How to remove Styrofoam shelf ??

Hi all,

I was on the process of adding LEDs to my tail lights on my wagon but ran across a problem....

On the drivers side there is an access panel to get to the rear light assembly but there is a Styrofoam shelf in the way....i removed the 2 screws holding it in but it really does not seem to want to come out....

How does it come out?....id rather not bust it to pieces because it is handy to hold small stuff out of the way.

Thanks
Andrew

Andyinchville1 said:

Hi all,
I was on the process of adding LEDs to my tail lights on my wagon but ran across a problem....
On the drivers side there is an access panel to get to the rear light assembly but there is a Styrofoam shelf in the way....i removed the 2 screws holding it in but it really does not seem to want to come out....
How does it come out?....id rather not bust it to pieces because it is handy to hold small stuff out of the way.
Thanks
Andrew

Click to expand...

I also got the screws out but had no luck removing it, so I did bust it up.

I have a wagon too. Used a hacksaw blade to trim a 45* section off for easier access to the tail light bulb assemble. I kept blowing bulbs in the wagon and found out the original housings were letting water in, shorting out the bulbs. New ECS Golf style rear lights (with extra foam gasket material ensuring waterproofing) I am happy, but saved my old housings because I also want to convert them to custom LED board lights.

I ended up trashing mine too in the wagon. LED replacements are a great option though because they won't ever burn out.


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Geordi said:

I ended up trashing mine too in the wagon. LED replacements are a great option though because they won't ever burn out.

Click to expand...

I can only recall replacing one taillight bulb in my wagon in 15 years. No licence plate light replacements. Only an occasional headlight bulb.

Well, you've been VERY lucky! My wagon keeps tossing the passenger top bulb, until I replaced it with an LED - it burned out three of them in less than a year, very annoying.

I replaced most of the rest of the bulbs with LED anyway including the license plate lights, I got a kit from SuperBrightLEDs if I remember correctly. I like the fact that they use virtually nothing for power and the HID headlamps also use very little power. Yeah, it probably doesn't matter when the alternator is right there making juice, but it was something to do that made the interior cooler too. Incandescents put off a LOT of heat!

Geordi-"LED replacements are a great option though because they won't ever burn out."

-Sorry, NOT a true statement. Maybe "They have noticeably longer life would be more correct. TONS of "upgraded" LED traffic lights in my city with clusters of LED's out (not to mention the goobers I see with LED fog lights from eBay that flicker as they drive by.) Did the LED break, driver, controller? Who knows. But the end result is QC is spotty in Chang-a-lang-na so they are not 100%

Ok, yes, LEDs can burn out, and built-by-the-lowest-bidder certainly will be the shortest lifespan. But with the average lifespan running somewhere north of 10,000 hours even the ones that claim 100,000 hours might be stretching things a bit...

There are 8736 hours in the year. Since I am not running my lamps 24/7/365, that greatly increases the timeframe to accrue that 10k lifespan... For all intents and purposes, they will likely outlast the car, ergo, they will never burn out in this application.

fruitcakesa said:

I also got the screws out but had no luck removing it, so I did bust it up.

Click to expand...

I got more LEDs to swap in....I'll try one last time to see if there are more screws holding the shelf in that I may have missed earlier BUT if I don't see any I'll try to be more forceful in wiggling it out OR I may have to resort to cutting / busting it out...

Thanks

Andrew

I haven't looked at it in a long time but there may have been a well hidden clip/fastener that was the hangup

Hi Guys,

I revisited the shelf a little while ago and I saw a THIRD bolt holding the shelf in place.

FWIW the bolt is located at about the 1:30 to 2:00 position from the clip (towards the rear of the car) that holds the removable panel in place....you really cannot easily see the bolt since it is tucked up behind the non removable side panel (I guess that;s what you call it).

Anyways, I struggled and eventually got that bolt out (had to use an open end 10 mm wrench to manipulate it little bu little by little....slow and tedious since it is hidden and you really cannot twist the wrench to any large degree.

With the 3rd bolt out the styrofoam shelf is MUCH looser BUT is still held in somewhere....

I suspect there is a fastener (maybe a screw) directly behind the 12 volt power outlet in the rear of the car.

Now my task is to try to remove the cigarette lighter assy from the rear.....

I used a small adjustable wrench to try to loosen the nut that I believe is holding the 12 V socket in but stopped when I made a spark....luckily my main 12 lighter seems to still work (I use it for GPS etc..).

Anyways, with the much looser shelf I was able to change out the bulb to an LED and called it a night....

Ill attempt removal of the shelf later since it was getting dark.

Anybody have any idea how to easily remove the rear 12V socket?

I should disconnect the battery so as not to blow something up BUT I think the radio loses a security code or something?....that was my main reason for not disconnecting power to start with but maybe I should?

Thanks!

Andrew

Good work, I also found that screw, but got no further.
Keep going

I seem to remember that I got the shelf completely loose on mine... But couldn't get it positioned in such a way that it would fit through the door anyway, that was why I gave up and cut it up.

Andyinchville1 said:

I should disconnect the battery so as not to blow something up BUT I think the radio loses a security code or something?....that was my main reason for not disconnecting power to start with but maybe I should?

Thanks!

Andrew

Click to expand...

I was looking at this styrofoam shelf you speak of today and was going to tell you about the other bolt, but i guess you figured it out. I didn't spend any time trying to remove it, just took note of the fasteners hoping it would help you.

As for the radio, the stock radio won't lock up until you unplug it from the car, regardless of whether there is a battery or not. I've disconnected the stock battery a number of times, and never asked for a code. Then I removed the radio so I could remove the rubber soft touch and paint everything piano gloss black on the radio cage, and the radio was dead after that. Replaced it with a Clarion.

Geordi, my stock housing on my wagon did the same bulbs. I found water increasing due to the lame seal design. Did your bulb socket look shorted? I used new ECS Gold variant housings (the same new, but lame duck style gasket) BUT added closed cell foam tape on the body were the gasket touches (as one almost continuous piece.) Problem solved, but I still want to make LED rears. Are you using just LED bulbs, or doing a retrofit (LED flat board cluster thingy?)

I am using just LED bulbs. I didn't notice any problems with water incursion, at least none that made itself obvious. I think a large part of the problem is non-localized grounds. I found on my Jeep CRD (I know, not the same, but still) that the taillight housings would melt b/c the bulbs were pulling too much power... B/c the ground point for the taillight is behind the HEADLIGHT!!!!

Don't know if VW is as daft, but I wouldn't be surprised.