schrute's journal

khtso

Can you give a quick description of how to remove the 3rd brake light? I already bought a replacement gasket but haven't done it yet. I'm looking to fix the rattle coming from that area and will need to remove the light to do this. Thanks!

schrute

I'll start by recommending that you don't remove the 3rd brake light yourself - take it to the dealer or bodyshop. I say this because if you can remove it without breaking anything my hat is off to you.

The challenge is there are two metal u-shaped clips that hold the assembly to the car that are difficult to get to. While trying to remove the assembly as one piece I popped the lens off the assembly and broke two (out of 8 or so) of the plastic tabs that attach the lens to the rest of the assembly. Everything went back together feeling solid so in the end it was ok but it sucks that stuff broke. If you go forward with it here's how it goes.

Start by gaining access to the 10mm bolts under the receiver hooks for the cargo cover on the inside of the hatch. There's a seam on these hooks that you pry open to reveal a 10mm bolt. With the bolts removed the lower panel just snaps off. This will give you access to the nut pictured below.



With the nut removed you now need to release the two metal clips - you can see where they are in the picture above. The foam gasket is in your way (#1 in the pic) - I cut it carefully with a box knife, all the way around. You might be able to get the clips to release with a credit card or putty knife or something similar, slide the tool between the back of the CHMSL assembly and the body of the car (on the outside of the hatch) but again this is where I had trouble.

Good luck!

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