This 2002 Buick Rendezvous came in with the complaint that the left rear turn signal did not work. Also the stoplight and the tail light on the left side did not work. Well three inches of water and the glass part of the light bulb in the bottom of the tail light assembly was pretty clear evidence of why it did not work.
After lifting the rear hatch the retaining screws for the light assembly could be removed.
With the two phillips headed screws removed the light will slide straight back. It may take some bumping to allow it to come free of the body.
The next picture shows the slide clips that secure the front edge of the light assembly.
The main harness connector is disconnected by first lifting the thumb latch and then pulling the connector halves apart.
Since this vehicle is twelve years old and has nearly 250,000 miles on it the customer was not interested in replacing the lamp assembly. I located the lowest portion of the lamp assembly and drilled a couple of small drain holes.
After allowing the water to drain form the assembly I realized that I had not chosen to lowest spot on the assembly. Inside this channel is the lowest spot. I had to be careful and make sure that I angled the drill bit away from the red outer lens.
I was expecting to have to replace the light bulb socket in this vehicle due to rust and corrosion but in the end I was able to fully dry everything out with shop air and sunshine, fill the socket cavities with dielectric grease and install new bulbs.
The lights are no back working properly.
There was some staining from the water that had been sitting in the bottom of the light assembly.
You can however see the difference as compared to when it had water in it.