Sunday, 15 April 2012

How to change a mk6 Fiesta rear brake bulb

I noticed that my partners brake light had stopped working the other day. Being the generous and thoughtful person I am I said "Don't worry babe, I'll change it for you". So off I popped to Halfords to buy a bulb set. Halfords 380 in case you need to know. "Would you like help fitting that sir?" asked the girl at the checkout. "No thanks" I replied. How hard can it be to fit a rear bulb to a Mk6 Fiesta? Fitting FROM £3.99 it said...

I got home and investigated the car. I noticed 2 star bolts. I thought undo them, take off cover and change bulb. Simple.

Oh no... this was NO five minute job for someone who does not know how to change the bulb. There was no way I was giving up. I decided to consult google as there was bound to be a tutorial or something to help right? Wrong. All I could find were forums of contradicting posts all asking my exact question, I have removed the 2 star bolts but what now? The light assembly simply will not budge. A few said yank it, a few said remove another bolt. But what other bolt? I can't see anything.

After an hour of trying to work it out and worrying if I would break something I did eventually manage to change the bulb on the left. It took less than 5 minutes for the right side. Easy when you know how!  I decided to put this on my blog (with pictures) in the hope that someone else will find this exact how to and not the unhelpful discussions I found.

Changing a Ford Fiesta rear brake bulb. Here's what I did:

Step 1. Remove these star bolts


Step 2. Remove this WINGNUT - Yes there is a wingnut and this photo is proof. You need to fiddle a little but its there. It took 50 complete turns too so don't give up! It's up behind the light, there is a small hole you can put your hand in. Easier for smaller hands!

(Sorry for the poor quality of this photo)

Step 3. Pull the light assembly, it may need a little force as there is a push fitting. Be careful because there is a connector on the back. Remove the connector by pressing the little 'tooth' down and pulling. It may need a little 'jiggle'.



 Step 4. Unclip the Circuit strip board and remove the whole thing. At this point you could choose to replace all the bulbs in one go.

Clips run up the sides of this housing
The bulbs simply push/twist to fit - The brake is the top bulb with 2 filaments

Step 5. Place everything back together carefully and fit back to the car. 5-10 minutes. Easy when you know how!
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33 comments:

  1. Anonymous12 January 2013 at 07:16

    Random1624 thanks for the post. I was in the same boat with no idea how to change a dead light on my wife's fiesta until I came across this your blog. I was fuming at how much Ford had over-engineered the whole cluster unit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. denis12 April 2014 at 10:56

      Well said !

      Delete
    2. Unknown23 May 2019 at 02:44

      Thankyou, I nearly gave up until I see your post

      Regards Steve

      Delete
  2. Anonymous26 February 2013 at 11:23

    Thankyou very much i was in the same boat!

    ReplyDelete
  3. simon planetsource20 March 2013 at 10:47

    thanks for info

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  4. Unknown7 April 2013 at 13:14

    Random1624 great tutorial guide, do you know how to change the middle center light..........i have 2 lights out on my Mrs car, rear right and middle....p.s your guide is a great help, the pictures are really good. keep up the good work....i will use it for the rear right bulb...

    Thanking you

    keenzo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown19 May 2013 at 08:56

    Thank you very much, was totally lost without your help. All I would add is that the wing nut is to be found inside the boot behind the light. Yes I am that stupid and it took me ten minutes to find. :-) thanks again.

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  6. Anonymous21 December 2013 at 08:33

    Spot on, well done saved loads of time

    Legin

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  7. Adam30 December 2013 at 12:50

    brilliant info thanks

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  8. Anonymous1 February 2014 at 03:24

    Thank you so much, very clear instructions & the photos really made this a simple job.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous7 March 2014 at 09:52

    Thank you, did not know about the wing nut

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  10. Anonymous8 March 2014 at 09:08

    Thanks for the photos, was a great help in changing the other half's rear brake light, would never of known about the wing nut without your post.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Unknown1 June 2014 at 07:05

    Thanks, a great help.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous27 November 2014 at 07:46

    Clear and precise - any chance of you writing/illustrating Ford's Hand books?

