Ahoy,

This has stumped me for a couple of hours. I'm stripping the car (facelift coupe). The taillight clusters look like they should come off, I can't see what could be holding them on now I've removed the flange nuts from these bolts.

But they won't budge.

Given them gentle taps but, you know how hard it is to find replacements... what am I missing?


Tail light cluster from inside boot

 

pretty sure just the 4 studs holding. May be stuck in place by way of aging gaskets or seals. A bit of gentle levering may be required.

 

The taillights are super expensive to replace so be careful how you persuade them.
You might want to try a mild solvent or even hot water to soften the gaskets and dissolve any adhesive that might be there.
Another method is to use a hair dryer ONLY on the inside to do the same.
Put the nuts back on the studs so the lens doesn't fly off unexpectedly and it will protect the studs from damage.

 

I had thought they might have some hidden mechanical catch, but the resistance turned out just to be adhesion.

There's a foam gasket around the cluster and, after 30 years, it had stuck to the bodywork. That's all it was.

I prised between the bodywork and the cluster while squeezing drops of PB blaster in. I was, of course, super careful, because yes I did look and yes, clusters are not easy or cheap to obtain.

But the PB Blaster loosened the adhesion and they popped out easily. WD40 would have worked just as well.