Re-attach domelight housing

Hey folks, so I know a couple others have done the same thing, but I was hoping to get others input on this. So I bought a replacement led light for my dome light, and when installing I foolishly pulled the entire light housing out, rather than just the bulb cover.

The housing appears to mount to a plastic plate above the head liner, via two metal clips. However getting these metal clips back above the plastic plate appears....very difficult.

Is there any ideas/ways to get the dome light housing correctly reattached, short of removing the head liner? Or how much would I be looking at paying to get this fixed at a dealer. Any help at this point would be much appreciated.

You might need to do a re & re Google search. I did a quick one and found this but see ifyou can find a diagram online.

http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/foru...ousing-115176/

Lol @ dambay for just joinng that forum to ask them a question..........

*laughs* it's true. I'm desperate man, having the dome light just hanging there bugs the hell out of me. I haven't been able to find a definitive answer anywhere, and its seems more and more like I will just need to bring it to the dealership and have them fix it. *sigh* that's what i get for not reading the instructions......and being a dumbass.

I can't believe the amount of people that have this exact problem.

"It's pinned to my scrotum!" Haha, that's hilarious. But yeah, its pretty bad. If I had a way to keep the plastic plate against the headliner while I push the housing upwards. It's a piss off for sure.

if I understand you correctly, the entire maplight housing is loose (ie, doesn't sit right up against the headliner). You can try bending the v-shapes clips to make them a bit flatter (ie, a narrower v-shape) by using a long-nosed piler. As long as the metal clips are secured against the maplight housing, when you push the housing up against the headliner, it should give you a much tigher fit. At least that how I did it for the 1st gen housing.

i had the same issue, i eventually gave up as the light would rattle like crazy from my sub dangling half way in, and just unplugged it and took it right out. luckily the shop that did my paint work put it back in for me properly when they had the headliner out

Haha so got a quote from Prima Mazda and they said $50 for a part that isn't broken and another $50 for labour. I'd be fine paying for labour, but no parts need to be purchased/replaced. Ill just figure out a way to fix it myself I guess.

Success! After brainstorming I manufactured a custom tool to do the job, and ten minutes later, VOILA!

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/...623_171426.jpg

And the custom tool.... a coat hanger bent in such a way that it held the plastic retention plate against the headliner while I pushed the domelight housing back in place. Glad to have that taken care of.

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/...623_171448.jpg

Sorry for the size of the photos. I tried making them smaller, both before uploading to Photobucket, and within photobucket, but they still came out huge.

very good idea. i had a autobody shop fix mine because i had some body work done after hitting a snow bank. they apparently had to take the whole carpeted ceiling off to get at it, they pretty much said the adhesive let go. if u have a sun roof u can open the roof and get at it from there.

I was trying to find some detailed pictures of the dome light and I came across these. This will help others visualize how the clips are held in, when replacing their mazda3 dome light.

http://i.imgur.com/SRWjg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/y2uMk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/jTMmr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SnhRX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/eHRQ8.jpg

mazda3, mazda 3, dome light, replace, install, fix, map light, festoon, 3175, rx8, mazda6, mazda 6, rear

Thanks for the pics man. For those who have this same problem, just keep in mind that the metal clips attach to a plastic retention plate at the curved part of the clips, near the end, if that makes sense. Feel free to send me a PM if you have this issue and need to fix yours.

So basically to avoid all this. Can u just take off the cover instead of the entire housing ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Potterotter3

So basically to avoid all this. Can u just take off the cover instead of the entire housing ?

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Oh of course. This is just for those that make the retarded mistake, like I did, of removing the entire housing. But yes, if you're just replacing the light bulb, the clear plastic cover pops right off.

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this coat hanger tool! I spent a good 30 minutes trying various tactics and came across this fix. A perfect solution to a problem that I shouldn't have gotten myself into in the first place, LOL.
Good job!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dambay

Success! After brainstorming I manufactured a custom tool to do the job, and ten minutes later, VOILA!

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/...623_171426.jpg

And the custom tool.... a coat hanger bent in such a way that it held the plastic retention plate against the headliner while I pushed the domelight housing back in place. Glad to have that taken care of.

