I recently had a small parking lot accident and the left rear tail light lens cover was partially cracked. I was going to take it back to the dealer to replace but I was hoping there are some straightforward DIY instructions out there.

I found the replacement part (it's just the lens cover that cracked, none of the bulbs or internals were damaged) online but am unsure how to go about doing the replacement. It looks like the lens cover is being held in place by tabs (that can be pried with a Philips screwdriver) but I'm wondering also if there are screws accessed from inside the trunk holding it in.

Has anybody done this or can take a look at your tail light assembly and help me out?

Thanks!!!

 

You have to bake it in the oven to melt the glue, wich is not what you wanna do.
Go to ebay and buy the entire taillight. Its full of them and they go for very cheap.

 

open trunk....
remove plastic tabs on side by taillight you want to remove....

open trunk liner....
remove wire harness plugs, 2 nuts that hold taillight assembly into car...remove tailight assembly by pushing it out carefully.

Replace with new assembly...retighten nuts and align.
re-do plugs
replace trunk liner....and put plastic tabs back in

Done...takes about 5 min if you are slow

 

Here are some photos to help.Posts 2-4.

 

Thanks - sounds straightforward. Is this to replace the entire tail light assembly or can this process be used for just the lens cover itself?

 

The whole assembly. The lens itself is glued/fused to the base...it is not easy to remove...ie bake in oven...you don;t want to go there...not worth it. Any replacement you will get will be the whole unit