Replacing third brake light and got a stuck crew. Any tips on how to remove it?

[Maverick2023]

So I'm changing my cargo lights and the third brake light today. In the process of removing the 4 screws I noticed one of the screw was already loosen before attempting to unscrew it. That's strange because this is the first time I'm taking the cargo light housing off myself so someone from the factory must have screwed up and did something to the screw. Now I can't remove or take off the screw. It keeps turning but not coming out. I tried pulling the housing while unscrewing it but nothing worked. It keeps turning loose. Any tips?

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[UberGadgetFreak]

Having a deja vu moment here If you try to tighten it back up, does it not tighten up all the way? I've seen that happen when part of the thread is stripped to the point it gets a groove where it gets locked in to the retainer that depth. Can't remove it, can't tighten it. Had to use a dremel to cut off the head, remove the light, then dremel it the rest of the way out, and use a replacement screw to replace it.

 

[cannon]

If it were me, I'd put the other 3 screws back in and call the dealership. Those screws should come out no problem.

 

[Maverick2023]

Having a deja vu moment here If you try to tighten it back up, does it not tighten up all the way? I've seen that happen when part of the thread is stripped to the point it gets a groove where it gets locked in to the retainer that depth. Can't remove it, can't tighten it. Had to use a dremel to cut off the head, remove the light, then dremel it the rest of the way out, and use a replacement screw to replace it.

are you saying it happened to you too?

 

[icegradner]

If it were me, I'd put the other 3 screws back in and call the dealership. Those screws should come out no problem.

This. It was likely over tightened and stripped at the factory, warranty fix without a doubt.

 

[UberGadgetFreak]

are you saying it happened to you too?

Not on my Maverick. In my case, it was a 2014 F-150 where I ran into this.

 

[dalola]

Do you have a cordless drill or driver?

If so, remove the other 3 screws, then as you pull the light outward, use the driver to reverse the stuck screw. Sometimes spinning it faster will allow it to catch a thread and come out. Don't be afraid to pull firmly as well.

 

[Maverick2023]

Do you have a cordless drill or driver?

If so, remove the other 3 screws, then as you pull the light outward, use the driver to reverse the stuck screw. Sometimes spinning it faster will allow it to catch a thread and come out. Don't be afraid to pull firmly as well.

tried it and no bueno. I'll try using a plier tomorrow to pull. Just don't wanna damage the housing for just a couple of light bulbs. It must be a sign because Amazon sent me the wrong bulb for the cargo lights and I was going to return them and just change out the 3rd brake light. Given the way things gone awry so far I'm not sure if I wanna continue messing with it. Now I'm concerned about the loose screw because I often power wash my Maverick and don't wanna see H2O getting into the housing now that the screw isn't tight.

 

[Maverick2023]

Well, I spent 2 hours today trying to figure out how to get the screw to come out using all methods I know of. The dang thing wouldn’t budge no matter what I did. Pulling while rotating it with an impact driver counter clockwise. Pulling the whole housing and reversing the screw. Nothing worked. To make matter worse, another screw now got stuck the same way. This happened when I first started removing the remaining screws before working on the bad screw. Looking carefully through the gap between the light housing and the body it seems there is a small bracket where the screw goes into to hold the housing to the body, that bracket had broken off some how. I think the only option left for me is to cut the screw and replace it with another screw as well as the bracket on the body which I am not going to do at this point. I put the 2 good screws back and hope the water won’t leak through or I will have to take it in to the dealer. To sum it up, whoever assembled the light housing did a very shitty job and messed this up. I don’t imagine someone else would have the same issue like mine but I guess I’m just the only lucky one to have it happened..

 

[OH3Cobra]

Not the only one. I have the same issue. Truck is brand new and I will have it warrantied. If anyone finds a fix please share.

 

[Iceman3108]

Same on my Mav. Did a PPF job on the roof and the guy who remove the housing, Strip three bolts when re installing it. Did not go to the dealer since Warranty will fail on this one due to a third party labor besides Ford. Don´t expect too much on a cheap truck.

 

[JamesVezo]

Dealing with the same issue. Three screws came out no problem. With the one remaining Last one came out a little but just spins and doesn’t move.

I used a screwdriver and pliers to help pull pressure to keep tension but still won’t come out.

might try to cut or go back to dealer.

 

[IdahoDirtFarmer]

Must be an issue at the factory. I found a random screw laying in the bed of mine the day after I bought it. Finally noticed a missing screw on the 3rd brake light housing. Went to put it back in and it just spun in place. Made the dealer look at it and there was no clip behind it to hold the screw in place. Since it's a plastic retainer I wonder if yours is either broken off the attachment or disconnected and just spinning around on the end of the screw.

 

[Montana]

Cut it out and replace it.

Drill through it and put a bigger screw in. Or use an extractor. Or cut it off with some heavy duty cutters and then try to force the remaining bit up an into the hole... use a magnet to catch it and remove it once it's loose... so many ways...

I mean... the possibilities are endless on how to remove a screw and that's all the dealer is going to do while you waste half a day - might as well learn to do it yourself. A good place to start is YT and "how to extract a stripped screw". The first video I found had 7 different ways.

If you don't own tools, now is a pretty good time to rethink that.

 

[JamesVezo]

Update, the problem is a stripped plastic bracket.
If you remove the other three screws, you have enough clearance to get some needle nose pliers behind the screws and hold the plastic tight. From there you can unscrew it.
FINALLY!!!!

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