Does anybody know if the housings are glued to the lens or what? I didn't realize how dirty they were till I took them off and really looked inside. I have tried to pry it off but don't want to put to much pressure on it for fear of cracking/breaking.

 

are you talking about the turn signals on the front bumper or the markers on the fenders? the fender lights have a rubber piece that holds the bulb behind the plastic piece, they should just seperate. the turn signals depends on s4 or s5. the s4's should just seperate also. i dont think the s5's come apart (easily)

 

Well I was talking about the fender markers / signals but the front bumper ones are another good question. I should have clarified this is for a S5, didn't realize there might be difference. When I took my fender ones off the rear markers (red) had a lens, black plastic housing and a rubber perimeter gasket. Gasket simply slips off then the housing and lens are together. My front markers (orange) did not have the rubber gasket, only the lens with black plastic housing. I noticed on Mazdatrix, they sell the "lens only" and thought there must be some way to get the two apart without tearing them up.

 

the lens is not glued on. It is held on by two screws. No gasket on the side marker lights either... the bulb holder is the gasket

 

I'm a little confused Icemark...yeah two screws hold each of the marker / signals onto the car but once they are removed the lens itself is attached to a black plastic housing that holds the bulb in place. (As stated my '90 gtu does have rubber perimeter gaskets on the rear red markers in addition to the lens and housing, it did seem odd the front did not?) Back to the question though, can you seperate the lens from the black bulb housing without cracking/breaking the lens and/or housing??

 

yes, it should come right off.

 

Nope, not attached. Front and rear side markers use the same exact everything except the color of the lens.

Same bulb holder, same screws... same everything

 

Well maybe they are not supposed be attached but mine are stuck together really well (all 4 of them). I just spent about 10 min. prying apart one of the rear markers and just about broke the housing in half doing it. Considering the cost of the silly things, I'll just spray some degreaser/cleaner in them and see how that turns out.

 

NM.

 

are you sure you don't mean the tail lights, and not the side markers???

The side markers are red in the back with the passengers side just under the gas cap.

They are amber/orange in the front sides between the bumper and the fender well.

Now the front turn signals are mounted in the bumper and face forward.

But the side markers, don't have any housings. They are a lens and a rubber bulb holder and two screws.

The Front turn signal markers on a S4 are simply screwed in, by two screws on each side. The front turn signal markers on a S5 are screwed in, but also have a small tab on each side of the lens to keep it attached to the assembly.

The rear tail lights are held on by multiple 10mm nuts accessible from the interior of the car.

So which lights are you talking about??? Tail and turn signals or side marker lights?

 

First of all, we are on the same page with the "side markers". Second of all, some pictures might be in order. I'll try to take some tonight after work and see if I can figure out how to post them (new to this).

I'll agree at this point it is starting to seem a little petty to figure this out but now that it is started I want to make sure I'm not loosing my mind (and that is possible). Thanks to Icemark for putting up with an **** retentive S5 owner.

 

Okay, here are two pics. You can see the rubber gasket that goes with the rear marker I was talking about. You can also see the "rubber bulb holder" on both markers that isn't all that much like rubber. So what's the deal...the front has a amber lens with a bulb holder and the rear has the red lens with a bulb holder plus the perimeter rubber gasket (very pliable). And I'm telling you the lens and the bulb holder don't come apart easily.

 

okay you see the indentation on the black part? put a small screwdriver in there and GENTLY pry around the outside of the housing. it will come apart. it should come off fairly easily.

 

sorry to hijack, but does anyone know where to get new front turn signal housings for an s5? victoria british doesnt have them and i didnt see it on the mazdatrix site. one of mine is leaky, rusty and keeps making the lens dirty.