Emergency Trunk Release Handle Removal

[Micrho 0]

I need to change the light bulbs on my 2004 ES330 - the ones on the trunk lid. I see all of the small plastic plugs I need to pop out, but I can't figure out how to remove the glow-in-the-dark emergency trunk release handle? Can anyone help? Thanks, Mike

[REB352 0]

I have read instructions such as carefully pull the handle off. Purely bogus - you are not going to pull this handle off - in one piece - if ever!! It helps to know that the handle is in two pieces. In the picture below you will notice that the part with the car icon snaps onto the other piece. There is a tab on the left (top piece - fat end) that snaps into a mating hole in the bottom piece. The second picture is the mating part trunk side. Notice the six little post - these hold the handle in place. After you have removed the top part (car icon) of the handle, you need to push these post towards the center of the housing so the bottom side of the handle will slide off. One trick is to use a 12 sided socket just the right size to push down on all the post at the same time and force them towards the middle so you can get past the ridge on the post holding the handle on. When reassembling do note that the handle that snaps into the post is keyed at the base.

[borgunit 0]

The way I removed it was to separate the handle into its two halves, then with a small screwdriver pry a few of the tabs inward.  While pulling on the handle to keep pressure on the depressed tabs, work your way around the tabs until free. Hope it helps.

[vadkit 0]

You don't need to pull handle off to replace bulbs, just work around it with handle still in place. I have done it this morning