Rear tail light removal/bulb replacement

[superfun123]

Has anyone removed the rear tail lights on an M37/56? How did you do it? There's barely any tutorials out there for this model.

Instructions say to remove the inner two nuts underneath the trunk carpet, remove the black finisher, and push the tail light straight out. But it won't budge. How much force do you really have to apply? I don't want to crack the lamp assembly with a trim removal tool. Thanks!

[VStar650CL]

The Altimas and Maximas have the same setup, there will be a slot and clip right about where the dotted circle is. They can be very stubborn to slide loose when they're crudded up. I usually use a slim plastic prybar right where the arrow is and very gently pry rearward (not outward) while also pulling backward at the rear until the whole assembly moves.

[superfun123]

Hi VStar, thanks for the response. I'm aware of that stubborn clip. I've applied a ton of pressure (with someone else helping) to pull the taillight rearward, but it still won't budge. I will give it another go tonight with a pry bar in that location of your red arrow.

I wonder if it's possible to break off that white clip from the inside? You can see where it mounts to the trunk from the inside. They're $2.00 to replace, better than cracking and replacing a $500 lamp assembly...

[VStar650CL]

If it's accessible, there nothing wrong with clipping the clip. I'm a Nissan guy, dunno how accessible it is on an M.

[VStar650CL]

PS - Many of them are grommeted, if you need to cut the grommet then make sure to use RTV on the new clip.

[ibc]

I took mine off a couple years ago. Don't recall having to break anything. That would not sit well with me. I guess mine just unscrewed per FSM description (see EXL.pdf). It seemed pretty straight forward at the time,