Bulb replacement help please

[A.C. ED]

I am in the process of relamping the vehicle and am unable to acsess the dome light bulbs and rear veiw mirrors (ext) bulbs. The mirror bulbs I have tried to pry off lense cover with screwdriver in "notch" in lense but they dont feel like latch is free. Dome lights have no such notch and have not tried to open that housing as I fear damaging it with improper method. BTW I have just replaced 4.5 y/o H.I.D. headlights and their is quite a noticiable improvement in brightness. I guess their performance does degrade over time. Price for replacement bulbs range from $28 a bulb at ADVANCE(WTF) to $14 at AUTOZONE. T.I.A. A.C. ED

[shorod]

What year is your LS? I suppose it may be a 2005 based on the age of the HID bulbs, but I'll let you clarify.

-Rod

[A.C. ED]

Hi SHOROD. Its an 04. Thanks for any advice on this one. Id hate to be outsmarted by a plastic light housing. T.I.A. A.C. ED

[shorod]

Apparently the process is supposed to be so straight-forward that Alldata didn't feel the need to document the steps with repair information. From my experience, Alldata just uses information from the factory service manual, so it's probably not in the factory manual either.

On my wife's 2002 LS the entire rear dome lamp assembly popped loose from the headliner, trim ring and all. I never had to access either of the locations you are asking about on my 2004 when I had it, and my memory isn't good enough to remember how similar it was to the 2002.

The puddle light cover on the side rearview mirrors may be different though as they are probably sealed from water. I'll have to take a look at my Mountaineer since that's probably similar.

Have you checked your owner's manual to see if there's any hints in there?

-Rod

[gcwimmer]

shorod is correct with the 2nd gen puddle light being sealed and not a replaceable light, have read others destroying the mirror trying. It can be done but difficult.

[A.C. ED]

Thanks for the info guys. I lost my manual about 2years ago in a move. I am able to see the dome light when moonroof is retracted, velcro holds up headliner maybe fixture is acsessed that way? May have to take ride dealer and buy the bulbs and ask for direction. BTW I am replacing the middle stop light this afternoon, its pretty straightforward two sheetmetal screws hold up the enclosure, hope the bulbs are easy to come by. Ill let you know how I make out with the console lights. A.C. ED

[A.C. ED]

Went to dealer yesterday and housing is removed by being pryed out. Removed mid. stop light and it is an LED asm. cleaned and reinstalled. Hope this saves somebody time in the future. G.L.T.A. A.C. ED