Broken rear light cluster

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Good morning all,

We have a 67 plate Warwick XL and opened the rear doors for the first time yesterday and pushed them back as far back as they will go.  To my dismay the bike rack went through the rear light cluster.   Pic attached.

I have spoken the to dealer who supplied the van and fitted the rack - and basically this is user error, it is true the rack does not reach the cluster, unless it it is released and pushed right back.  But I wondered if this was "normal"

Now I have to source and fit a new light cluster, it is booked into our local Peugeot dealer next week, but it has prompted me to just take the internal cover off and take a look at whats behind, and according to the hand book I should see two retaining nuts which release the lense cover.    I cannot see these, I can see one rather strange looking nut below the bottom of the three  apertures that are behind the cover , and looks a bit fiddly to remove, but I cannot see a second nut.  

I would be grateful for any thoughts on whether there is an error in the fitting the bike rack, or is this just user error, and also how to remove the lense cover as I might need to change bulbs at the road side at some point.

Many thanks

No , sadly all too true. I have seen several vans for sale with a hole in the drivers side light cluster corresponding to the bike rack.  During our handover the salesman showed us how you could release the back door hinges to open wide and promptly put the bike rack runner through the rear lens! They did replace it though! Chalk it up to lack of experience! 

Try some of this before you pay out a lot for a new lens to be fitted...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Especially if it is likely to happen again. I have used it and it is OK

Dennis

kaspian wrote:No , sadly all too true. I have seen several vans for sale with a hole in the drivers side light cluster corresponding to the bike rack.  During our handover the salesman showed us how you could release the back door hinges to open wide and promptly put the bike rack runner through the rear lens! They did replace it though! Chalk it up to lack of experience! 

 Thats funny, glad it was not just me.  The only saving grace is we re off to Spain and Portugal in a fortnight, and if I had not done it now, I would have done it over there.

I just cannot fathom out  getting the cluster off.

We have a plastic box spanner supplied in the jack box, the nuts are on long threads and are found more by feel,be careful you don't drop them as they come off.the whole unit can then be removed from the outside and the 12volt unplugged

bobby b wrote:We have a plastic box spanner supplied in the jack box, the nuts are on long threads and are found more by feel,be careful you don't drop them as they come off.the whole unit can then be removed from the outside and the 12volt unplugged

 Thanks Bobby, I will look in the jack box tomorrow, so these nuts are not obvious  to see when you take the cover off ???  Sounds like dropping the nut down the gap would be a problem !!.. Might leave bulb replacement to the garage as Im all thumbs at DIY !!

If you do drop a nut, and the nuts are steel, a magnet will have you out of trouble in seconds!

The nuts are set quite deeply into the plastic housing hence the need for the long plastic box spanner.once you have located one you will find it easier,once slackened off it's easier to undo with your fingers,smaller hands help ask the wife to help as I do

Ford rear doors are stopped from opening like that by a retainer link arm. As for cluster unit removal, whilst the n/s one is simple to get at, the o/s isn't due to the fridge and water piping cluttering entry. Also to access it needs removal of one of the vents. 

The Ford units are secured by two plastic nylon butterfly nuts, one of which can just about be seen, but the other you have to feel around for....and then pray you don't drop the damn nut! Having tiny agile hands (which i don't!) certainly helps.

Hi Outtheoffice,

Been there done that, so annoying.
  I did find a generic offside light cluster for just under £40 though on eBay. Quality not quite as good as original but hard to detect once fitted.   Dropped a spanner down the void, no chance of getting that back. Tried a magnet but it's attracted to the steel body of the van.
Cheers Windy

Interesting that it is a plastic spanned - to prevent overtightening which could pull the studs out of the plastic lens unit.

Bulletguy wrote:Ford rear doors are stopped from opening like that by a retainer link arm. As for cluster unit removal, whilst the n/s one is simple to get at, the o/s isn't due to the fridge and water piping cluttering entry. Also to access it needs removal of one of the vents. 

The Ford units are secured by two plastic nylon butterfly nuts, one of which can just about be seen, but the other you have to feel around for....and then pray you don't drop the damn nut! Having tiny agile hands (which i don't!) certainly helps.

Peugeot/ Fiat and Ford doors can all be opened wide by pressing a lever or button on the hinge. It allows fork lift to drive up to the back of the van to deposit a pallet in the back . You must press the button or lever otherwise doors just open 90 drgrees. Even more galling when you realise you specifically caused damage!   

Thank you all for your comments, really helpful.  There is no sign of a plastic spanner in the jack box, nor is there an empty clip so not sure if Im missing something or not.  I am going to bite the bullet and let the local Peugeot garage fit a replacement next week and I will ask them about the spanner.   It does sound quite a fiddly job !!!

Windychippy wrote:Dropped a spanner down the void, no chance of getting that back. Tried a magnet but it's attracted to the steel body of the van.
Cheers Windy

Try a bit of double sided carpet tape securely stuck to a stick.

Emphasis of "securely" or you might be fishing for that next!!   

Hi Everyone
   Just asking it is not possible to adjust the bike rack so it does not damage the light unit
regards
Alan

gemdeco wrote:Hi Everyone
   Just asking it is not possible to adjust the bike rack so it does not damage the light unit
regards
Alan

Hi,
Well I tried to do just that and it was not possible on my rack a Fiamma 200DJ.
    Edge of rack to pivot point 55mm.  Offside of light cluster to pivot point approx. 150mm.  So need to move the bars to the left at least 95mm.  The vertical tubular bars would only move 30mm and the V bars could only be moved 30mm.  A total of 60mm to the left was not enough. This might be different for other makes of bike rack.

Windy

Gromit wrote:

Windychippy wrote:Dropped a spanner down the void, no chance of getting that back. Tried a magnet but it's attracted to the steel body of the van.
Cheers Windy

Try a bit of double sided carpet tape securely stuck to a stick.

Emphasis of "securely" or you might be fishing for that next!!   

If it happens again I'm thinking of filling up the void with expanding foam, everything will then be in easy reach.

Fiamma 200 DJ has two heights.
1) Standard ( but you need to be 7 ft 6 in tall to put the bikes on ) but rail is above the rear light cluster.
2) Lower position but needs a lighting board.
I thought the board was needed because bikes may obscure lights, but could they have been aware of this design location cracking the light clusters !!

Design by accident or Accident by design?

Martin

kaspian wrote:

Bulletguy wrote:Ford rear doors are stopped from opening like that by a retainer link arm. As for cluster unit removal, whilst the n/s one is simple to get at, the o/s isn't due to the fridge and water piping cluttering entry. Also to access it needs removal of one of the vents. 

The Ford units are secured by two plastic nylon butterfly nuts, one of which can just about be seen, but the other you have to feel around for....and then pray you don't drop the damn nut! Having tiny agile hands (which i don't!) certainly helps.

Peugeot/ Fiat and Ford doors can all be opened wide by pressing a lever or button on the hinge. It allows fork lift to drive up to the back of the van to deposit a pallet in the back . You must press the button or lever otherwise doors just open 90 drgrees. Even more galling when you realise you specifically caused damage!   

Never noticed that though as a campervan i've never had need/cause to open them any further than 90 degree the retainer arm allows. In fact i rarely use my rear doors.

Light clusters aren't cheap...even on Transits (!!) but as they are fairly vulnerable to damage i spotted a pair of good ones on a scrap Transit in a yard (a rare find as they are usually the first thing taken off!) so had them. Eight years on and i still have them sitting on a shelf in my garage.....typical!!