Rear Tailight Assembly Removal?

[GQM45s]

Does anyone know how to remove the rear tailight assembly. I am trying to swap out my rear turn signals, but have no clue how to remove the assembly... and pics will do great as well!

[donnieb83]

I haven't replaced the rear lights in my M, but I would assume you would have to take out the carpeting inside the trunk to access the lights from the rear. I did the same to access the lights on my 07 Acura TL-S. The carpeting in the trunk is very straight forward. Just get a flat tip screw driver to pop the plastic clips out.

[yosM45]

Does anyone know how to remove the rear tailight assembly. I am trying to swap out my rear turn signals, but have no clue how to remove the assembly... and pics will do great as well!

The hardest part of our day will be trying not to lose the black clips that hold the carpet in the trunk together.

1) remove the plastic trim peice that the trunk strike plate hit on the lower section. It pull straight up. Has 4 clips. POP off the little trunk light on it first.

2) remove the spare tire trunk liner, and the two corner liners.

3) remove the black plastic clips from the top and sides of the trunk liner.

4) swing the top trunk liner down, and the side trunk liners in to the center.

5) the taillights will be exposed, and are help together with 3-4 10mm bolts.


DONT LOSE the black clips. they're expensive. Like $2-3 each. who'd of thought.

[GQM45s]

So I did some messing around on it but it seems the 08 and up are a B **** to replace bulbs, especially the side markers you have to replace the whole assembly just to replace the bulb, unlike the older years where you can just twist out the bulb.

So i was looking at the rear tail assembly, looks like you really dont have to tear out the liner in the inside. There is a plastic piece next to the tail light itself, it starts where the metal hinges of the truck sit on the seem. If i had a picture i can show exactly for sure.

So anyways i removed that piece and expose 2 bolts to remove, after the removal of those bolts you can pull out the assembly firmly, but be careful not to pull to hard or you can break the plastics tabs inside that mounts in.

So i thought oh hey this is going to be easy, but unfortunately when i actually got to the bulb itself it looks like the wiring harness is made really short and you cant even get enough slack to take out the bulb. you can unlock it from the socket it is but you can't remove the bulb if you try to pull it out.

Maybe there is something I am missing but it was a pain in the butt not being able to replace the simple turn signal lights.

Anyone have any thoughts? without breaking the assembly seal?

[Logan00]

Are you saying we have to actually take our car to the dealer to change the turn signal lights?

[GQM45s]

thats a good question and I am trying to figure that out. I called the stealership earlier today and got the run around cause the guy i called is not a tech and he said his techs do it and not sure how to do it. I'll see what I can figure out

[anotheraznguy]

did you look further down the loom? knowing nissan/infiniti, there may be a clip holding it to a tallight bolt that you should be able to pop up to allow for additional slack

[GQM45s]

when i get a chance to look at it again, I will look into and keep you guys updated, but IMO i am not sure the hole for the turn signal bulb is pretty small so its going to be hard to reach without opening up the seal of the assembly

[anotheraznguy]

ORIGINAL POST - how-to-change-rear-and-front-turn-signa ... .html#wrap

WOW!!! Not sure what Egg is talking about.

the turn signals bulbs are 7004s or 7040s, i forget which.

for the front you have to remove the radiator overflow and you can acces the passager turn signal with no problem.
for the driver front, you have to unbolt the intake that mounted right above the radiator. Then take off the bolt that attaches the intake filter box to the strut mount. That way you can push the filter housing aside and you can fit your hand behind the headlight. Having someone with very thin hands is going to come in handy because even after doing that it is still a tight squeeze.

For the back, you don't have to take off carpet anything, on the outer edge of the trunk there is a plastic cover covering the bolts that attach the taillights to the chassi. Pry them off and you'll expose two 10mm bolts. Undo those bolts and pull the taillight towards you. Unplug the hardness and on the top you'll see a little cap. undo that cap, that's where you rear turn signal is.

For the Side markers, you have to replace the entire side maker or be willing to hack-up the back of the stock side marker so you can access the bulb. that bulb is a 194B.

I think i'll make a tutorial about it when i'm ready to change colors again. I have clear bulbs in there right now, but really want the chrome bulbs.

[GQM45s]

its a bit more complicated then that on the 08+ the rear assembly for some reason on the turn signals the wiring harness has no slack to pull out the bulb. i can get to all that stuff pretty easily now but the MAIN ISSUE is the harness holding the bulb, for some reason i can't get enough slack to actually pull out the bulb to remove it.

[GQM45s]

Nobody else has an 08+ that have the same issue as I do?

[Logan00]

I bought my 2008 M35x last year and haven't had to replace my bulbs yet so I am anxious to hear how you make out.

[GQM45s]

I finally got the son of a B***H! So i took a bit of time of to solve this little mystery of mine for the real turn signals. I took out the assembly, removed the cap that covers the turn signal bulb. Looked into the hole where the harness is attached. I NOTICE THE CABLE TO THE HARNESS WAS TUCK NEATLY, talk about wire tuck on that B. So i took it out of this little plastic thing it was sitting in and loosen it out and was able to get enough slack to remove the stupid bulb out of the socket. Took me about 45 minutes to figure out the damn thing, so if you guys are interested now. SHOULD take you 15 minutes max. Not sure about the 06-07 but the 08+ is what i am referring to