C5 II Estate bulb change (tailgate, number plate)

[VertVega]

Several attempts gave no results and I had to give up before braking plastic parts.
I took a pic of the number plate light cover which has no screws but similar hole as
seen in pic below on both sides of the plastic cover.

How do I remove this plastic cover?

[Estately]

The Haynes BOL displays a rather fetching picture of the plastic tailgate number plate light lens. Your picture looks the same as our 2007 estate and the BOL feature picture.

They give two options for removal referring to:
1) a single screw - can't see one.
or
2) The lens is clipped into place, in which case it should be carefully prised down.

I would favour the use of a small (Jewellers type) screwdriver starting from the middle of the left or right hand edge assuming that the plastic is an interference fit on both of those edges.

I am currently running with the inner tailgate covers off (WIP to re connect the rear window switch) and there is no direct access from inside the car. There is a sticky plasticy cover each side, easily ripped, but there would be no direct line of sight to the rear of the area where the number plate lights are situated if it were to be removed, though you may get your fingers to it.

The bulbs are the capless type, I think the same as the Xantia number plate and courtesy bulbs.

Hope that helps.

Andy.

[SaabC5]

I tried the watchmakers screwdriver approach as well and failed miserably, the plastic was very brittle and just broke. I bought two replacement covers on eBay for £4 each and just broke out the old lens and swapped out. They have a tab on the top half that holds them in place but you can't get any pressure on the tab without the tailgate handle getting in the way, stupid design. I replaced the bulbs as well with 501 led's which are a lot better than the standard filament bulbs.

[VertVega]

Thanks for the help. Thinking optimistically the success percentage was 50%

I had capless bulbs as spare parts from my previous car Xantia. Using a very small screwdriver I tried several times and I was successful at the end. The lens popped up in one piece Replaced the bulb. Cleaned the lens and pushed the lens in place. Clipping sound from both sides can be heard easily.

I decided to change the other one as well and it cracked almost at the first attempt. I replaced the bulb and it doesn't have a lens yet. I have to buy new ones (one for spare).

I took close-up pics to see how it's clipped.
In this pics below the red marked part is the clipping, thickness is about 1 mm at the end.
Blue part is on the outside of the lens where screwdriver should fit.

[Ben82]

Can't buy the plastic on its own... it comes as a complete unit with the holder for the bulb, the bulb itself and plastic cover, and costs ~£3 from the stealers.

It's a lot easier to pry the whole thing away (on mine there's a bit of felt between it and the car or so to help protect the paint), disconnect the cable, and plug the new one in and reseat it

[VertVega]

Can't buy the plastic on its own... it comes as a complete unit with the holder for the bulb,

I see, that makes sense then why the number plate lights sold in ebay looked so different than what I was looking for

Thanks for the tip.

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(Edit 16.9.2013) Update: I bought the part and here's a pic where the part number is also seen.
Removed the soft material to get a better pic of the nails. It should be easy to remove the complete set. Not tried yet. I think it is not a good design

[PHLOBGRIT]

I found the curved plastic screwdriver like tool provided by Anglian Water to access the water meter just right to lever the cover off