Jeff928S4

Ok - my left fog light had a screw stuck. A garage got it out to replace a bulb for inspection - dumbasses put the stripped screw back in. I can't get it out.

Right fog light burns out - both screws wouldn't budge. Sprayed them with penetrating oil and went at them. One screw broke/twisted off right where it goes into the plastic.

So, now I have one fog light assembly with one screw holding it in and it's stripped. The other side has one stripped screw and one broken off.

What do I do? I know I can buy Easy-Outs or something - but the screw is so tiny...will these still work? I need a drill, right?

If I take off the front spoiler (has to be painted anyway), will this help in removing these screws from the back or anything?

Jeff (944S Boyeee)

Brian McCoy

Ugh.. I went through this when putting in my Euro lights. Basically, you'll need to unscrew/break all 4 of the mounting screws so you can remove the lights. There are then 3 nuts that hold on the housing (this is a Very rare and expensive part ~ careful with it). Once you have that off and in your hands you can try a bunch of different methods for getting the screws out. Try drilling with left-handed (reverse) bits. Careful when doing this though as the nuts are just held into plastic and if you introduct to much heat or torque, the whole assembly will melt/twist out.

If you DO ruin the holder by spinning nuts out (or other damage), then use screws as studs in the holder. It makes putting everything together a Little more difficult, but it's not that bad. Hope this helps

Jeff928S4

Thanks soooo much Brian.....

This part confuses me a bit. Explain it again, but like you're explaining it to a 7-year-old. What nuts need spinning out? The ones that hold the holder in place?

So, if I can get the lights out - then I can remove the part the lights screw into? Sounds too good to be true!!! Ohhhh - I can get the lights out, now that I know I can get at where the screws go. I'll break em' off if I have too, already have one like that.

Jeff (944S Boyeee)

ERAU-944

i have a few housings, they won't be very expensive for you, so not to worry. just let me know when/if you need them.

-Michael-

Jeff928S4

There is a pretty good chance you will hear from me!!

Now that I know I can work with the housing - I'll be going at those sumbyatch screws tonight......and as always, I will break something. And even though there are only 4 screws and 4-6 bolts involved, I will have parts left over that I don't know where they go...happens everytime....Car, VCR, Vacuum - it doesn't matter - I always have a spring or a washer or something left on the table after it's all back together! Stuff always still works the same - makes me question the need for all these "extra" parts.

Jeff (944S Boyeee)

Brian McCoy

LOL... extra parts.

Okay, explain like I'm talking to a 7 year old.... There are 2 major parts - the fog light and the housing that's behind it. The housing has 4 brass nuts moulded into the plastic at the corners. The long screws that hold the foglight to the housing go into those nuts.

More often than not, the screw and nut are rusted/fused together so the end of the screw twists off as you're trying to unscrew it (if you're lucky) OR the plastic corner twists off and you ruin the housing. Okay, so say that you just twist the screw off so you're left with the housing and the nut as they should be, only there's some screw sticking out. If you put a drill to that screw and let rip, chances are that the bit with bite into the screw and start spinning the screw AND the nut. This melts the plastic and ruins the chance to do things as stock ever again.

Okay, with an empty hole where the nut used to be, you need to either get another nut in there (it's hard to find nuts that'll work - trust me on this). So that leaves just using a screw from the Back side. I dug up some allen headed screws where the head fit in the hole almost perfectly. I did apply a bit of JB-weld just to ensure that they didn't move but I'm not sure it was necessary.

So when you reassemble, the inner housing has 4 studs (or however many you replaced, I just did all 8 so as to avoid problems in the future) instead of 4 nuts. You have to sorta wiggle things a little to get them lined up (the one downside) and then use nuts on the outside, just under the trim pieces. I made sure to get stainless steel screws and used nylock nuts to minimize the ammount of metal to metal contact.

Does that explain it a little better?

Jeff928S4

Got cha! So, even if I screw up the place where the screws go (housing), I can insert a bolt back through the hole and put a nut on the front, where I originally would be putting the screw in. Is this right?

Jeff (944S Boyeee)