2006 chevy hhr rear turn signal bulb replacement

4.0 out of 5 stars Direct fit with thicker exterior gasket seal
By The WB on August 14, 2018

I live in Las Vegas, NV, with all of the lovely desert heat.

Last week, the tail light bulb burned out. Easy job, remove the access panel, grab the tail lamp socket, twist and remove. WRONG! The gasket between the housing and the lamp socket melted together making removal of the socket not possible without risk of breaking the lamp bulb socket. Not for love nor money could I seperate the bulb socket from the lamp housing. Options?

1) Dealer -- my wife did that and it was $40.00 for one stinking tail light bulb!
2) New lamp housing with bulb holder -- choose that option here from Amazon

Received mine for the passengers side today. Pulled apart the access panel (again) and removed the three 10 MM housing nuts that are attached to the housing studs. Please, be careful on this step of replacement! There is a large gap between the outer body panel and the inner reinforcement for the rear quarter panel. If you drop the nut and it falls into that gap -- it's gone until the end of time.

Mounted right up and worked like a champ (until the seller provided bulb burned out). Total replacement time, including water break -- 15 minutes. I took it very slow and was extra cautious not to lose any of the mounting nuts. I cannot stress this point enough. You need to reinstall all three nuts to hold this tail lamp in firmly.

What I liked:
* Direct factory replacement -- nuts and studs are properly spaced to fit the OEM mounting bracket (made of black plastic)
* Crystal clear red tail lamp lens once again
* Better/thicker rubber gasket between the tail lamp housing and the body panel
* A 3057 bulb was included with the new tail lamp assembly

What could have been better:
* Thick gasket from lens housing to car body making for a gap between the body and the tail lamp assembly
* This gap is completely sealed by the gasket on the housing but you can see the gasket
* The tail lamp bulb had a crack right from the factory -- burned out in seconds
* Burned out upon first test use -- a "no name" bulb was installed with this tail lamp assembly

After removal of the old tail lamp, I used a pair of vise grip pliers to separate the socket from the housing. With a some force, I was able to break the bond between the tail lamp housing and the lamp socket gasket. Poor engineering on GM's part.

I posted some pictures of the process. The last was of the original tail lamp assembly after removal. Matching up side by side -- they are identical, except the shade coloring of the lens. UV damage would account for it.

Easy job with the right parts. I like this lamp housing, except for the things that could be better listed above.

I do recommend it as a replacement part on your HHR.

********
08/21/2018 - Update

One week ago today, I installed this lamp housing.

Checked the housing this morning and found it to be slightly loose. Pulled the access panel and proceed to tighten the retaining nuts. In doing so, it also further compressed the thick sealing gasket more. It now has the same gap around the lens housing and the body panel as the drivers side has.

Looks great and works just fine.

I continue to recommend this lamp assembly to you, if needed.

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