tail light replacement

[Ryanocer]

Just smashed my right hand side tail light last night. Totally ****** off. Got a price from Toyota spare parts and nearly fell backwards. Amazingly the bumper repaired itself within a couple of hours. The plastic bumper just popped back to its original shape. Between my wife and myself have had a few minor mishaps like this and this car is just amazing. Some how it manages to survive major damage. Except this time with the tail light. Would any members know where I would be able to get genuine spares at better prices than the dealers or are they the only registered genuine spare parts suppliers in Australia. It seems I can get prices for parts out of the US for the Highlander Model which is the same as ours shipped here much cheaper. Don't really want to claim on my insurance the excess is about the same as the cost of the light and I would lose my no claim bonus. Any suggestions.

[CROCO]

Hi dario , Mate only places other than a toyota dealer would be a wrecker that specialise in toyota parts, also if you have already mate is have a look on ebay or on the net.

Some wreckers also stock aftermarket lights, but probadly not for the kluger but its worth a shot anyway.

Mate just out of curiosity how much was the tailight worth, I know what toyota spares are like for prices OUCH!

Dario I feel your pain mate, I in the same boat to, it a bugger when your pride joy gets damaged, you feel so helpless and angry.

[Ryanocer]

Over here in the West the dealers quoted me $342.85 it comes as a complete housing. They don't sell the plastic cover separately. I can get after market LED tail lights for around $360.00 for a pair shipped to Australia. If I don't have any luck with the wreckers I have contacted I think I might pimp my ride while I'm at it.

[Ryanocer]

Have managed to get a good deal on a genuine tail light with a dealer. Just wanted to ask the members if any one has changed a tail light on a Kluger as yet and how hard was the process. Are there any tricks to it, is it easy to change or difficult. If any one has any feed back it would come in very handy as I'm contemplating changing the damaged tail light myself.

[kluger2]

My daughter broke my rear passenger tail light and we replaced it ourselves - searched high and low on the internet and found a thread on Toyota Nation re people replacing tail lights with LED aftermarket versions - someone there did a DIY set of instructions - it was posted on Megaupload - and that was closed by USA authorities - so I asked if anyone had a copy - got a reply and the DIY is located here -> (http://mojavetrail.webng.com/TaillightReplacement.pdf)

We were a bit concerned as everywhere I searched said you needed to remove the rear bumper! When you look at the DIY instructions you don't need to take the whole thing off - juat remove some screws and catches and bend it out of the way enough.

Overall I would say that it was fairly straight forward - took us about 40 mins or so all up - we did follow the instructions step by step so we didn't miss anything but it is not that complex - I think there may be a few slight differences in the pic's compared to our Kluger (we have late 2007 model) but overall the instructions worked fine.

Cheers

[Ryanocer]

Thanks kluger2 that info looks like it might do the trick. At least I can see what I'm up for. I just picked up the light today so I'll attempt the procedure this weekend. Will let you know how I go.

[Ryanocer]

Thanks kluger2 that link was spot on. I found that I didn't need to touch the bumper at all. I managed to get the tail light off just the same. You do need to have the special long socket set though and a small handle to get into the confined space. Apart from the socket set and handle costing me $58.00 I think I got out of it relatively cheap. A lot cheaper than if I went to a dealer to get it replaced and now I have the socket set as well.