Taillight gasket- remove housing?

[carnutzzz]

Is it necessary to remove the housing in order to properly fit the gasket? When I removed the old gasket, it seemed to be tucked-up under the housing pretty good.

Thanks,

[J Smith]

I removed the housing to do the job. I think you'll find it to be much easier to work with.
I also had to use some 3M weatherstrip adhesive to get the new gasket to stay put on the housing or else it would slip off.

[Rod.911S]

I removed one and left one in because the bolt was stripped. It is much easier to reinstall the gasket if the housing is out -- and it is easier to clean all the grit out from underneath.

[carnutzzz]

I'm looking at stripped screws on one, and screws that want to strip on the other.

On all of them they get about 4 turns out (the housing screws), then start to bind like the dickens.

Is there a solution to getting past the binding? Liquid Wrench doesn't seem to help.

Thanks,

[Kraftwerk]

Housing has to come out in order to put a new gasket on. And it has to be glued in place with the 3m stuff.
I encountered the same binding on one screw. Instead of drilling out the screw I pulled the housing out with one screw still attached and then work on it with vice grips etc from the back and front, kind of a big p.i.t.a. then bend the clip-holder back in place. Just don't scratch the paint on your bumper. Drilling is probably the best solution in retrospect. Keep using the liquid wrench, spray it on the back of the housing nut if at all possible.
Your next question: What is the 'putty' on the inside of the housing-wire-cover?
Let me know what you find out... its weird stuff like window glazing compound or something....Any one know?

[ipapilot]

I'll add that it is worth removing them just to remove the 2lbs of rocks, dirt, and tire boogers that get trapped up in there...

[hcubed]

I just removed both rear tail light assemblies today to replace some bulbs and clean all the dirt out. One screw on each side siezed up. On the driver side I was able to get some Vise-Grips on the little square nut that spins and the screw came out pretty easy. On the passenger side though, the screw was already sorta stripped and I couldn't get any pliers on it because the muffler was in the way. Eventually I was able to loosen it up a little and then access it from outside rather than the underside to get it free. It took about an hour and was a real pain. I went to the parts store and got some generic body fasteners (they were called speed fasteners or something) and replaced all the old Porsche ones. Next time it should much easier to remove the tail lights.