A friend alerted me a few days ago that my left brake light was not working. Brake lights are a safety issue, so this morning I decided to finally get on that and fix it. The same concepts here apply for any lights in the tail light assembly and for headlights-but headlights are a lot trickier.
You need:
1. A new replacement bulb
2. Screwdriver
3. Something to place between your hand and the bulb-glove, rag, paper towel, old sock, etc.
To fix it:
1. Determine exactly which light is out: brake light, tail light, turn signal, etc.
2.Get thee to the auto parts store and walk straight to the counter. Project confidence, for Pete's sake. You're a girl on a mission, you're confident in your abilities, and you don't have time to dink around an aisle reading tiny little product numbers to find the right part.
3. Tell the person behind the counter what you need and what kind of car you drive. He or she find the part for you and you're on your way.
4. Open the trunk and move aside the carpet (there are usually two little plastic things that hold it in), or if you drive a truck, open the tailgate.
5. There are two screws holding in the tail light assembly. Remove them and set aside.
6. Gently lift up and out...the whole assembly should just fall right out.
7. Find the bulb you needed to replace. Push in slightly and turn the socket to remove it.
8. Usually, you pull straight out on the bulb to remove it. If you're not sure whether you got the right one, use your sock/glove/rag to handle the bulb just in case. Oils from your hands will cause a good bulb to burn out prematurely. It's pretty easy to tell a good bulb from a bad one (see the difference?) Obviously, if you got the wrong one, try door number two.
9. Open the package and grab the new bulb with your gloved/socked hand. Push it straight into the socket the same way you pulled the old one out.
10. Twist the socket back in, replace the assembly, and put the screws back in.
11. Test the lights. If it's a brake light and you don't have a buddy around to push the brake, put something heavy on it and walk to the back of the vehicle to see if it works. A music history text works well...notice I said the BRAKE, not the gas. This is a critical distinction.
12. If it works, congratulations, your'e done! If it doesn't work you might have a bad fuse, or you might have the problem that I have, which is that the socket is bad:
Cue sad trombone music. These are both topics for another post....but let's just say that nobody seems to carry the replacement socket, so I'm probably stuck going to the dealer anyway. BOO. But congratulations if your car is better behaved than mine.
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