Is there any way to remove a turn signal bulb (1157) without removal of the taillight lens assembly?

ALPHAA10

MEMBER
1998 BUICK LESABRE
3.8L
6 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
285,000 MILES

The taillight on the car listed above is a unified assembly fastened to the trunk lid, not the car body. Metal nuts fasten the assembly housing to the trunk lid and are secured from the back side/interior of the lid.
On other vehicles, marker and navigation bulb replacement was simpler.

5 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
48,363 POSTS

Yep, this is a tough one if you could upload images of what you are working on, I can help walk you through the repair. They show almost nothing in AllData and Mitchell 1 if you can believe that one.

Here is a generic guide to help:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/turn-signal-bulb-replacement

Check out the diagrams (below). Let us know what happens and please upload pictures or videos of the problem.

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Wednesday, July 6th, 2022 AT 7:54 PM

ALPHAA10

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214 POSTS

No problem, yet Ken. However, I wanted to bypass the removal of the entire unified taillight lens assembly, simply to replace a single bulb. (What were the designers thinking?)

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Saturday, July 9th, 2022 AT 1:45 AM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
48,363 POSTS

Right, sometimes these designs are pretty bad when it comes to servicing them. Its only nuts and bolts lol. Get started :) please upload pics if you can.

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Saturday, July 9th, 2022 AT 12:27 PM

ALPHAA10