88-L98-Z52

I have a driving light out, so I was looking at what I had to do to replace it... (I'm going to be switching to the 885 bulbs while I'm at it)... Service manual says the front facia has to be removed!!!! OMG... I can't believe a car was designed that requires the front of the car to be removed in order to change a driving or fog light!!! Is there any easier way to do this?!?!?

scorp508

No no no. :) That is if you are removing the entire fog/turn assembly. :) To just replace a bulb you can access them from the engine compartment.

blk90rdstr

The socket is right behind the light,obviously . you can see it with the hood up it just turns and pulls out. Just remember you cant touch the new bulb with your bare fingers or you may be buyin another one. :smash:

Raysur

Do you have any hints on changing the rear lights of an '84. It looks bad. :eek:

skeet

The rear bulbs are very difficult to change. I tried changing a bulb while on a creeper on a slight hill. The creeper started to roll and twisted my arm into a position I could not get out of. Would have called the fire department but there was no one around. It took about a half hour to wiggle my arm out. I had some interesting thoughts on what I would like to do to the Corvette designer who designed the no access tail light bulbs. I never work on the car now if no one is around. I still laugh about it. PS Philips makes a LL (Long Life ) bulb which AutoZone sells,- twice the life for twice the price - well worth it.

BOB'S C6

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I'm still laughing I just replaced one of mine by taking the gas filler lid off and by removing the gas cap I could reach it from there but I have long skinny arms. Some one with big arms this definately would not work. :lol: :lol: :lol: :jester


[Modified by Silver85, 1:02 AM 5/14/2002]

_Nomad_

LOL next time just take the license plate off and access it like that. Takes 5 minutes! :lol:

Mark 84ltblu

I did mine by removing the wheel well liner. It was easy to reach from beneath. My arms are too big to reach behind the license plate.

88-L98-Z52

Thanks... I scared myself!!... Apparently, I did look at the 'assembly removal' section of the manual instead of the 'bulb replacement' section... Duh....

They still are not real easy to see or reach, but I won't complain...

As for the rear lights, the manual says to reach the inner one's through the license plate opening and the outer ones from under the car... (They forgot to mention how neither access works for weightlifters!!! ha!!!) I would also have the added complication of removing the black out covers I have RTV'd into place.... Oh boy....

Speaking of rear lights and black out covers.... is there a replacement bulb that would fit in the rear which would be brighter than the stock 2057 bulb that is rated at 32/2 candlepower??? And... if I also upgrade the fog lights with 885 bulbs and up the fuse to 15, will adding brighter tail lights put the whole circuit higher than 20 amps and risk doing nasty things like blowing headlights??? Maybe just upgrading 2 of the tailights would be better, or upgrade all four tailights and forget about upgrading the fog lights???

CNTDRV55

I had the same scare with the manual....Actually, on my 96 there are cutout hatch doors just below each fog lamp assy (the underneath portion of the facia. They are obviously designed specifically to replace these bulbs.....very easy to reach, but I never noticed them there before.

Raysur

I couldn't fit behind the plate either. Removing the wheel wells is a good idea. GM couldn't have done a better job:crazy:.

C4Cvette

to get the blackout off the rear I use a small suction cup. ( the snap hooks?) sold at wall-mart or Home Depot work great.

Shark ssn591

not on my '88, got to em from the back, the wires are a bit short so I had to undo the wire run (the tube they are in) to get enough "manueverability" to replace the bulbs... They worked, but I upgraded to 885's.. it is a nice difference.

fortunately I haven't had to do the tail lights, the side reverse lights were tough... I had to have my 14 year old daughter w/ skinny arms reach between the fender and muffler to replace em... and a fine job she did. :yesnod:

BigD904

I tried removing the rear wheel well liner and removing the license plate and they both work fine. A lot easier then getting to it from underneath. :mad

Delta

dont know if this would help or not but how about switching to those new goofy LED lights that you can buy at wal-mart and other places they come in both 2056 and 2057 styles (single and duel filiment) and are supposed to be just as bright but a use less power and supposedly last longer then the car itself hey its just a thought do a miserable tail lamp change once and be done with it, am thinking about doing it on mom's firebird where you gotta pull the entire trunk apart to change them.

88-L98-Z52

Yeah... I can see where LED based lights would be great for anyone with a stock taillight setup... But I'd have to check to see if they were brighter than stock 2057 bulbs to resolve the 'dim tailights because of blackout cover' situation.
By the way... I have found a solution to that problem.... The stock 2057 bulbs are rated at 36/2 candlepower.... At autoopiks.com, I found replacement halogen bulbs rated at 50/15 candlepower... WOW!!! 750% brighter in the tailight only part of it, which was my big concern.... Also, they had options for the #885 front driving/fog lights that let you choose between a bulb that would produce 50w of white light if you wanted to optomize them as driving lights, or another bulb that would produce 50w of a more yellow light, if you wanted to optomize them as fog lights.

Meeko87

I usually access my taillights by completely dislocating my arm and shoulder then sliding it up there and using my fingers to twist the bulb out :crazy: :jester

TravisD

When I was installing the wiring for the race-tire trailer I found that removing the plate + removing the backup-light assemblies gave me enough room to reach things.

C4Cvette

The LED lights sold at Walmart or ricer shops ARE NOT as bright as the stock bulbs. The stock bulbs use the reflectors to aim the light and light up the whole lens. The LED lights dont even hit the reflector because the way that they are mounted on the circuit board of the assembly. They just appear as about a inch round dot in the lens. Really not that safe. Plus put blackouts over that and you really cant see them during the day. Email me and I can send some pics during the day or night.

88-L98-Z52

Thanks for the offer C4... but your description is enough to convince me they won't work for me... I'm going to order the halogen upgrades today and not consider the LEDs any further... thanks for saving me the time.