How do you get access to the rear side marker bulb on a 2010 Elantra Touring
 

Hi,
Newbie here, and I have a 2010 Elantra Touring (wagon) and I have a burnt rear right side marker bulb. How do I get access to the bulb ? Is it from underneath the car near the exhaust pipe, or from the right side in the cargo area ? Thanks.

Me too. It's frustrating that this is in neither the user manual nor the service manual.

The front marker was accessible from inside the front wheel well. Removing a couple of screws to remove the cover, then squeezing on the clips on the sides of the whole marker assembly allowed it to pass through the bumper to the outside. The back marker mechanism appears different.

The back of the fitting isn't accessible from under the bumper. There appears to be a continuous cover extending over the whole of that area with a bump in it where the marker bulb is.

To get to the rear side marker on the right, there is a small plastic sheath on the underside of the car, near the tail pipe. You can just unscrew that sheath, and have easy access to the bulb. I did it, so anyone can. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'm not sure what you mean by a sheath. Do you mean some sort of a panel?

Visibility currently limited as the garage floor is soaking wet so I'd rather not stick my head under the car or put it on ramps until it has dried out. Investigation by feel and by cell phone camera was inconclusive.

By sheath, yes, I mean a plastic panel or cover. It's really easy to get to, in fact, it's quite flexible, and you can squeeze your hand in on the side, without having to remove it, which is what I did, but there are only a few screws to remove, and so why chance breaking it. You don't really need to back the car up on a ramp, or lift on a jack to get to it. By lying on your back as close as you can to the rear bumper, should allow you to access the plastic cover with a phillips screw driver with ease. ;)

Thanks. That did the trick.

For anybody else reading this, the sheath/cover is held by four screws which expand plastic nuts which are rather like a wall anchors. There are two on the bottom edge of the bumper/fender, and removing one of these is enough to get a hand in to the back of the marker light. One end of the marker light fitting has a plastic spring clip arrangement: squeezing on this end releases the marker light fitting from the bumper.

I suspect there might be another method using a shim to lever the spring clip (on end towards front of vehicle) - perhaps I will try that when the next one fails.

Good job !!!! ;) Glad it worked out for you. Hopefully, we'll both be good for a while before we have to replace side marker bulbs. By the way, what years is your Touring ?...and how many miles on it ? (just curious)

July 2010 with 141,000 kms on it. 2/4 marker bulbs failed so far...

I have 110,000 km on my 2010 ET. The car runs great, but, I'm getting a bit of a clunking noise now at the rear underneath the car...mostly the rear right side it seems....sounds like a loose shock or something when I go over rough roads with bumps. Had it checked by my mechanic and he doesn't physically see where anything is loose back there. I will be parking the car for the winter in a few weeks, as I spend my winters in Florida...but in the spring, I am determined to find what is clunking back there. I hope we can find the problem, and I hope it won't cost an arm and a leg to remedy. Have you had this issue with yours ????

Following up on my own thread 2 years later - yes, it is possible with a large flat bladed screwdriver to slide backwards and lever out the front side marker lights without reaching in the back. Now if I could just get the part to replace the corroded lamp holder...