotated less than 90 degrees bolt side down, and was pushed down. The new marker went in very quickly by the same path reversed. Of course, a mandatory part of the job was to test the new marker's light while it was hanging on connector, before installing it permanently
Last edited by LSBen; Oct 13, 2014 at 01:24 AM.
Last edited by LSBen; Oct 13, 2014 at 02:48 PM.
Celebrating Lexus & Toyota from Around the Globe
Last edited by LSBen; Oct 13, 2014 at 02:04 AM.
Last edited by LSBen; Oct 13, 2014 at 02:05 AM.
The next day when the light arrived, I replaced it in 15 minutes once the car was in my garage. Easy - really easy - to do and I didn't remove the bumper. I removed 3-4 screws from the bumper as described herein, pulled the bumper back a bit, and had plenty of access to get to the screw on the marker light with the U-joint socket.
Again, thanks for saving me a bundle. Knowledge is power and more $$$ for the early retirement account!



