Can someone show me how to remove the license plate lighting plastic?

Are you going to remove the clear plastic cover from outside?
It is done from the inside to replace the bulb.
Prius License LED

Ken@Japan

 

Look in the back of the Owner's Manual. I believe that you will find the procedure in there for changing the bulb.

 

The service manual says that you should first detach each clip with a screwdriver tip that's been taped (I guess to reduce gouging and scratching of the plastic). But I can't tell how you're supposed to get to each clip. See page ED-44 of this PDF:

http://www.hybrid-synergy.eu/Documents_2006/ED%20-%20Engine%20Hood%20Door.pdf

 

Here's my page on it.
Prius License LED

Ah... I see Ken beat me to posting my page.

 

Good job there Darell, I like it.

 

In some ways, the manual is useless. This is one of them.

Did you notice the Australian beer? Just in your honor.

 

No need to use a screwdriver, whether with taped tip or otherwise. Just grab one corner of the black hatch panel and start pulling. As the blue clips release you can see how much force is required to detach them.

When I remove the plastic hatch panel, all 11 blue clips remain on the panel.

 

Maybe a video would help?

[ame=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=759307614248005541]How To: Change Prius License Plate Light Bulb (to LED)[/ame]

 

Yes, you moved my previous post to KB.

http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...228-how-change-license-plate-bulbs-video.html

 

Any thoughts about removing those clips that DID stay behind in the hatch? I have about half in the panel and half in the hatch. Bought replacements just in case, but having difficulty getting remaining clips out of the hatch. The new bulbs (blue LED from superbrightleds.com) look great, but what a bear to put in!

 

AH HA! This is the bane of the whole process. First you need is a clip tool (something that looks like this):

Left end of the is the part you want. Ignore the right side.

1) You can also try a big flathead screwdriver but the idea is that you need good leverage to pull out those remaining clips. A clip tool makes the job much easier. Wedge the opening of the clip tool between the top of the clip and pry it just enough so that only one side of the clips get loose. Now you have to wiggle it back and forth to continue loosening it. Sometimes the clip will settle back in its original position so it can be incredibly frustrating. You'll have to give it one last really hard pry to fling it out. The important thing is to not break the top of the plastic clip while doing this. If you do, try not to do it again on the same clip; If you mess up twice, you can imagine that you'll be left with a nub and nothing to pry against. Also note that you may scratch the metal panel a little using the clip tool with such force, but I figure nobody sees that anyway.

2) Another, much easier method, is to push the clips out from the inside, but this only works for a few of them. Where there is a hole in the metal hatch big enough to slide your tool in, you can press the plastic clip out by applying downward force. I actually found it helps if there are two holes so you can grab the tool with both hands and pull down with maximum strength. Either way you'll need to press hard again, but at least this way you definitely won't snap any plastic trying to pry.


Notice the one on the left got chewed up quite a bit, but I barely got it out without breaking the whole thing off. The one on the right is faced the wrong way but I completely broke it to a nub. Luckily, I realized I could remove it via method 2 as I described.

You'll notice that if you do it correctly and get them out, you can reuse it! You won't even need your replacements. So slide them back on the plastic panel and remember to scold them to never do it again. When I did this I had 6 stuck clips but managed to salvage 4. I broke the 2 shown above, and replaced them with the ones I bought from Toyota.

Now, some people have said that you can leave them in there and just snap your cover back on the hatch, but the ones that you didn't bother to remove and replace will never slide in like they were originally. I chose to do it the hard way as described above, because I couldn't stand the thought of potential rattles.

The good news is that if you ever need to pull of the panel again, the pieces come off much better the second time and if some don't, you'll know how to do it now.

 

Needle nose pliers!

About five blue clips remained in the metal grid after I pulled off the large plastic panel. However, I found it quite easy to torque them off using a pair of needle nose pliers. And I did no damage to the clips in the process.

Just slide the pliers between the top of the clip and the wider bottom section, so that you are grabbing the clip like a dog would grab a pup - by the neck. Then leverage the plier handles against the metal grid - voila! The clip pops right out with no trouble.

I also used needle nose pliers to twist and pull out the light fixture, once I'd unplugged the wiring from the light fixture. Easy as heck.

 

Upholstery panel remover tool is what you should use. I have 3 of them: one plastic and two metal ones.

 

Once I had the panel off I used a little silicon spray to lub the blue pins. Worked so well I put it on all the pins before putting it back together. Pulls off much easier now and all pins stay in the panel.