Taillight disassembly question

[CharlieZ]

There are four small Phillips head screws on the backside of the taillight assembly. Has anyone removed these screws. Does removal give access to the inside of the lens? Gasket, sealant,tabs, or anything easily breakable?

I don't want to remove 'em without knowing how, and if the assembly can be disassembled to clean the inside of the lens.

Real answers based on experience, no guesses please. Thanks.

[Damkid]

When i made clear taillights quite a few years ago i needed to remove all the coloured plastic and lets just say i didn't get it off in one piece, there were no bolts holding the coloured plastic onto the backing so its possible that you might be able to heat up the apoxy to split the taillights but i haven't tried that route

[Festiva_tunner]

There's an article in djs section about boiling the lenses - this works well but it is easy to blanch the amber lens ill put pics up tomorrow of what it looks like seperated
edit. You need to remove the screws before you dip the light

Correction - it must have been an old thread and not an article

[Festiva_tunner]

Ok -
I've found one of my posts where I described what I did

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showpost.php?p=312756&postcount=20

Here's what the inside looks like (the stock will have a divider seperating the lower 194 bulb from the brake/turn bulb - I removed this because I was trying to convert the lenses to custom LED)

You can see in this one that the lenses come off seperately - I pulled the red then the amber and clear as one

You have to be careful when seperating the amber - I cracked it and glued it back together look at the right lens below. Also you need to watch your boiling temps and how long you leave the lens in - its hard to see but boiling will take the crystal clear out of the lenses and blanch them (I'm thinking it will polish out but I have yet to try) Compare the right to the left - I did the right first and learned -the left has yet to be removed but did get boiled to remove the red lens.

Basically I learned keep the water just before boiling and dip for a few and then pull it out then dip and pull it out untill you glue frees up enough that you can pry it open - dont pry too much though as the edges of the lens are very delicate - you will need to put some force into it but not excessive - if nothing else reheat itand continue prying - also wear some sort of water resistant gloves so you can handle the hot tail light
You can see the screw holes in this one - notice the reflectors also screw in from the inside


I found the original thread where DJ discussed his boiling experiment - again i knew going into it that you didnt want to get the water too hot and I still blanched the lens

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5712

[CharlieZ]

Thanks Festiva Tuner. Your pictures are very helpful. Just what I need to know. I think I'll just flush them out with mild dish detergent and let it go at that. My attendant won't let me go near boiling water or sharp objects. :-)

BTW, with all kinds of LED lighting showing up at auto parts stores and Wally World, LED conversions are getting simpler.

Thanks again.
Charlie Z

[Festiva_tunner]

Thanks Festiva Tuner. Your pictures are very helpful. Just what I need to know. I think I'll just flush them out with mild dish detergent and let it go at that. My attendant won't let me go near boiling water or sharp objects. :-)

BTW, with all kinds of LED lighting showing up at auto parts stores and Wally World, LED conversions are getting simpler.

Thanks again.
Charlie Z

Yes but I dont want to simply convert the bulb i want to convert the way the lens reflects the lights and have a multiple LED light similar to the cadilac lights

Glad I could help - make sure to read that thread I posted about DJ as thats exactly what I followed