TVR Tuscan S tail lights

[cliffordwhitehea]

It might sound daft but can anyone help me out, the offside tail light has gone and i only want to replace the bulb, on removing the cover from the light the housing for the bulb is visible but I cant get it off without fear of breaking the unit, ive tried to twist it with a pair of grips but its very tight, it doesnt seem to pull put and when you twist it the hole light moves, the light its self doesnt look to have any sort of seal around it and i fear using more force will either damage the light of the body of the car?? Has anyone got any advise for what should be a simple job??
Thanks
Cliff

[nawarne]

cliffordwhitehea said:

It might sound daft but can anyone help me out, the offside tail light has gone and i only want to replace the bulb, on removing the cover from the light the housing for the bulb is visible but I cant get it off without fear of breaking the unit, ive tried to twist it with a pair of grips but its very tight, it doesnt seem to pull put and when you twist it the hole light moves, the light its self doesnt look to have any sort of seal around it and i fear using more force will either damage the light of the body of the car?? Has anyone got any advise for what should be a simple job??
Thanks
Cliff

Cliff,
I reckon that the coarse thread on the light body and 'lamp-holder' has gotten corroded over the years and that, plus some wayward contact adhesive application, is preventing you to unscrew the lamp-holder.

Reckon you've got 2 options. One, is to spray some penetrant/releasoil/WD-40 onto fitting, allow a couple of hours and then try to unscrew. Or, two, remove mastic from fitting and remove complete assembly having un-plugged the electrics. I would say the amount of mastic holding the fitting into the body is not huge, so should come away fairly easily.

I know all this because I've recently replaced my O/S rear/brake light following a comment by STR8Six that the silvering was poor....It was! Water ingress between the red plastic lens and the metal body left just a pile of rust flakes inside the fitting. I was able to buy the 'fixed' part of the light for TVR Car parts for about £15...I was able to unscrew the lamp holder though. I re-fixed the new fitting into the body using RTV silicone. The individual lights on the Tuscan are often the cause of wet boot carpet. I've run a thin bead of clear 'aquarium' silicone around all of mine now - - no more damp boot carpet!

Nick