Finally replaced the busted on that came with the car in 2005. PO records showed that Volvo of Nashville recommended a replacement, customer declined ($$$).

Found a good one in eBay. A mere $85, at my door. Took about an hour to install. The nuts on the three bolts are accessed through a hole that my large hand woud not even squeeze through.

The tip that saved the day: The hole, normally covered by a pop-off-able panel, is surrounded by carpet-covered trim. In frustration I pulled on the trim, and the part along the bottom of the hole came a bit loose.

There is a hole through the body metal hidden by the trim. It is large enough to fit my 10mm 1/2-inch drive socket through, after a bit of wiggling about. Used a long extension on the socket.

Actually there are two such holes, each directly in line with one of the lower nut/bolts. Once the socket was poked under the trim and into the tail light cavity, it was quite easy to get the nuts off. Note that the upper bolt is quite simple.

Once off, the next step is a bit of cleanig and waxing around the place the tail light fits on the fender. Next is putting the wires on the new light. The lamp housing has colored markers by each light that go with the colors of the wires. No language barrier no problem.

Then, with minimal training, I got the wife.sig (much smaller hands) to get the nuts started. Wrenched them tight and the lamp sealed up to the fender nicely.

Nice to have a tail light with no red tape covering where the bottom lens was missing.

If you must do the same job, find those holes and save scraping off any skin.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

been there done that too. Another tip I learned recently. I too have big hands and have struggled with getting the bulb socket back into the taillight. But there is a square hole that fits a 1/4" drive socket extension. Once you put that on, it is easy to get the lamp socket back into the taillight.

wanna make it even easier on yourself? Take the little panels off the storage bins that are built into the floor right in front of the D pillars. From there, you get a straight shot to the bolts through some manufacturer cutouts in the sheetmetal. Take a long flatblade screwdriver and stick it into the back of the smallest 10 mm socket in your toolbox. Then just unscrew the nut. If you are careful, the nut will stay inside the socket as you're pulling it out. This works so well that I actually take the whole lamp off like this whenever I have to change a brake light bulb. It's actually faster for me to do it this way than try to reach my hand in there.