How-To: LED tail disassemble

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haknslash
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How-To: LED tail disassemble

Post by haknslash » Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:50 am

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!!
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Outer portion of the tail I begin separating the housings from.
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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!
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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 :D.


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.
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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.
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Here is the 3 pin harness plug that is connected at the LED assembly.
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Unplug this plug and tuck the left over slack out of the way in the housing.
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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).
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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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03sxt
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Post by 03sxt » Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:18 pm

Awesome how-to! Greatly appreciated! :thumbup:

Stickied and moved to the How-To forum. ;)

haknslash
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Post by haknslash » Thu Aug 17, 2006 12:31 pm

Cool. hope it comes in handy to those willing to give this mods a whirl. :)
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BlackRoseRacing
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Post by BlackRoseRacing » Fri Aug 18, 2006 6:13 am

03sxt wrote:Awesome how-to! Greatly appreciated! :thumbup:

Stickied and moved to the How-To forum. ;)
YOUR BANNED!!!
Its my job to sticky in here :cry:




:lol: Great find 03 :wink:

Riddler
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Post by Riddler » Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:08 am

Does anyone know if it's possible to have these tails flash in series?

Like the 1st bank of LED's flash with the turn signal, then the 2nd come on while the 1st is on and finally the 3rd bank comes with the 1st and 2nd. All goes out and starts over? I've sen this on a new mustang and it's awesome. I wanna do this to these LED tails.

Riddler
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Canada
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Post by Canada » Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:43 am

Yes it is possible, you need to get a flasher relay from an old Cougar or something that does it (maybe contact the Mustang tailight people) and you would have to re-wire the tails slightly.

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LaidNeon
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Post by LaidNeon » Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:11 pm

nice write up, glad to finally know how you do it
- Dan

slaw
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Post by slaw » Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:10 pm

does anyone know what led's to use for replacements if i have some that are burnt out?
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