How to disassemble S5 tail lights.
What you’ll need:
- Oven that the taillight can fit in.
- -Small Phillips screw driver
- -Small flat head screw driver or somethign with flat edges for prying
(Two makes it easier)
- -Rag or towel
- -Heat gun (helps but not mandatory)
- Step 1: Preperation & Identification
Turn you’re oven to 225 Degrees Fahrenheit.
While oven is heating up, Remove the 4 Small screws
located on the bottom and outer edge.
You will now need to identify the Brake boards versus the turn signal boards. They have different plugs and colored LED’s.
The Turn signal is easy to identify, The power plug socket will only have a
single centered connection on the bottom and they will have “T” written on the backs.
- Step 2: Heating
Place the tail light in the oven and wait around 4
minutes to loosen the glue. I prefer to underheat the tails to prevent possible
melting. This means you will have a couple minutes to work with them before you
have to put them back into the oven to bring them back up to temp.
Remove the tail light and place it on it’s side top
facing up. Slowly and gently pry the 4 lock tabs up and try to ease the hooks
out. Do not apply too much pressure as the lens plastic is fragile. You are not
trying to remove the entire piece out yet. Just getting the lock tabs ready to
slip past the lens hooks.
- Step 3: Top of Brake Lens
You are going to start on the top of the tail lights
first. Using the flathead screw driver or some small prying tool, carefully lift
up the housing sides of the plastic latches on the top. You can stick the tool
in between the lens and plastic latch to lift up the more pliable housing
plastic. Try and move the latches out a little so they won’t re-engage.
Now try pulling the lens out from the license plate top
side. This side has the least reinforcement and can flex more. Pull more on the
housing than the lens plastic.
You can use two screw drivers to start a gap, and then
hold it, while using the second to move down the edge.
ALWAYS put the pressure from the screw driver on the back
plastic! If you have to put it on the lens, make sure it is on the thick spine
and not the edges.
By now, the glue has probably started to cool down and
harden back up. Put it back in the oven for a few minutes to loosen it up.
Once reheated, slowly make your way down the top edge
until you get to the seem between the turn and brake lenses.
img 4
- Step 4: Bottom of Brake lens
You should have almost the whole top loose, by now you’re
starting to apply pressure to the bottom edge. Don’t bend the lens out too far
or you can crack a whole section off the bottom edge! You may need to
reheat the tails to get the glue soft again by now. Pop it back in the oven for
a few minutes.
You need to now try and unhook the bottom latches.
Using a small screw driver pull the soft plastic frame up at the latch so the
hard plastic lens can slip out. It seems to be easier to start from the Turn
signal/Brake seam latch and work your way down. Just like the top, you are going
to slowly pry the lens up and out of it’s frame. It should get easier as there
is less glue holding it down now. Be careful as you get to the license plate
side. You don’t want to crack off the corner but angling it too much.
Rocking the lens back and forth can help break the strands of remaining glue as
you pull the end out.
- Step 5: Turn Signal
Probably time to put it back in the oven.
The Turn signal is not as hard. Start from the
inside(brake/turn seam) at the top latch. Try and move the soft plastic up
again. Then start at the top inside corner. You can now access the spine of the
lens which can take more abuse. the top corner will be easy to get under and
lift. Next, slowly move down the inside seam along the spine lifting it
upward. With the inside seam loose, you should be able to carefully start
lifting the lens out by hand. You will pull it up and towards the outside edge
of the turn signal BUT BE CAREFUL. The bottom outside edge is a sharp angle and
coule crack. Once the majority is out, start pulling up and towards the inside
again. This will let the bottom outside corner come out without being bent and
then cracking.
- Step 6: Internal Diffusers
If the tails are still semi hot, this should be very
easy. The diffusers are held in with a small amount of glue in the corners. They
should come out with little trouble.
- Step 7: Bracket Alignment and Mounting
Feed the long nylon screws through the center hole on the
circuit boards so it protrudes out the back of the housing. The head of the
screw should be on the LED side of the board.
Take one of the back brackets and slip it over the screw
on the back. Make sure the power cable fits through the notches so
they are not crushed. Thread the Nylon nut on until it is semi tight. YOu now need to adjust the placementof the board.
Now rotate the front LED board so it is aligned in the center and in the center LED’s are all in the same rotation/alignment. Now using
a small screw driver tighten the nylon screw down while holding the back nylon
nut in place. You don’t have to tighten it much. It should be hard to move by
hand now. Too much pressure can break the nylon screws or flex the circuit board causing sections of leds to not illuminate.
The order of mounting is LED Board w/ screw -> Housing ->Backplate ->Nut
- Step 9: Turn Signal mounting
The turn signal just like the brakes. The power on this board goes to both the inner and outer halo.
Feed the power plug through the socket and then insert the nylon screw through
as well. The backplate will not align perfectly like the brake circles. This
socket is offset. Put on the backplate along with washer and nut. Move it around
until the alignment looks good to you and then tighten the nut down.
- Step 10: Putting it back together
You’re almost done! Apply some
glue or a loctite to the nylon nut on each board so it will not vibrate loose while
driving
Putting the tails back together is much simpler. First put in the turn lens, outer edge first. Put it in the over for a couple minutes and the glue
should soften up. Push the lens back in place by hand.
Next put the brake lens back on making sure to align it
with the brake/turn seam. Put it back in the oven for a couple minutes. Push it
back in place by hand. Apply pressure around the sealing channel to ensure it’s fully seated
Now put those 4 screws back into their holes. Start with
the turn signal as that may be out of alignment.
- Step 11: Plugging it in
The power sockets are made to plug in only one way. You
can’t put them in the wrong ones. The Brake & Running plugs have offset notches
and will only go into the plug a certain way. Push them in and twist. The turn
signal does not have an offset notch and just goes in the same way.
- Step 12: Load resistors (Optional)
Load resistors fix the Hyper blinking in an inefficient
way. They give the turn signal system it’s proper amperage/wattage use with a
byproduct of heat. They can create a lot of heat if left on. This is why I do
not offer them for the brakes.
Follow this youtube video. The TURN Signal wire on our
cars is colored GREEN with Yellow stripe. The Running light is Red and Brake Green. Ground is Black.