2008 headlight assembly - bumper screws rusted & stuck

Not sure whats the issue based on what your saying.

On the bumper front lip under the hood there's 2 screws that hold rubber bumpers on then there's 3 push plugs that all you have to do is use a flat blade screwdriver to lift up the flat caps (you will see a tiny recess slot in that cap for you to stick a screwdriver in there to lift the cap) and then the whole plug pulls right out.

It's not good your struggling with this pretty easy part. It gets a lot more complicated after that.

But it doesn't matter because if your then pulling the bumper side off you will almost certainly break the plastic clips off that hold the bumper on. Its really easy to break them its a very old car and there plastic teeth and very brittle and will snap right off. You have to yank the bumper side off that mounting clip. You must have a bumper mounting clip to get the car back together properly. Times 2 if your pulling both sides of the bumper down.

This part:

Side Support - Toyota (52116-47010) | Toyota Parts

 

Just created an account and first reply. I appreciate the many helpful responses. On with this issue.

First, I ran into the identical problem on my 2009 Prius hatchback Hybrid. The problem was described very clearly by Steelerfan2018. I viewed one of the many YouTube videos regarding changing the headlight bulbs which shows the mechanic simply unscrewing the rubber bumper unit with a phillips head screwdriver.... no problem at all. When I tried the same I could not loosen the bumper units. I ran out to OReillys to buy some PB Blaster. After many squirts and many attempts to loosed the Bumpers I removed the rubber from one of the gimmicks and used more PBBlaster. No luck. MY next attempt was to use my vice grip pliers on the metal head.... no luck. Anybody have suggestions. I dont want to rip out whatever is below and cause more damage.

 

Taking out the assembly should take no more than 10 minutes.....the video linked to below shows a teenager doing it and he does a pretty good job.

If you can't do it after watching this video, well, you need to have someone else do it.

You might find the information that starts at about 18:05 most helpful...

 

When small screws are seized up by rust, simple jobs can become real headaches, and not very much like videos that show jobs going smoothly without that complication.

The big risk is that small screws are very easy to break off, even if you get them to turn at all. They can even seem to crack loose, give you a couple good turns, and then break off. Broken-off screws stuck in the car are then a royal PITA standing in the way of your reassembling stuff. It is also possible, without breaking them off, to round out the heads, creating a much more complicated puzzle for how to remove them.

The way forward can involve some combination of penetrating oil, heat, and mechanical vibration. If it's a small screw into painted sheet metal, you're probably not going to use much heat, lest it mess up the paint or warp the sheet metal. You can go to town with the penetrating oil and give it a good chance to soak.

An excellent way to supply the mechanical vibration is with something like Lisle's 62140 Seized Fastener Removal Kit and an air hammer. The air can be set for pretty low pressure and the hammer trigger squeezed very lightly; the object is not to pound on the fastener but to tap it, very lightly, over and over and over very fast. A tool like the Lisle does not try to twist the fastener at all; it only taps. On a small screw, don't risk anything that uses power to try to twist.

What you do with a tool like the Lisle is, it has flats on the side, and you hold a wrench there, and use your own hand power to gently twist the tool to the left while it just does its power tapping. This works miraculously well and I wish I had discovered such a tool decades earlier. But the main thing is proceed slowly and carefully; don't strip or break stuff and turn your 10 minute project into a nightmare.

 

Interesting tool. On Amazon.ca they’re asking $147 (CDN); how much is it Stateside?

 

As little as $62 on Amazon.com.

I know which screws the OP is referring to. I had the same problem the first time I changed the bulbs on our Gen 2. I gave up on the screwdriver right away and by going slowly with vice grips was able to get them off without breaking them. A couple of years later after applying more penetrating oil, it really was only a 10 minute job.

 

Lisle's 60530 Seized Fastener Removal Kit similar to hand held versions $22 for this version.

 

I see, that's pretty much the 62140 minus the six hex sockets.

That might be useful enough anyway. I have the larger set, but I don't think I've used the hex sockets yet, and there are only six so probably won't include the size I want when I want to anyway.

 

Unfortunately, you or the mechanic you hire breaks it; you pay for it.

That's why whenever I buy a car, new or used, I get me a cheap can of Liquid Wrench and spray all the screws and bolts under the chassis and on and in the body.

LIQUID WRENCH Penetranting Oil, 11 oz, Aerosol Can - Walmart.com - Walmart.com

It fills the spaces where moisture with salt and debris will get in and slows down corrosion.

Even better, if you go back two to three weeks later and spray the same fasteners with rustproofing.

My dad and his friends taught me this when I was very young and I've done it will all my cars. The screws easily remove even years later.

Won't do much good now, but good future planning.

 

It’d be nice if at least ONE of the manufacturers would do this, at the factory. And advertise it.

 

Only problem is the VOC overspray and dripping liquid.

 

Wow, the worst denizens of PriusChat really came out of the woodwork for this one! @edthefox5 decided to drop an obnoxious response despite (obviously and admittedly) failing to understand the question. Then @Stevewoods 's video at 18:05 showed us the result of using a dremel to cut slots in a screw head that's been stripped. (Though in classic "look it's so easy!" how-to style, it doesn't actually show that work being done.) That's actually one of my favorite tricks, Steve -- but it doesn't solve the problem I'm facing (presumably shared by OP), which is that the nut is also rusted to the bolt, and both are sandwiching the parts in between very tightly. Even when I manage to get the bolt to turn, the nut moves with it, so instead of unscrewing, it starts to bend the entire assembly it's attached to (below the bumper cover) completely out of shape. This is obviously not good.

Now, if any of you patronizing "a teenager can do it" types wants to tell me what tool I can fit into that tiny narrow space behind the bumper cover to immobilize the nut while I'm turning the bolt, then I'll be all ears! (Or better yet, come visit me in Philadelphia to show me how "easy" it is. For each screw you can remove, I'll buy you a cheesesteak!)

 

And, wow. If you were a bit nicer in your post, I might offer up a couple of what I think are somewhat easy solutions, but I am sure someone else will do that for you.

Being I am older and some days a bit cranky, you are now on my ignore list. And, ETF5 is one of better and more respected members of the fray and for you to blast ETF5 for no reason...And, yeah, maybe I could have been a bit more gentle in my earlier reply, but it is what it is,.

 

If the bolt and nut both turn, then use a dremel to cut the bolt head off. Figure something else out for reassembly (rivet, sheet metal screw, etc).

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Would a “long nose mole grip (locking pliers)” help?

 

Is thenightmareofhair the same person as Steelerfan2018 and is the bumper still stuck 3½ years later?

 

Some kind of bent nose pliers may actually do the trick! It's a very nasty angle. I will follow up once we get another warm day.

I only associate with Steelers fans when absolutely necessary. T-minus 2 days to another Lombardi, GO BIRDS

 

Thought it was Eagles vs Chiefs this year lol.

im not steelers. Dolphins all the way