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/...623_171448.jpg

Sorry for the size of the photos. I tried making them smaller, both before uploading to Photobucket, and within photobucket, but they still came out huge.

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damn... i don't understand the hanger techniqqquee! need a fix asap

Aloha from Hawaii. I know this thread is a few years old, but it’s the only one I can find regarding this issue.

My dome lamp housing was damaged and needed replacement. I picked a new housing. After removing the old housing, I discovered I’m have a very hard time installing the new housing. It will not snap onto the plastic plate above the headliner. The plastic is not glued down, and no matter how hard I push to snap the housing in, it will not snap on.

I see that dambay fashioned a tool from a clothes hanger to hold the plastic in place. So my question is: using the hanger, do you anchor the plate down before attaching the housing which will make it difficult to remove the hanger later, or is the tool fashioned in such a way to pass through the opening in the housing then anchor the plastic plate, snap the housing in and remove the hanger? If that makes any sense.

I have not found a solution to this problem anywhere so i will post what i did to remedy the problem for good. I lined up the plastic with the grooves in the headliner so that is was even all the way around. Then i took a drill and the smallest drill bit and drilled 3 holes on the front and back of the plastic to hold it down without impeding the light clicking in. As the tool described here did not work as you were not able to pull it out and it dented the edges of the light plastic the more you tried. I put fed the thin metal bendable wire though and twisted it as close to the bottom of the twist as i could. Then cut the wire to a manageable length then finished twisting it with vice grips and tucked it back behind the plastic and headliner to ensure it was out of the way of the light assembly. 3 on each side proved to be enough just made sure the metal clips were not bend too far out from removal and pushed right in without issue. I have included pictures also to help anyone. hopefully they work.
https://imgur.com/w5RsqM6
https://imgur.com/IGczsfk

https://imgur.com/w5RsqM6

https://imgur.com/IGczsfk

images
https://imgur.com/w5RsqM6
https://imgur.com/IGczsfk

Hello all!

I did have the same issue here, getting the housing reattached. Though, I pulled mine out on purpose. My "door" and "on" positions had stopped working, unless I pushed the switch up.

Upon disassembly, looks like the inside of the plastic house had partially melted, perhaps from the dome light being on all night quite awhile ago. It made the contact sit crooked, so I used a thermal pad I had, and levelled the contact plate out, good as new again! Sorry, I didn't get photos of this part, in case anyone needs them.

Then I spent hours trying to get the housing back in. Tried the coat hangar, fishing wire to pull the plastic bracket, everything... Until I finally had a stroke of genius. Thank you furniture leg pads!

Popped a view furnite leg pads on it, cut out an area for the connection cable, made sure they were stacked high enough to touch the roof above the "V-Clips", put it all in there, and poof, worked immediately! Mission success.

I'll get photos attached later... Can't figure it out in my phone.

Hope this actually helps someone!

Here are the photos for how I quite easily re-attached the housing!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...L4y5q1jIptgn0W

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brad6969

I have not found a solution to this problem anywhere so i will post what i did to remedy the problem for good. I lined up the plastic with the grooves in the headliner so that is was even all the way around. Then i took a drill and the smallest drill bit and drilled 3 holes on the front and back of the plastic to hold it down without impeding the light clicking in. As the tool described here did not work as you were not able to pull it out and it dented the edges of the light plastic the more you tried. I put fed the thin metal bendable wire though and twisted it as close to the bottom of the twist as i could. Then cut the wire to a manageable length then finished twisting it with vice grips and tucked it back behind the plastic and headliner to ensure it was out of the way of the light assembly. 3 on each side proved to be enough just made sure the metal clips were not bend too far out from removal and pushed right in without issue. I have included pictures also to help anyone. hopefully they work.
https://imgur.com/w5RsqM6
https://imgur.com/IGczsfk

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I'll see if the re-attaching of the domelight on my uncle's Mazda 3 requires drilling. It's in the shop for the mounting of the new tires from 4Wheelonline. I'll check it this weekend.