Help removing corner lights! 2003

well, I very carefully unbolted everything and gently pulled on the grill. When I heard a clip break, I decided to pull hard enough to break all of them, and zip tie it back together when I was done.

 

grab a flat head, insert between edge of chrome and black 'tab' and pry up just a bit and begin the *wiggle forward*cuss*wiggle forward* motion. Trust me, it will come loose. my truck is a year older than yours and it looks identical (chrome grill insert). Incidentally, that chrome lip I believe is designed to help hold that side marker in alignment when you screw it down. Good luck

 

I just changed my corner marker bulbs without taking the housings out. They just unplug from the back of it. Twist and pull. I have aftermarket retrofits and had to take my grill off and snapped probably 7 grill clips but I bought a bag of 10 grill clips off of E bay for $9. I have 242,000 miles on my truck anyways so it was time! My set up might be different also since I have an aftermarket bumper which allowed me access to the back of the marker lights. But I know what you mean since to take the grill off and replace the headlights you have to take out the marker housings anyhow! Mine bent but didn't break luckily at the spot where you're talking about. Good luck!

 

My truck seems to be different from a lot of peoples' that have posted how-to's and tutorials. Not only was the grill holding things together at the upper tab, but my marker light housings also have a latch/tab at the bottom that inserts and locks into the grill. See:





The bottom half is the grill and the top half is the marker light housing. They're snapped together top and bottom. It ain't falling off the grill standing up right in my picture.

So, I had to remove the whole grill to even get the marker housings out.

This contradicts EVERYTHING I found about how to remove these. Everyone said "unscrew the top and PULL FIRMLY. Yeah, and break a bunch of sh*t.

I was going to install a trans cooler in a few days. Now, I'm gonna drive around without a grill and hope I don't get a rock or stick through my rad. But I'm not putting it all back together to have to take it all apart again.

 

Dude, really you just need to chill and give it a pull. You possibly caused more damage with pulling the entire grill if you broke any clips.

Now that you have it out separate them. See if the PO used any glue, if that's the case they were dumb and you may need to replace anyway.

Also, hearing a little cracking is normal, doesn't mean it's going to shatter at the lightest touch.

I've taken mine off plenty of times to switch bulbs and housings to clear and then back. I broke the outside edge but the screw will still hold it, considering most of the hold is from those tabs that insert into the body and grill.

Grab a file or Dremel and take that lip down to ease your mind.

pick up favorite beverage and then enjoy

 

Dude, I already got it apart. That was a pic from earlier that I attached to show people what the problem was; a latch that no one anywhere suggested existed.

I don't like to just pull sh*t apart and then glue or tape it back together. I like to figure out how it's MADE to come apart and then use it that way. And what everyone was suggesting to do would have broken this (and I could tell that). Once I got the grill and lights out together, I could see how they were being held together and it made sense.

It was still a pain though.

 

And I didn't break any clips. Unlike how this thread went:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-remove-front-grill.46173/

 

Damn dude, glad you finally got it all apart, sucks it was such a pain though. I just don't remember mine being that difficult. I kinda want to take mine off now just to remind myself how it all works...or not, haha. Gotta love Toyota though, they use 4 external screws to hold the taillights in and 15 f@#king clips to hold the front corners and grill in place.

You should put some LEDs in there so you never have to take them out again.

I miss my old Silverado in that regard, I could have both headlight housings, both turn signal housings and the grill off in under 3 mins.

 

Yeah, and those clips cost a dollar a piece.

LEDS are not a bad idea.

I'm sure I could take it apart in 10 or 15 minutes now. I just couldn't tell from where the tension came this first time.

 

Sounds like your situation is extremely unique. I've never seen or heard of those latches.
My corner lights had 1 screw at the top, and 1 spot (not a latch) to slide in to for guidance, and my grille was definitely not stuck to them.
Its a good thing that you got it apart without breaking it.
I would have checked mine for reference, but I now have headlights and side markers that are in the same housing.
Makes changing side marker bulbs more of a bitch, but it's not too bad.

 

Yeah, I had another 2003 that I totaled 1.5 months ago and it was different from this current one in a lot of ways. I posted a thread about my auto trans dipstick a few days ago. That too, is different (shorter) than what was on my other '03. I was told by the dealership that Toyota did a split production in 2002, so that some 03's are different from other 03's, depending on the half of 2002 in which they were manufactured. Apparently that's the case with my truck (different from the other '03 I used to own and love). I'm just surprised that not many people have this different (later) version.

 

the V6 engines were switched during the '03 model year to ETCS and no more IAC valve so that make sense if they switched a few components

and also your pic is correctly the same as mine. there are two tabs (one for fender and one for grill) that "slide" in and hold the light on. If you don't pull straight out they catch on the mechanism that gives pressure. the screw at the top is more of a placeholder to ensure it doesn't vibrate out