    ReplyDelete
  13. JonoClouds11 January 2015 at 08:41

    Thanks for the info - I was struggling to find what else I had to undo to remove the lamp cluster. Additional info: You have to undo one more screw on a piece of side trim and pull away the carpet that lines the boot wall. The naughty wingnut is just about accessible through an aperture in the metalwork behind. You have to look upwards to see it. My wingnut was so tight I had to start it off using a spanner.

    Thanks again for the blog!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous31 August 2015 at 09:59

    Thanks very much, managed to change my bulb thanks to your really helpful post! You are a star! x

    ReplyDelete
  15. Russ3 September 2015 at 04:27

    Thanks very much for the location of the "secret screw" behind the trim. I think there is another version with just two poppers at the top and bottom and no screw so you have to find out which type you have. So easy when you know where it is but impossible otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  16. nath8013 December 2015 at 16:32

    Thank you thank you thank you! Like others here u was struggling to know what I was doing wrong and why the tail light cluster wouldn't budge! Google search brought me to this blog and for that I am eternally grateful! Perhaps Ford could hire you as a proof reader for their future handbooks so you van let them know when they've missed a whole step!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Unknown11 January 2016 at 05:55

    Thanks for the tutorial. Do you know where I can buy a wingnut for the tail light? Noticed when replacing both brake light bulbs that one of them is missing.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Unknown28 January 2016 at 11:14

    Found your useful blog on Google, helped me change a side light bulb for which I thank you. Colin Oxford UK

    ReplyDelete
  19. Herros27 May 2016 at 04:51

    Tnx man....i was all day out trying to remove the rear light.....you saved me!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Unknown17 June 2016 at 02:41

    Cheers for that! After trying to bar the light cluster out with my full body weight behind it is decided to Google it and found your advice, what a simple job after you find the wing nut!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Unknown10 July 2016 at 08:43

    Thank you so much...watched 3 videos where the light just clips out....was about to give up when I saw yours...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous13 August 2016 at 03:32

    Another thank you for making this page. Just like you, someone I knew had a bulb go out and I stated with an air of confidence that I could change it thinking it would be straight-forward. Half an hour later and without any youtube videos helping I found your page. Cheers!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous15 October 2016 at 02:59

    Bulbs gone, Son that's an easy peasy 5 minutes job ill sort it..... ahemmm. Thank you for coming to the rescue, it was a 5 minutes once I read this artiicle:)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous8 February 2017 at 07:04

    Excellent guide, thank you. Might be worth mentioning that the wing nut is immediately below the electric cables (photo does not make this fact obvious). Also that top portion of cluster has a push stud; hence will need some coaxing to pull it away from car body. Finally, useful to have a cloth to clean up all the crud which will be exposed when the light cluster is removed.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous13 October 2017 at 08:31

    The wing nut is not easy to reach or to turn ... trying to get some sort of spanner in there but not having much luck so far. Think someone at Ford used a big spanner to tighten it before calling their friend to finish welding the boot up. Ford instructions on how to do this in handbook are annoyingly simplistic.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Chris5gd5 November 2017 at 01:48

    Another vote of thanks here! Given that my experience with car mechanics ended in about 1984, I googled first and found this blog. It would have taken a long time to find that wing nut otherwise - my grateful thanks and a raised glass to you, sir.

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  27. Unknown9 December 2017 at 03:26

    You absolute legend

    ReplyDelete
  28. Gary T14 January 2018 at 01:53

    Thanks Random1624. You're blog as just made changing the bulb on my partner's Fiesta nice & easy! Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Unknown6 November 2018 at 17:33

    Bloody hell, I had googled the bit where you find the two screws,whi wh I tried to undo with a Philips screwdriver and eventually got lucky with an allen key and then struggled to pull the casing of.Lucky I found your blog.As others have said the plastic wing nut is a bugger to undo. thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  30. led headlight bulbs23 February 2019 at 02:36

    informative article thanks for sharing jeep led headlights

    ReplyDelete
  31. Unknown31 May 2020 at 10:06

    Really helpful, thanks a million, changed the brake light in 5 mins thanks for putting the info on here

    ReplyDelete

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