WTF- How do you take out the rear light on a 97 ?

[sunny_8]

So I need to replace a rear brake lightbulb on the right rear light.


Opened the trunk, removed the felt cover, unscrewed the nut I see.

looked that rear of the light, and removed the two 8mm nuts also.

Light does not come out. On the inside I see two black plastic tabs that seem to be the issue.

I pulled on it a bit, but am a bit scared...as I dont want to brake anything.

What am I missing ?

Thanks,

[gideon1331]

To get mine out, I had to grab the fixture with both hands and rock it up and down while pulling on it hard to get it to come out. Dont be afraid of pulling hard, it takes quite a bit of force to get them out.

[lexusk8]

On our '98 Corolla CE, all we had to do to replace the brake/tail light bulb is hold and twist the socket containing the bulb counter-clockwise, and the whole thing pulls out so you can pull the bulb itself out. Should be the same procedure on your '97, try that.

[94_Rolla_Guy]

theres 2 pins that go into the plastic things your talking about, you have to pull straight back and it will come off,

[4Aaron GE]

It's been a while since I've poked around back there, but do you really need to remove the taillight assembly to get at the bulb? Like it was mentioned by Gideon there, you should usually be able to get at the bulb by removing the socket from the housing instead.

[gideon1331]

To get to the actual socket you have to pull the whole tail light assembly off, you can then simply twist the bulb socket out of the tail light assembly.

[4Aaron GE]

Oops. i meant lexusk. my mistake. Man, having to do that seems like a pain in the ass.