How to Replace Tail Light Bulbs 2011-18 Volkswagen Jetta

Hi, I’m Mike from 1A Auto. We’ve been selling auto parts for over 30 years!

To access the rear bolt of the tail light, we're going to pop off this piece of carpet just with your hand, and access this white plastic bolt and just unscrew it. Put that aside. For the harness on the back of the tail light, you want to press in on the tab on the top and the bottom. Remove this. You can see that it's one here and one here and you want to push in on both sides at once to pull this out of the housing.

The rear of the tail light, you can see that there is three plastic tabs that actually need to be pushed in, and then this board needs to be pulled up because this is a plastic molded circuit board that has the light bulbs actually in it. I've found the best way is to grab one corner at a time and try to pull it up so it actually get hooked on the lip and then continue to kind of grab the tabs and just slowly work this out. It should pop out.

Here's your bulbs. You're going to push down, twist, and release and you got your bulb out. Replace your bulb back into the two tabs, like so. Push down, turn, and it should get released back into the socket. On this bulb, you're going to press down and release and you'll note that there are two pins, one on each side. One is higher than the other. It's good to remember which one goes where, because this is a dual filament bulb. The high one went on the right hand side of this.

To place the bulb back in, place your bulb into its socket with the correct prongs in the right spot. Press down lightly and you should release it back into the socket by turning. To place the cast plastic circuit board back into your tail light, you're going to line up your bulbs into the correct spots, gently lower it down in, press, and you should hear it clip in. Just make sure all three are clipped underneath their plastic housing lips and you should be good.

To put the tail light back in, you're going to grab your harness, put it back into its socket until it clips in. Rest the tail light fully into its housing. You're going to take your plastic spring loaded bolt. Slide it in and screw it back in. The carpet panel that goes back into place after you screw in your bolt is actually labeled the side of the car and the direction. You're going to take the panel, hook it back in. You're all set.

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