Removing the Super Custom's inset back lights/lamps.

A new guide to how to actually remove these.

The internet has no resource on this that I could find, so I'm posting a how-to here.
The reasons I wanted them off are:

1) I want to use one reversing lamp as a rear fog lamp (UK law), with a cool red LED 7.5W bulb.
2) I wanted to put cool LED lamps in the other places.

Note - you _cannot_ remove the centre chrome work for the license/reg plate first - these lamps have to come off first.

Ok, so contrary to what other people say, each lamp comes of with a single 10mm nut, accessible without disturbing the door membrane. That's right - one nut, and these are off.

The nut is just below the membrane, accessible under a black sticky disk. Look at PIC 2 carefully, on the left, toward the bottom - that's where it is.

Having undone that of course the lamp is still 'stuck'. You will need some masking tape, and a pair of trim removal pliers, these are held like scissors and act like pliers in reverse - you fit them into a gap, squeeze and it forces the gap open.

Using these, you have two tasks at the bottom edge of the lamp:

1) Starting from the left, slowly ease the gap at the bottom a little bigger, the foam will need a while to slowly release it's grip between lamp and door. Don't get carried away - see 2.
2) At the bottom to the right, PIC 2 - note a round black disk right at the edge next to the lower reflector at the edge of the door. That's a plastic socket for the ball joint (PIC 3 shiny item top-right) that holds the lamp on the side. With your trim pliers pressure that patiently and it will pop out.

Then you need to hinge the whole lamp assembly upwards to around 45 degrees to release the top edge, which is help there with the two molded plastic fingers (PIC 3 bottom), while helping the wires with your other hand.

The connector is non-friendly and you will need a small screwdriver to push the tab in and get the plug started on its way out.

And that's it - job done.

BTW to remove the license plate holder, a Philips 3 head fits the two screws at the top.

Thanks, worked a treat and no damage!
paddlez.

Hi there, don't suppose you know how to get the red reflective strip (above the lights)off? I have a broken rear handle and I can't work out how to get it out!

I fixed the rear handle like this.

pushed it together where it snapped and drilled hole through both part (where there is the most meat for both is)

ripped out an allen key grub screws from my surfboard collection and screwed it in hole (matched drill bit to grub screw diameter - you know - slightly smaller hole...

generously lubricated up all mechanics involved in opening tail gate for minimum force required to activate - very easy now to open - less likely for my fix to fail. Never found the right replacement handle anyway - teh pic of a standard same year hiace looked different?


Been fine.

I think the reflective strip can be double sided taped  - mine was. Wish I just used the grub screw method first off. Hours of my life ost trying to remove that.


i am going to make something so I can open tailgate from inside - i guess easiest just a hole saw about where you can lift the open mechanism up and one where i can twist the lock mechanism.

Glennza wrote:

Hi there, don't suppose you know how to get the red reflective strip  (above the lights)off? I have a broken rear handle and I can't work out how to get it out!

Sorry I only just saw this. Lots of clips, some are a real pain, I recommend an Android phone micro-USB endoscope (£5) to help work them out. Two of the clips are a real struggle as the fixed part that gets in the way is in the way.

Bagface wrote:

i am going to make something so I can open tailgate from inside - i guess easiest just a hole saw about where you can lift the open mechanism up and one where i can twist the lock mechanism.

Some Hiaces had an interior tailgate handle so on all there is a hole on the latch that can be used - add a rod or cable and a pull will open it. I think there's even the metal pressing that shows where it would be fitted.

I would also like to fit an interior handle, maybe there's an existing scrap handle that we could fit, it just needs to pull a cable or rod.

Hello.

Will add my 2p here as I've a few pictures of the inside ona tailgate, which is needing some repair, but is otherwise in relatively good shape.

To start with, the access inside the tailgate is a real pain. The door is both thin and there are various small access points that do not link up front to back. Secondly, get some trim removal tools if you intend to get into this otherwise you'll probably break a lot of bits. I also like the idea above for an endoscope. Even a phone camera does not give the best view.

Here is a picture of the inside of the tailgate with the trim removed (sorry it's not great). I have an inner door opening handle that fixes to the kite-shaped  bracket, just off-centre and there's a dead catch that disengages the lock. This (on mine) is also triggered to the central locking and there's a connector to the tailgate key and a pin to lock/unlock the tailgate that's currently hidden behind the curtain, Hope this is clear so far.



There are also two further vapour barriers (covering the square holes) that need to be removed to replace the bulbs (P21/5W (stop / tail) in my case) in the tailgate. These are not easy to swap in situ.

Here is the rod that goes from the central lock to the outside keyed lock.



You need to remove this if you remove the trim that bears the vehicle name etc on the rear (I initially thought the keyed lock barrell was bolted to this piece of trim but it is in fact bolted to the handle mechanism). While here the white trim clips may or may not come out with the trim. If they do not then rotate them in thier holes in the tailgate and they come out easily. Don't try to pry them out of the tailgate as they will break (ask me how I know). It's probably best if they stay in the van as they are then easy to get out (by rotating) and they are east to reposition in the trim. This trim bar has 2 threaded stud that hold it in place.

Here's the first money shot showing the tailgate with the trim removed. As above don't pry these white clips. You can't and there's no need.



Here's the second money shot showing an inside view of one of the tailgate lamp units. Each has 2 poppers (close to centre line), 1 threaded stud, 3-pin electrical connector (that's a pain to undo), 2 holding arms that provide the upper fastening and, a outer prong. Here, the receiving trim piece has stayed in the tailgate (the bulb is toast!).



