Trouble removing painted headlight trim, for turn signal replacement job

TurnAround · #1 01-02-2010, 09:46 PM

That little 1" high painted plastic trim piece thats underneath the headlights... Its got the two tabs yer supposed to unlatch, and then the trim will pivot out and off.

At least, that's how its supposed to work. I have a burned out turn signal bulb and need to pull the head light. I actually installed these headlights myself 5 years ago when I upgraded from all yellow turn reflector sided headlights to the mostly white ones. I remember.. the little trim piece was really hard for me for some darn reason. Nearly broke the tabs off.

I've read the DIY, plus searched. I'm needing some advise on the finesse move that is apparently needed to pop / unlatch the tabs without breaking them off. WHaddya do first, second, pressure hear, push there?? Thanks.

Oh, and on a turn signal replacement, does the light have to come all the way out to get to the back? I'm asking because I remember getting it past the washer jets was a bear too. Any tips there appreciated.

Sorry for the 'simple job' post.

Thanks guys. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

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BrianX54.4is · #2 01-02-2010, 10:57 PM

I did this bulb replacement a while back. I didn't remove the black trim - just removed the whole headlight with the trim still attached as one unit. After removing the four fixing bolts - pivot the headlight out from the kidney grill side first. I don't recall any problem with the washer jets either.

X Foomph · #3 01-03-2010, 01:49 AM

Turnaround,
I'm feelin you re that little lower trim piece. I just replaced both turn signal bulbs and actually spent more time removing those 2 x trim pieces than I did with the rest.

As the guide says here: Front Turn Signal Replacement , gently pull on the trim from the inner position (high beam) centre grill at the top corner. I actually cheated a bit and wrapped a flat head screwdriver in a rag then very gently levered and pulled at the same time. It seemed to just pop off when it was pulled out enough. I'd say the vertical clip is the one that you gotta release (or part release) first as the horizontal clip simply slides out.

GL, I hope you don't break anything except the skin on your knuckles

X5Dawg · #4 01-03-2010, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianX54.4is

I didn't remove the black trim - just removed the whole headlight with the trim still attached as one unit

I take it you don't have headlight washers/ sprayers - otherwise you would not be able to remove the headlight with this trim piece in place.

These pieces are very tricky the first few times you do them, but eventually they do loosen up to be not so difficult to remove.

TurnAround · #5 01-03-2010, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X Foomph

.. gently pull on the trim from the inner position (high beam) centre grill at the top corner. I actually cheated a bit and wrapped a flat head screwdriver in a rag then very gently levered and pulled at the same time. It seemed to just pop off when it was pulled out enough. I'd say the vertical clip is the one that you gotta release (or part release) first as the horizontal clip simply slides out.

Ok, thanks. Levering the high beam tab a little to release it makes sense to me. I think that was the main area where I was getting frustrated. Last time I felt like I had to reef on it hard to get it to come out.

So, are you bending (arc'ing) the painted trim piece some at all in getting the high beam side tab to release?

Thanks again!