Need advice fixing foglight due to embarrassing failure

[MikeM7]

So let me start by saying I am completely new to this. Prior to this car the farthest I've gone is changing tires. I didn't even have plans to mod this car but the bug bit and hasn't let go. I love this car and it scares me to put it in the hands of strangers, so I'm trying to do everything myself. I'm going purely off watching videos and reading guides and so far I've struggled my way along alright.

Then last night I was trying to change the foglight bulb, and all the related posts here said the same thing. You remove the 3 pins, pull back the cover, and take out the bulb. That's as specific as it got, and I couldn't find anything else, and I was afraid to ask such a basic question. I couldn't find any release mechanism due to the small gap you have to work with, so I assumed it just comes out by pulling on it really hard. Long story short I've managed to break off the two pressure points that release the bulb, and broke something housing related because now the foglight has play and can be rolled up and down a little.

I was able to see that the 4 screws in the black bracket look undamaged, so I think it's shifting within that housing somehow. So.. I don't know where to begin, do I need to remove the whole bumper? Remove the entire splashgaurd? I can't remove the bulb, and I can't get to the housing so I think I just turned a 3 minute job into a half day event.

I realize that I am a complete idiot for doing this. Any help is appreciated. I do know the correct method for removing the bulbs now.. thanks to.. the owners manual....

[LED86]

You can remove the fog bezel by just prying it off front the front. Then it's 2 screws from behind the fog light to remove the housing. With that out you should be able to see better what your doing. The little tabs on the bulb just push the pins in to remove the bulb but with the whole housing it you should be able to push the pins in with a screw driver or something.

I did the same thing first time.

[MikeM7]

Originally Posted by LED86

You can remove the fog bezel by just prying it off front the front. Then it's 2 screws from behind the fog light to remove the housing. With that out you should be able to see better what your doing. The little tabs on the bulb just push the pins in to remove the bulb but with the whole housing it you should be able to push the pins in with a screw driver or something.

I did the same thing first time.

Awesome, that sounds like an easy fix for getting the bulb out. I suppose that might also give me an opportunity to put down a little 3m tape to hold it in place. It only moves about an inch or less up and down, so I think that will do the trick. Here is a pic of the piece that broke off. I noticed the bulb shifting after that happened.

[veck]

You could turn the tire to the opposite direction for you to have more space to work on.

[MikeM7]

Originally Posted by veck

You could turn the tire to the opposite direction for you to have more space to work on.

I did that. Having wheel spacers doesn't help but the tire isn't really what's restrictive. It's the splashgaurd. It's still attached directly above and below where the pins are removed from so it only gives you so much room. It was leaving some pretty deep imprints from cutting into my forearm after all that struggling.

This is about as much room as you get

[8R6]

everyone makes mistakes and breaks shit on their first time working on cars. better a broken foglight bulb tab than something engine related!