You can see the sealing trim is badly cracked and in a poor state of repair. In my searching, I've not managed to find a part list number for this gasket. The main rear lights cluster on the rear of the vehicle has a seperate part number, but I'll make new gaskets throughout from closed cell foam from , probably.

Lastly here (for now) here are some pictures of the lock handle mechanism that also holds the two number-plate illuminating lights and the boot catch.









A last few points for the tailgate. There are 6 in total threaded studs that hold the trim (=2), lights (1 for each so 2 in total) and catch / numberplate lights / lock (final 2). The wiper motor is connected to the wiper arm via a remote linkage. If you need to disturb this then I suggest you remove the motor them try to match mark the remote linkage so it can be put back properly adn don't remove the remote linkage and the wiper arm otherwise it's tricky to set this up correctly, I think. I also think the solenoid for the wiper motor is probably the one that's close to the screenwash bottle. Here's a rather poor picture and I think the relay is being cut off at the bottom of the picture; it's unclipped.



My rear screen heater seems to be disconnected on one side but I need to investigate the wiring more fully. I intend to fit a high level brake light (see other post at:https://hiace-super-custom.forumotion.com/t4109-hi-level-brake-light-center-stop-lamp) and a back up camera, prob an ATOTO unit (poss this one: https://store.myatoto.com/products/atoto-ac-sc3601-single-camera-based-surround-view-rearview-parking-system-use-panoramic-image-stitching-tech-birds-eye-view-of-surroundings-easy-installation?variant=32926324981821).

Hope this is useful! Thanks

Excellent post! I had not thought of rotating those clips for the main strip: the rest os fairly straightforward - but that strip - nightmare .

If you have any more detail and tips on getting that big strip off easily it would help many!

I fitted my camera next to the numberplate, screwed into the light:


Ignore the little socket nearby - that's just for extra lighting.
Getting the wire in was fun - that strip has to come off !! Then the wire goes around inside the gate and up and hops out at the top.

But it works very well. Otherwise perhaps add it inside, at the back of the rooflining, looking down through the window!

I so wish I read this thread before I tackled that strip.  Was a total pain and I ended up breaking a bunch of the clips.  I'm not sure what the purpose of the strip is beside being decorative, but it certainly plays a role in keeping water out of the door/lights.  

I was dreading putting it back as I figured if I didn't get a snug fit water would just pour in and the whole reason I took it off was to deal with some rust.  So to put it back I ended up drilling two holes in the metal of the door where the 2nd to last clips were on either end--just used the existing hole that takes the clip as a guide and drilled through the interior metal of the door. I then slid the head of a 3" bolt into the space on the strip where the back of the clips would have gone, by adding a small washer you can make it a snug fit so it doesn't fall out.  That gave me 4 threaded bolts coming off the strip instead of the original two, which were placed close to the center.  Managed to line it back up and into the holes, then got 4 nuts onto the bolts to get it fairly tight.  The clips that survived taking it off helped get it tight at both ends and in the middle.

Still, I'm not keen on water getting in.  I like to open up the back hatch and use it as a roof when its raining/snowing, and I'm picturing all the water that will continue to drip in.  Will probably toss a tarp over it.  I also pulled off the vapor barrier and spent a bunch of time cleaning off the stuff they used to attach it, which looked like tar and was a pain to get off.  I'm trying to decide if I want to replace the vapor barrier.  Not sure how useful it was based on its placement.  Any counsel on that would be appreciated. I get the general pros/cons of the concept, at least I think I do, just not sure how worthwhile it actually is.

This thread is a life saver. Clips.. such a bane of the DIYer.

I'm just wanting to tap the reverse light line to trigger a reversing camera. Not looking for power.. just the reverse light 'signal' so the reversing camera turns on.  I've tried all cables visible and.. not been able to ID the reverse light cables. The reverse camera is placed like the photo in this thread.

Anyone able to ID the reverse light cables? or suggest a spot to tap them? Otherwise I will just extend the reverse signal line back into the car and them down to the LH taillight, rather than trying to tap the reverse light in the hatch back. Nope, no reverse light on the body left/right tail lights.. only the hatch has the reverse lights :/

Thank you, great thread.

Edit: So.. the former Japanese owner was a home DIY wiring nutcase.. and had tapped the reverse light cable already. The cable is the thickest gauge used and is red with a little silver dash. As per photo. This is how I found it!!! Also note the burnt wires from the nasty solder job.. glad I found this!! Anyways the place to tap it is between the hatch and body loom, as I could not find a place within the hatch as the loom is hidden before the reverse light wire is split off :/ Alternatively you can try following the above to remove et al to get to the reverse light cable where it meets the light..

Cool!
I had to convert one reversing lamp to a foglamp (For UK regs), so I was into the door with a new wire anyway.
Also I had no idea which wire in the loom it was, or if there was a spare too

So I got some 10mm spiral wire tidy, fed the 2 wires in (+ the camera coax + reverse lamp sensor wire) from the headlining into the top of the hatch and down the frame on the RHA of the tailgate, managed to jiggle it through and find it in the door and pulled it through to connect directly to the light unit (Via a new dual 6.3mm spade plug+socket).

The springy curtain wire works very well for getting down those awkward places as you can almost steer it by turning it around and it's smooth so doesn't snag. Once it's through some string can be attached with tape and drawn back up to use for pulling wires up ... AND another string for the next wire you'll think of needing.