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Old 08-15-2006, 11:09 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Thumbs up How-to: LED tail light disassemble

Since I'm no longer making these and there is a interest by some to make their own, I felt a little guidance would be beneficial to those willing to do-it-yourself.

First off, NEVER EVER EVER EVER heat the lens on these LED tails made by DEPO. It will easily distort the lens and will become putty before you know it. ALWAYS heat the housing, NOT THE LENS. With that said, I DO NOT advise doing any oven heating methods for these tails. I highly recommend the use of a quality heat gun. A ghetto method, for those not willing to use proper tools, is a decent high heat hair dryer.

Begin by heating all around the housing. You'll see a ledge or "lip" right on the outer portion of the housing where the lens goes into the housings' interior cavity. As you heat it, you'll soon begin to smell the sealant beginning to release itself and become pliable. Heat it carefully not to damage the lens and check periodically for the amount of "hold" the lens is still on the housing. I have found after doing this several times (and ruining a few ) that after I get the whole housing to the degree I want, I like to begin separation of the lens on the very far outside portion. The part where the side reflector/marker light is. Be careful not to pry to fast or you will snap the lens in 2 before you know it!

Here is the ledge of lip of the housing you should heat. NOT the lens!!


Outer portion of the tail I begin separating the housings from.



Here is a corner that needs special attention. Make sure this is the last corner you free up from the housing. It's usually in there fairly tight so re-heat this area to make it softer again and then gently pry it out. Not doing so can crack a corner QUICKLY!




Slowly and carefully work your way around the housing taking note to watch the sealant as your prying it apart. You don't want that stuff making ANY contact with the housing area where the cosmetic portion of the tail can be seen. If you do accidentally get some on the area, carefully use acrysol or light amounts of diluted solvent to loosen the sealant up enough to clean it away. Do this with VERY minimal pressure as the coating on the housing can eat away if not paying close attention to the amount of pressure being applied!




After you successfully get the housing apart, your now ready to move on to the next step. Go drink a beer and come back for the most critical part is now over. Sometimes some are more brittle than others so its a gamble or at least it was for me every time I did one of these .


Ok, there are 3 philips screws on the rear of the housing. 2 of the screws should have small rubber washers on them. If they don't, no biggie. Remove those screws like mentioned and shown below. These screws hold in the arc LED assembly of the housing.




After you've removed the screws, carefully pull the LED assembly away from the housing. Careful to note there is a 3 prong harness connected.




Here is the 3 pin harness plug that is connected at the LED assembly.




Unplug this plug and tuck the left over slack out of the way in the housing.




Now you need to remove the actual LED assembly from its small plastic panel. You do so by loosening 6 small philips head screws (shown in the blue circles below).




And that is pretty much it as far as disassembling the 2003+ Dodge Neon DEPO LED tail lights. Now all; that is left is your imagination to run its course. Paint your tails whatever color you want. Black out that reverse light if you wish. The possibilities are endless. Have fun and remember to practice patience with mods like these. One slip up and you can trash a pair of $120 tails in a matter of a few seconds. DON'T RUSH THESE MODS. TAKE YOUR TIME AND DO IT RIGHT!!

Sealing the housings after your done modifying them. This can be done by using hot glue or any waterproof sealant. Simply attach the lens back onto the housing. Heat up the edges again and begin to press your way around the housing to make a nice seal. Then in between the small gap of the housing, apply your sealant generously but careful not to make a mess. That should be all to that. Test for leaks by running water or blowing air around the tails. That's it!
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Last edited by haknslash : 08-16-2006 at 09:05 AM.
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Old 08-15-2006, 11:22 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Hey....

I'll be the first one to say that was very nice of you to go through all that trouble to make a quality how-to that will no doubt come in handy for plenty of members.

Good job.

dom
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Old 08-15-2006, 11:26 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Quote: Originally Posted by dommo_g
Hey....

I'll be the first one to say that was very nice of you to go through all that trouble to make a quality how-to that will no doubt come in handy for plenty of members.

