Rear dome light failing down

[DRC]

2008 limited just came back from the body shop where they had to remove the headliner to repair the roof. (I have a teenage driver…do I need to say anymore?) I got it back the other day and I noticed the rear dome light was loose and fell out when I touched it. I spent an hour trying to get it to snap in but had no luck.

The light housing looks to be okay. None of the clips are broken. There are 2 fixed clips and 2 flexible clips. The clips look like they should somehow snap into the roof metal to somehow hold the headliner to the roof however the holes in the metal don’t seem to line up with the housing. Almost as if the holes in the roof are spaced further apart that the clips on the housing. I just can’t get them to snap in.

To be honest I am not sure how the housing is supposed to be installed. There were, what appeared to be, tabs on the headliner itself where the light housing may have attached, however these are broken off now. So I am not sure if the housing is supposed to snaps into the roof or the headliner.

Anyone remove / install the rear dome light? How should that darn thing snap in?

ps. I am not taking it back to the shop that removed the headliner. They did a piss poor job and I will not let them touch anything of mine again!

 

[FLnative]

Have same issue with my 08 after a body shop dropped the headliner too. What was the trick to getting the light to snap back in?

 

[DRC]

I never did figure out how that light was suppose to stay put. I think the bodyshop broke something. Anyway, to resolve the issue I ended up installing two plastic plugs into the roof where there are some punch-outs. Then I used 2 small screws to attache the housing. This held the light in place and looks normal again.

In the first pic, you can see one of the plugs I put in. I used 2 plugs. (bought at the local auto parts store). The plugs are diagonal to each other.

The second and third pic's show the plug I used, its a small plastic plug you'd find near the body clips and such at an auto parts store. These plugs had a solid face, no screw hole. This let me put the screw hole where I needed it.

I had to cut some of the fins off the plug I used to get it to fit but once it was pushed into the punch-out it held really firm.

The last pic shows the housing back in place. It's been a few years since I touched this so I'm going from memory. The housing comes apart into 2 pieces. If you look closely at the light you can see where you can pop apart the two pieces. From what I recall (sorry I didn't take a pic of that, don't know why??) the housing, the part that actually attaches to the head liner, had some holes in it that line up with the plastic body clips. I used 2 small screws to attache the housing to the roof. Basically, if you hold the housing in place you will see where you can put screws through the housing and into the plastic plugs you installed. I used 2 small screws with a course thread pattern to bite into the plastic plugs.

Then I just snapped the outer part (the part with the light on it) back into the housing. It worked out perfect and is very solid.

 

[rwh963]

oh boy, i had this problem for years after the roof had to be replaced after a tree branch fell on it. couldn't figure out the problem, so used velcro steps to hold the light assembly up on the headliner.

finally getting sick of it, went to several body shops, toyota parts and service, and couldn't figure it out.

the answers was: when the cross supports were all replaced (between the roof panel and the headliner), the supports that hold the light assembly have special cut-outs that the assembly clips into. my middle overnight support was not correct, and did't have the cut-outs, so the light kept falling down.

final solution was to drill two small holes through the assembly into the metal support and use metal screws to secure it. HUST MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT DRILL THROUGH THE ROOF PANEL TO THE OUTSIDE!