Which Way are you going?

Yeah, I know, Steve get a new car.  The 2001 Ford Escape that me and my assistant replaced the head lights on. Was that really 3 years ago?  We had to pull out the tools and see to fixing the driver side turn signal lamp.

 Old Post Headlamp Post

No big deal?  Well answer this; how many tools does it take to replace a turn signal lamp on a 2001 Ford escape?

Yeah, the only light on the car that is likely to get you a ticket, the owner's manual states; "...bring to qualified service technician or dealer to replace"  So i guess now that I am a qualified technician? 

Side nut...exposed

The painful thing about this vehicle is some of the lamps nuts and bolts are behind those plastic fenders held on with the push clips.  You can't simply un-screw them, you have to pry them out.

For this new effort, i decided to forgo the screw driver and needle nose method to breaking them off and this time got a new tool!  The new red handled tool is: S & G Tool - Upholstery Clip Removal Tool Part # 87810 There are some fancy pliers types, they just did not have in stock so I got this on and it worked like a champ.

Lower Nut ... is here

The whole head lamp assembly must be puled out just to reach the sockets!

Almost There!

I did not break any this time but went ahead and replaced all 6. I had to buy a 6 pack when i stopped by the auto parts store so I would have a spare just in case.  Since I would just loose them or get a new car before i have to do this again, i replaced all 6 with new clips! ( BTW -  all the broken ones from before had already been replaced)



Target located!

 

The old bulbs had quite a bit of  the enamel paint peeling off so i would have had fancy white turn signals shortly...

 

Fuzzy old bulb

New and shiny...

New!

Plastic things were easy as:

One...

...Two...

...Three!



 

Back together with a push ( x6)  and good as new.  I never got a picture of the tool in action, it went so fast, just slip behind and pry out less than 10 seconds they were pretty much done.  It took at least a minute with the pliers and I broke the clips anyway.  So are these mundane project blog stories pointless?  Well,  I guess the point of this story is;

 

Buy the tool, and plastic fasteners, when you pick up the turn signal bulbs.

..and the second point: there are two bulbs in a pack so replace them!  I did both.


My assistant was a little tired after all the bunny guard duty he performed this morning but will be ready for the next project!



Tired Boy

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BTW I got behind on blogging some projects, work and business travel to China got in the way... and i never can remember which phone/camera i documented the progress with.  I'll release more drafts when I clean them up a bit!