DIY Tail Light Replacement for You to Do

Your car is bound to have faulty light at one point in its life. This is bound to happen over time and is unavoidable. Like any other parts, your tail lights can go out as well. At that moment you can take your car to the repair shop for replacement or you can do it yourself. Many people prefer going to the mechanic but you can easily do your own tail light replacement.

While you have to be a bit nimble when changing tail light bulbs, it does not require extreme expertise. Different cars may have different systems for the lights but the basic is pretty much the same across the board. Following are the steps to replacing a car’s tail light bulb. Make sure you follow this wholeheartedly for the best results.

Removing The Light

You should start first by opening the hood of the car. Then if you can see the tail light assembly then you are in luck and you can skip the next parts. However, if you aren’t that lucky then, you need to locate and unscrew the mounting bolts. Use a wrench to hold the bolts in place.

Then you need to remove the cover. You have to make sure that you don’t over exert yourself and end up breaking the cover. Trust me it will cost a lot if you do. But you may have to exert a little bit of pressure in moderation to remove it.

If you still can’t locate the access point, then you should consult your owner’s manual. All the information you need is right there. Go ahead and read it and find the access point. So once you have removed the bolts you need to remove the tail light lens cover. Inspect the lens and also locate the brake light sockets. After that follow the same process for the brake lights.

Installing The New Tail Light Bulbs

Once you have found the perfect light, I recommend LEDs. They are better than incandescent bulbs trust me. If you haven’t switched to LED tail lights, then you should. You may need to switch housing if you are upgrading to LEDs. However, the process of installing the bulb is the same.

You now need to insert the new bulb gently on the bulb holder then turn it clockwise and you will hear it click into place. Then you should put everything back together as it was. Make sure you reverse the procedure as it is. After you are done with the installation process you need to run some tests.

Test run

So now that you are done with your installation you need to check the lights. Get someone to start the car while you look at the rear end lights. Ask them to run the proper commands and see if the bulbs are responding correctly or not. Once you see that everything is performing perfectly then you know that the installation is complete. You should however still take it out for a test drive around the block to check what happens in driving conditions.

Tail lights are important safety features that you should be checking when doing tune-ups and checkups. Make sure you contact your mechanic if you are not comfortable with doing the work but do make sure that you have functioning tail lights and brake lights.