I replaced the passenger side tail light assembly at the first of this year. I had the same problem, the bulb melted to the inside of the tail light and caused it to go out. it had to be completely replaced because the bulb melted to the plastic inside and cannot be removed to replace just the bulb. My jeep has low mileage so I believe this is a DEFECT in the tail light assembly on both the passenger and the driver side. There is a fin of some type inside and the bulb melts to that fin....I don't understand what the fin is for, other than maybe to circulate air inside the tail light to keep it from getting too hot. Whatever the problem is I wish they would do something about it because it could cause a fire melting to the inside of the whole assembly. Not to mention it is $130 or more for each assembly. I put my tail light on myself but other people would have to pay ridiculous labor charges to fix the problem if they couldn't do it themselves. This is also a safety issue because it burns your brake light out! It wasn't easy to try and take pictures of the problem because it was down inside the tail light and I did the best I could. I hope this helps someone else because it took me replacing the same bulb 3 different times to figure out what was wrong.
I got stopped one night following my husband home and was told my tail light was out,the bulb was actually busted open and had gotten so hot it was melting some of the plastic on the cover for the light. A week later my father n law asked us if we knew our left lights were out (of course we didn't since we just replaced the lights).
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
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I replaced the passenger side tail light assembly at the first of this year. I had the same problem, the bulb melted to the inside of the tail light and caused it to go out. it had to be completely replaced because the bulb melted to the plastic inside and cannot be removed to replace just the bulb. My jeep has low mileage so I believe this is a DEFECT in the tail light assembly on both the passenger and the driver side. There is a fin of some type inside and the bulb melts to that fin....I don't understand what the fin is for, other than maybe to circulate air inside the tail light to keep it from getting too hot. Whatever the problem is I wish they would do something about it because it could cause a fire melting to the inside of the whole assembly. Not to mention it is $130 or more for each assembly. I put my tail light on myself but other people would have to pay ridiculous labor charges to fix the problem if they couldn't do it themselves. This is also a safety issue because it burns your brake light out! It wasn't easy to try and take pictures of the problem because it was down inside the tail light and I did the best I could. I hope this helps someone else because it took me replacing the same bulb 3 different times to figure out what was wrong.
- Debra C., Elizabeth City, NC, US