third brake light removal.

B

bigbacon

Member
the plastic on my third brake light is chipped so I purchased a new one. It looks straight forward to remove and replace, 3x 8mm nuts but the nuts do not come off. I see there are springs behind them but I dont know what they do.

I do see that the bolts are just in the plastic of the light and what I fear is, the plastic has broken and the bolts just spin with the nut. If that is the case, how do I go about replacing the light?
 
The springs helps keep tension on the nuts. This was a real problem at least on the earlier models. BMW replaced the original springs. Make sure you don't put too much tension on the nut, just snug. That is what breaks the corners of the light. BMW used to repace the whole unit free.

Maybe if you can put pressure on the screw from the back, you can get it to stop turning.
 
Looks liek I might need to remove the cover on the front of the trunk lid to get more access and try to hold the bolt with something.

Something so easy that has to become so difficult..
 
Do all three of the bolts spin? If you can get at least one out, pulling the light from outside may put enough pressure to allow you to remove the loose one.

Those two inside covers (one for pulling the lid down, the other is for emergency access) each have two screws. Very easy to remove and will give you more room to work with.
 
dont think the plastic has anything to do with the nuts :?

The springs are separate to the nuts themselves... Why would the nuts themselves just spin without undoing :?
 
I looked at this again and I am still lost.

The bolts just spin in the plastic, the plastic of the light housing can no longer hold the bolt head in place so the whole thing just spins when you try to undo the nut (doens't matter is spring is held back or not)

All 3 do this so I have no idea how to get this thing off without just breaking the light completely from the outside in till I can get to the bolt heads and hold them with a socket.
 
I'd drill lots of holes in the outer lens then join the up with a Dremel, cutters, or even levering between holes. All done with great care. Once you pull the led board out then you should be able to get to the bolt heads to hold them while undoing.

Of course care is the key to this exercise.
 
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