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Anyone with a 991.1 have their tail lights fall out? I was at a Porsche Dealer sponsored HPDE/Track Day a week ago. I put in a few laps and then heard on the radio that my right rear tail light was dangling by the wire. Pulled into the pits, and taped it back in with black duct tape. Looked pretty good, actually. Anyway, later in the afternoon I went out again, and as I was starting a cool down lap I got a warning that said "Check left tail light". That's weird, I thought. It was my right light, not my left. I parked and sure enough, the left one was totally missing. It was found on the track and I was able to tape it back in and head home. Because the day was sponsored by the dealer, the guys that sold me the car were there. They were awesome and said right away not to worry and they would take care of me, which they are doing by getting me new lights. I'm not upset at all, Porsche Victoria is awesome and are really stand up guys. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue. I've had the car since January and there were no problems with the lights until the track day.
Forgot to add, the point of failure was the same on both lights. There is a plastic lug on the inner corner through which one long screw goes. Both lugs were broken in half. There was a good amount of dirt and grime inside the cracks of both lugs, so they were cracked for some time. I guess on the track the forces were enough to knock them loose. Either that, or I'm so fast that light can't even keep up.
Forgot to add, the point of failure was the same on both lights. There is a plastic lug on the inner corner through which one long screw goes. Both lugs were broken in half. There was a good amount of dirt and grime inside the cracks of both lugs, so they were cracked for some time. I guess on the track the forces were enough to knock them loose. Either that, or I'm so fast that light can't even keep up.
This is a known issue for early produced 991.1s. My 13’ C2 had this failure too. While I was driving on a highway, a fellow 911 was following, flashing high beams constantly. Stopped the car and the left taillight was dangling and rubbing my rear bumper. Porsche added an extra metal piece to avoid this to happen even if the plastic lug fails.
If the red plastic (inside green circle) fails, the black bracket that holds the taillight housing to the body separates from the tail light housing and the whole taillight will come off. So Porsche added the metal piece (yellow) somewhere after 2014.
I’ve attached the bracket and the taillight housing with 3M adhesive firmly on both sides.
No dangling issues since then.
Same thing happened to me (and I'm in that linked forum). For those that haven't had this, driving without a taillight makes sport exhaust sound like nuns whispering.
Dany Kim is spot on... the same happened to me too. still covered under warranty so it was no problem. Seems there's a stress point on those lights, and it will do that after a few years.
This is a known issue for early produced 991.1s. My 13’ C2 had this failure too. While I was driving on a highway, a fellow 911 was following, flashing high beams constantly. Stopped the car and the left taillight was dangling and rubbing my rear bumper. Porsche added an extra metal piece to avoid this to happen even if the plastic lug fails.
If the red plastic (inside green circle) fails, the black bracket that holds the taillight housing to the body separates from the tail light housing and the whole taillight will come off. So Porsche added the metal piece (yellow) somewhere after 2014.
I’ve attached the bracket and the taillight housing with 3M adhesive firmly on both sides.
No dangling issues since then.
I could not source the metal clip from anywhere. Instead, I unscrewed the bracket from the taillight housing, added 3M adhesive between them then screw them back on. It has been few years since it happened and it’s still firm.
Newer models probably 2014~ and onwards would have the metal clips attached from factory.
My Porsche dealer couriered me my new lights so I could install them (I live about 2.5 hours away). I was disappointed that my replacements didn't have the metal clip. I put them in anyway. Today I had the great idea to glue the light housing to the mounting bracket with Shoe Goo or silicone. So I took the lights back out, and discovered that
Porsche beat me to it. They are already glued with black silicone. You can see the blob of silicone in the photo. To double check I took the mounting screw out and gave it a few good yanks. It's on there good!
07-09-2020, 12:21 PM
991.1 Tail Lights Falling Out
