Replace licence plate lamps on preupdate

[eksjay]

In 30 years, I do not recall a dealer or mechanic replacing the licence plate w5w lamps on my 95 preupdate, but I have already done so on my JKU!

The JKU was easy. Everything falls apart in your hands, which is probably why both lamps blew in the first place.

I must be missing something on the XJ. There is no procedure in the owners manual and I can't find anything useful online.

I began removing the two side screws on the outer assembly but it does not drop down. I cant pry it from the liftgate. Has it been glued by silicone? Is that outer frame part meant to be removed? I can see a small gap under the number 5. Is something meant to wedge into that gap to remove the round clear lamp cover?

Thanks for any advice.

[eksjay]

Further to my previous post, I once again removed the screws of the licence plate light cover as pictured previously and pryed the whole thing out of the tailgate. Yes, it is a cover that houses the wiring, globe and socket. Small fragments of fibre glass fell out of the screw holes. After 30 years, I noticed that the black handhold above the licence plate is not centred on the tailgate. Maybe this is where the licence plate light fittings were meant to be in other markets (edit: this assumption is correct after looking at a Haynes manual)?

I tried to remove both bulbs from their plastic sockets, but they would not budge and there is not a lot of area to grab hold of them.

This bulb extraction problem is the subject of numerous posts in other XJ forums which one would think shouldn't be.

I now understand why these bulbs have worked flawlessly for 30y. There was no dust in the lamp covers.

To be continued...

[eksjay]

I attempted to remove the first bulb today, but it broke. The wedge part had melted all over the base of the socket. I used tweezers from the onboard first aid kit to clear out the glass and wiring debris from the socket (pictured).

The W5W wedge bulbs should be pulled straight out to remove, not turned as some other forums suggest. On the 1995 (RHD international) XJ, the bulbs are wedge at their base.

The new replacement lamps went in fine and it all works. My guess is that these bulbs will be good for another 30y. But I probably wont be driving by then if I am still walking this Earth.