Good job.

dom

From you, that deserves an award

Thanks
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Old 08-16-2006, 08:10 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Great Kenny...now I have to warn my "Vendor" friends to be on the lookout for cracked corners on their "Damaged" returns...LOL.

VERY nice how-to. I hope people pay particular attention to the warnings about rushing the process.
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Old 08-16-2006, 08:14 AM   #5 (permalink)
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this is probably the "stupid question of the day" but what tails do i need to do this? i got a ticket yesterday for my current lights so im going to do this this weekend. pm me please

brandon
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Old 08-16-2006, 08:23 AM   #6 (permalink)
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http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/03-05...spagenameZWDVW are these the ones i need? if so im ordering them now
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Old 08-16-2006, 08:42 AM   #7 (permalink)
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Yes those are them. I chuckled at their animated gif showing the LEDs coming on and off. They fake-lit the wrong marker light. That triangle is just a reflector, not a turn signal. the other cresent shaped one is however.

Jon, thanks . I'm sure some people will rush this job and crack a few . Hell even sometimes I've crackesd some and was plenty careful. Some of them are in there pretty tight, especially around the top right where it begins to round into the side. BTW, did you ever hear anything from your buddy who is close to me that can supply me with DEPO headlights? PM me brother
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Old 08-16-2006, 08:48 AM   #8 (permalink)
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hey hak, can you pm me some info on the headlights too?
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Old 08-16-2006, 09:38 AM   #9 (permalink)
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hak im pming you now.
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Old 08-16-2006, 10:37 AM   #10 (permalink)
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sweet man this is great, u are da man!!
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Old 08-16-2006, 10:46 AM   #11 (permalink)
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Quote: Originally Posted by srtbee22
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/03-05...spagenameZWDVW are these the ones i need? if so im ordering them now

Stupid question....but why not support a forums supporting vendor, like Modern Performance, and not risk the hassles of E-Bay?
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Old 08-16-2006, 10:48 AM   #12 (permalink)
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Quote: Originally Posted by Jb4short
Quote: Originally Posted by srtbee22
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/03-05...spagenameZWDVW are these the ones i need? if so im ordering them now

Stupid question....but why not support a forums supporting vendor, like Modern Performance, and not risk the hassles of E-Bay?

you show me to a vendor that carries the exact tails i need and ill buy them. just didnt really search yet for one. i was just trying to find out what tails were needed first. thanks
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Old 08-16-2006, 10:56 AM   #13 (permalink)
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Quote: Originally Posted by srtbee22
Quote: Originally Posted by Jb4short
Quote: Originally Posted by srtbee22
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/03-05...spagenameZWDVW are these the ones i need? if so im ordering them now

Stupid question....but why not support a forums supporting vendor, like Modern Performance, and not risk the hassles of E-Bay?

you show me to a vendor that carries the exact tails i need and ill buy them. just didnt really search yet for one. i was just trying to find out what tails were needed first. thanks

Yeah; I just hate to see people, potentially, get burned. At least with the reputable vendors on here there's some assurance that you'll wind up happy.

Call Modern Performance and tell them that you want the DEPO LED tails...they'll ask you if you want chrome or black. I'm pretty sure you want black because they'll be easier to paint than chrome.

http://www.modernperformance.com
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Old 08-16-2006, 11:27 AM   #14 (permalink)
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If you want to have a translucent red "Chrome Red" set of LED tails as pictured in the how-to, then you need the chrome LED tails... The black will work for any other solid color or "Color Matched". I have removed the lens from my OEM Chrome Red tails in the past to repair a water leak, so I would also highly recommend to take this process as SLOWLY and CAREFULLY as possible. It can only be done correctly if you use a heat gun, available at lowes/home depot for around $30, and you must heat up the back of the housing where the lense is seated as described above too much heat on the lense will damage/melt it...
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Old 08-16-2006, 01:04 PM   #15 (permalink)
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yup i got the heat gun. (im in the army and heat guns make it easy to shine your boots.) . thanks for the tips tho guys.
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