Front high level Marker lights on Nuevo

Th ebulb in my offside front marker light has failed.  It should be a simple matter to undo two screws, withdraw the lamp and its captive bulbholder from th ebody, rplace th elamp and screw it back onto the body.  HOWEVER, unlike the rear high marker lights, I cannot release th elight by more than a couple of millimeters from the "eyebrow" to which it is screwed.  Since there are no visible fixings for the eyebrow I am assuming that it is fastened over the boy/roof joint with a liberal dollop of Sikaflex.  I use the word "dollop" since, when I had to replace a failed high level vrake light on my van a few years ago, I discovered that it, too, was merely glued in place with liberal amounts of sealant which had been applied to hold it in place but with no regard at all for waterproofing around its flange - hence its premature failure!  I was LIVID but toothless!
Assuming that I would have to nibble away at the outer part of the light to break it off while being able to prevent the wires from disappearing irretrievably into the rear of th eeyebrow I tried to remove the nearside lamp to get some idea of how much slack should be on th ewires.  THAT ONE WONT MOVE OUT AT ALL OR EVEN ROTATE.
How on earth am I supposed to deal with this?  It would appear that they have applied so much sealant that the whole bulbholder is irretrievably stuck.  Photos are below of the marker light and of a rear marker lamp of the same type. Turning the bayonet bulbhlder in the body of the lamp takes all the stregth of my fingers to overcome the friction of the rubber ring seal!
Should I perhaps take it to the factory innocently asking them for a quotation to replace a marker light bulb?

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Looking at the photos, I would expect that to be accessed from inside

When I had to replace one of the rear bulbs, the bulb holder was very stiff- as you have said.  Have you tried using rubber gloves to give more grip?

RogerN wrote:Looking at the photos, I would expect that to be accessed from inside

No, they are accessed from the front, but AS provide very short tails on the cabling. On mine I was able to lengthen the cables for easier access.The bulb holder is a very tight fit in the rear of the lamp, a bit of grease helps with reinsertion.

DEFINITELY from the front. The eyebrow in photo 1 is a big bulky trim glued over the join between the roof moulding and the front and sides of the body.
I discovered how tight the bulb holder is in the lamp body when I had to replace one at the rear. The rear cables were pretty short but the front is absurd.
Peter, when you did yours was there any slack and did you notice if the wires and/or the back of the light were gummed up with Sikaflex? If I thought that I would not lose the wires I would do some discreet levering so that the lamp unit popped off the wires. At the moment I can just about get a putty knife behind the lamp flange. I realise that once off I will have to lengthen the wires but I foresee some problem in doing that through a hole that is only about 2mm diameter. A slim soldering iron and heat shrink insulation I guess.  
When I did the rear I lengthened the wires and put some Vaseline on the bayonet holder washer. At least with the rear it came out enough for me to be able to grip the bulb holder.
I just pray that the nearside bulb lasts!

Peter - I've just found your response to Alpinerambler in 2021 which gives answers to the questions I just asked and confirms my suspicions that Autosleepers' answer to Mr Blobby was one of the buffoons who assembled my van.
Order a replacement lamp (2 probably as I did at the rear), cut away the old lamp and poke around with slim tools looks like the way forward.

While you have these off ,would it be better to change to led lamps , longer lasting than the glass filament type

As a last resort, and only if the wires disappear, you could drill a hole, with a hole saw through the body adjacent to the light to gain access to the wires and then use the plug from the holesaw to refill afterwards. Desperate I know but having put a hole in the roof of my Nuevo last rear (long story) I found it fairly easy to repair with a fibreglass repair kit and some aluminium gauze. Good luck, may have to do mine one day?

FreelanderUK wrote:While you have these off ,would it be better to change to led lamps , longer lasting than the glass filament type

Good point but old lamp lasted 9 years. I am 82 this year AND I have developed wet macular degeneration in one eye. I guess a filament bulb will outlast my use of the van - and the nearside one is tighter to the body than the offside!
I'll buy two lamps at about £20 Inc postage and have a spare if the second does go. As far as nearside is concerned - if at ain't broke don't fix it - I think MOT may require matching lights on both sides even when they are not compulsory

Colin h wrote:As a last resort, and only if the wires disappear, you could drill a hole, with a hole saw through the body adjacent to the light to gain access to the wires and then use the plug from the holesaw to refill afterwards. Desperate I know but having put a hole in the roof of my Nuevo last rear (long story) I found it fairly easy to repair with a fibreglass repair kit and some aluminium gauze. Good luck, may have to do mine one day?

Thanks Colin - you did a brilliant job on your roof!

I have frequently bought new to me campers with rusty side lights like these. I chop them out and fit new sealed-for-life-work-for-ever LED ones from bongobongo land costing tuppence halfpenny for ten. I wire them in, with studious application of silicone of course. Even if the old lights are still working, if they are a bit dim or have moss growing I change them.

Duplicated post

I didn't notice one of my top front marker lights was out till the day of the MoT last year. I mentioned it to the tester and he said although it's not compulsory, and wouldn't cause a fail, or even a serious advisory, it would have to be noted on the certificate.
I replaced it at some point last year, the wires came out quite a long way after giving them a tug. I think they're just held out of the way with a blob of silicone during manufacture.
Al.

Thanks for that bit of experience, Al. I'll keep my fingers crossed 🥺

Mission accomplished! Much easier than expected.
Received my replacement marker light this morning from AS spares after ordering late on Monday. As it was sunny, I thought I would start trying to get the old light out. Once I'd removed the two screws I found that my memory from last autumn had been poor - there was no play on the light at all. I could rotate it anti-clockwise though and to my total surprise the lens popped off the bulb holder. I was then able to replace the bulb easily.
Sadly, the new bulb didn't work but as I tried to remove it to try another it lit - and then went out again. A bit more jiggling and it stayed on -Phew.
I cleaned up the lens and the eyebrow, smeared a little Vaseline on the bayonet fitting of the lens and replaced the lens. One of the fixing screws for the lens had been difficult to remove as it had previously been overtightened but I found a screw in my store that was marginally fatter but with the same size head and was able to enlarge the hole in the lamp lens from 3.5mm to 4mm.
Luckily, it seems that AS had securely Sikaflexed the lamp to the eyebrow before assembly AND had lubricated the bulb holder and lens bayonet before it was fitted. A very slight smear of Vaseline on the sealing washer and the plastic bayonet fixing works wonders for ease of disassembly and reassembly.
I now have a spare front marker light in case greater tragedy strikes but would not relish having to remove the bulb holder from the eyebrow should that ever fail. There is very little room to root around it to break the holder's seal to the eyebrow.
Incidentally, eyebrow is the official AS name for that moulding.