The brake light assembly on my 2007 mini has 4 lamps: Brake, turn signal, tail lamp, and backup lamp. The owner's manual says to simple screw out the desired bulb, counterclockwise, without taking out the whole assembly. This is different from other help videos I've seen for older mini's that tell you to remove the whole bulb assembly. I can't seem to get the individual lamp holder to turn to remove it like the manual indicates. Anyone have any guidance on how to replace a bulb in this type of 4 bulb brake light assembly?

 

I just popped open the access panel to the tail lights on my 07-S stuck my hand it and pulled 3 different bulbs. The access is tight but I managed to get my hand in.

On the 7 the bulb is just in a sort of backing plug - the electrics are in the assembly - you just twist the bulb 'plug' and out she pops. One even has a set of 'handles' for lack of a better term.

 

Thank you for the quick response. Mine looks like that from the back. The holder seems stuck and probably just needs a bit more elbow grease to break it loose. I was afraid I was going to break it if I went any further without some insight. Thanks for verification before I proceeded.

 

Believe me, all you need to do is pry off the trim, undo 3 torx screws and the whole tail lamp assembly comes out in your lap. I've never been able to install the lights in that assembly from the inside and I've tried. Much easier to work on it in your lap than standing on your head not seeing what your hand is doing in that midget place and dropping a lamp down in that black hole of Calcutta and then throwing the whole thing across the county. I can't believe anyone suggests working on it from the inside.

 

I really wish I had pried off the trim. I squeezed my hands in from the inside and just about tore off all my skin lol and almost lost the bulb dropping it. Not so fun!

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Thanks for all the insight into replacing my tail light bulbs. I ended up popping the silver trim piece and removing the three screws and pulled the light assembly, an easy two minute job. Still had a terrible time getting bulb loose. Made a tool out of a slotted piece of PVC pipe to fit on back of lamp backing plug to gain torque without breaking off the plug tab. Turns out the fixture had a molding defect and the hole for the bulb wasn't round and was binding the bulb backing plug. Took a file to clean up molding defect and round out the plug hole in the fixture. The plug goes in and out now with little effort. Turns out the bulb wasn't burned out but there was some corrosion where the backing plug tab made electrical contact with the fixture. Cleaned it up, checked lamp operation, and reassembled unit. Should be able to change bulb from inside next time but if I get too contorted, I'll just pull fixture from the outside.

 

Yeah, I don't even look inside. I've had plenty of loose bulbs that I fixed by pulling the assembly. Like you say, a 2 minute job after you find the torx.

 

I admit it

I have small hands