C30 Body : Number plate light screw heads all mashed. What do?

[oneilldom]

Originally Posted by AngryScot

How does the bulb holder in the passenger side foot well come out? I only did the drivers side initially as the bulb wasn't working when I got the car and found it easier just to replace the whole unit with one from a breakers I got for £1.

The passenger side one has gone now and I've replaced the other interior lights with LEDs so the filament bulbs in the footwell look a bit out of place. I've ordered a "drop in" LED replacement unit off ebay as I'm not nearly dexterous enough to fit the bulb lying in the foot well but looking at the passenger side I'm not sure if it has to be pushed out from the glove box or not.

I sincerely hope someone knows the answer to this 'cause I had a go at it for about 40 minutes the other day and couldn't make head nor tail of it. Ashamed to say I got a little angry and may have resorted to a little bit of brute force... It still didn't work though. There's no way to change the bulb without removing the unit IMHO, unless you were a contortionist. and had removed the brake pedal which was hindering my view.

[AngryScot]

Had a look at the passenger side foot well light in daylight, looks like it should be able to come out without dismantling anything, I just didn't have time to try it. I can reach behind the trim panel just above where the carpet stops and wiggle the holder so hopefully will come out.

@oneildom, I wouldn't even bother trying to replace the bulb in situ, too much of a pain in the backside. The drivers side bulb holder pops out easily enough, there are four little black tabs in the corners that need pushed out of the way then it should pop out. If your car is anything like mine just move it towards the brake pedal there should be enough play in the connector that you can undo it. A bit fiddly to put back together but I put a small mirror on the floor of the foot well which helped.

[AngryScot]

A wee update in case anybody searches for this in the future. The cover for the number plate lights came off easily enough in the end, only issue is one of them is quite badly corroded inside which is causing an intermittent connection.

I'm looking to replace it with one of the £10 units linked to previously in the topic (would be easier to change the bulb that way too!) but just wondering how the bulb holder is accessed? I've had a poke around the boot lining to see how it is done, presuming the plastic trim cover around the boot locking mechanism needs to come off to access it but when I try to do that there must be something I can't see/don't know about holding it in place as I can't remove it without it feeling as if something will break. Any ideas?

I'm a bit gutted there is no Haynes manual for the C30, my last few cars have all had one and I'd have managed to get something like this sorted without having to ask silly questions!

[evokfmc]

If your unit falls apart (like mine did) buy a genuine Volvo replacement. They cost £10+vat from volvopartshop.com (part no. 31213991) and come complete with a new bulb. A quick and easy way to remove the old unit is to melt a hole in the housing using a soldering iron. Position the hole between one of the screw holes and the housing edge. Push the hot iron gently through the housing. You will feel the housing loosen when the rear clip melts. Pull out the unit, disconnect the loom, reconnect the loom to the new unit and press into place. Job done.