I have a broken tail light. How it broke, I have no idea and I'm really annoyed by it. I discovered it the other day washing the car - It looks like something hit it at the very top of the tail light. The pieces that broke off are actually sitting inside it. Anyway, I had 2 questions I was hoping someone could answer. 1) Any idea to the cost of a new taillight? (It's an 05) 2) How difficult is to replace? Or should I just have the dealer do it. I imagine it would be under an hour? Thanks in advance!
No one has had to do this at all? Even on an 04? Come on, surely someone must have backed into something and broken one before..
Can't help you with how to do it, but check this out: http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?s...prclo=&saprchi=
DH has replaced a few taillights. he's on some highway somewhere in GA or SC though... get back to ya tomorrow if that's cool?
Well, I discovered something else today, which explains how this happened. At the bottom of the taillight, there's a small dent and scuff on the tail light itself. So, it appears someone hit me in a parking lot. The bottom part was hit, but pushed the top of it so tight that it cracked.
Our car is very fragile back there. Same thing happened to me from a pick up truck. Two weeks later I was rear ended hard and the car totaled. Go figure. Do a google, back when it happened to me retail was 177.00, shopped around and one dealer would sell for 155.00. Dealer cost was 78.00. REAL pain to replace, dealer did mine, I think is was about 60.00 labor. Order on line or ask the dealer of they will match your quote since they have the labor. Regardless of the actual numbers in tests the prius stops very quick in a panic stop from my perspective. I have had three 'stupid tourist' moves cut in front of me last year and could not believe we didn't hit. Very cool. When I went to the body shop to clean out my totaled driftwood I saw three prius', all rear ended. What are the chances? I tap my brake a lot now to back off the tailgaters.
At least you knew who did it. I'm ticked off that someone did this and just left. At any rate, I'm going to see if my brother-in-law can order it. He owns an auto shop, so I can get it at his cost. I can probably even have him replace it. I just need to figure out if it's worth fixing the dent. Thanks for the responses.
there are 3 studs that hold the light in place. basically you take the nuts off the studs on the old light, stick the new light on, and put the nuts on the new one. there's one connector to put together. sounds like it's not too hard. good luck on getting it taken care of, always nice to have a car person in the family, i can testify to that!
I have a drivers side rear tail light broken. Called Toyota and got their retail price. Anyone know where I can pick one up cheaper that $207 for the part?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jbowden @ May 9 2006, 11:38 AM) [snapback]252186[/snapback]</div> sometimes dealers will be a lot less if you go thru the internet for a price quote. also check Ebay
Have a 2007 that has a burned out driver's side tail light bulb, the upper bulb only is dead. Can this be internally replaced? I apologize if this has been answered elsewhere. I attempted to search the forums under "2007 tail light bulb replacement" and received a gazillion results. Grateful for any response.
The brake light at the top consists of several LEDs which cannot be replaced separately, the entire light assembly must be replaced. All of the other lights are incandescent bulbs which can be replaced.
The tail light assembly is easy to replace. As stated above: remove 3 nuts holding assembly in place and unplug. One word of caution: The 2005 and older taillight top section is black, 2006 and newer is silver. My recommendation: Save the money and get one from a local junkyard for $75-$100 or ebay. Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market
Changing out a rear tail light assembly on the Gen II Prius is more a hassle than a difficulty. It involves a lot of finger work that will prove monumentally frustrating if attempted in gloves. Success is most likely if you can arrange to work in a heated garage. Access to the hold-down studs indicated by galaxee is via plastic access panels inside the car. Once these are removed, it's simply a matter or locating and removing the thumb screws securing the light assembly itself against a self-contained gasket. These thumb-screws are put on notoriously tight at the factory and it may require a set of pliers to help get them off. That should be the only scary part of the demounting. Remounting requires reversing the process, with one proviso. It is very important to take special care that the self-contained gasket is not folded or crimped in any way. The simple gasket provides all the water tightness around the light and making a seal between the inside and outside of the car. Any water that gets in here goes down under the rear deck and collects in the wheel well... Carefully tighten the hold-down thumb screws so that they essentially draw tight all at the same time. As soon as possible do a hose test from out side the car, with all the parts of the rear decking removed so that you can check for leakage around the light assembly. It is not unusual to have to loosen and retighten the thumb screws a few times to get a water tight seal. Good luck.
ANOTHER caution: The official Toyota taillight replacement instructions have an additional step that may not be evident: 1. DISCONNECT CABLE FROM NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL CAUTION: Wait at least 90 seconds after disconnecting the cable from the negative (-) battery terminal to prevent airbag and seat belt pretensioner activation. Obviously, this doesn't happen every time, but just the possibility that it COULD should be enough to take the precaution! La documentazione del selidori FWIW, the tail light assembly is available on EBay for about $75 New Tail Light Assembly for Passenger Side | eBay These seem to come with bulbs and sockets. If you replace with LEDs be sure to buy red/yellow etc, if you want that color. A white LED with a colored filter will be very dim. Turn signals either need a different relay or parallel resistors to keep the blink rate right.
