Hi chaps any advice on how to remove a rear tail light cluster? I reversed in to a wheelie bin last week and just wanted to see if it’s a straight forward job or not. Cheers

Edited 19 December, 201015 yr by The The

same job that i need to do, not got around to looking at how to do it but prob a case of 3 or 4 bolts to undo and then gently easing it out

. I got a genuine rear cluster for £42 from a skoda dealer in mansifeld:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320552896886&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Its dead easy... 15 minutes max.

1) Pull off the carpet / bootliner flaps inside the boot allowing access to the back of the lights.

2) Unplug the large electrical connector and tuck it out of the way.

3) Squeeze the two plastic lugs which releases the bulb holder from the back of the actual cluster.

4) Manipulate the bulb holder towards you away from the cluster, be careful as the bulbs can get caught as they pull out through their access holes.

5) Now the bulb holder is removed your visibility improves! You should then see four silver threaded bolts that secure the cluster to the body of the car, two at the top and two at the bottom. Unscrew the nuts (be careful not to drop them as you thread them off the end of the bolts).

6) The light cluster should then pull away from the car - there is a foam / rubber pad which seals any water / wind ingress. This may casue resistance when trying to remove the cluster but just push/pull a little harder and will come away easily enough.

7) Once it releases don't pull it away from the car too fast. There are two independantly wired 5W bulbs. These just pull out from the cluster but only become visiable once the cluster is released from the car slightly.

The hardest bit of the whole process is getting your spanner over the end of the threaded bolts, if you have small hands you'll have an advantage when it comes to turning them off the last few threads!

Hope this helps!

Edited 19 December, 201015 yr by silver1011

I got a genuine rear cluster for £42 from a skoda dealer in mansifeld.

They are actually a little cheaper than that if you can get in to your local dealer.

However the convenience of having them delivered to your door is well worth the extra

Thanks for the big help chaps, the step by step guide should make it a lot easier.

Well job done, not too bad even with my giant hands, if anybody else needs to do this job a ratchet spanner is a god send so beg steal or borrow one before you do the job as it makes it so much easier, the new lens was £65.25 from Slacks in Middlesbrough but I had no time to shop around.