quick help please - nevermind.
 

so im trying to take the center piece off of my car so i can get at it... but i cant figure this out - how do i take this off? its the core for the key, right?

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you do not have to remove all of that stuff.. just all the nuts down in the holes

hm. that sucks then, feels like im missing something. theres no give at all, and ive taken out any nut that could conceivably be causing problems. guess ill pull harder and cross my fingers

give me a couple min, ill give you better instructions from the manual. You are just trying to remove the trunk tail-light piece right?

yeah

i am not 100 % sure, but i believe that there is 6 nuts holding the lamp fixture to the trunk lid... 4 can be easily seen in the pictures you showed us, and teh other 2 would be near the sides.. After these 6 nuts are removed, you may need to coax the assembly loose a bit by prying between it and the trunklid. (actual instructions in the FSM) I remember mine was a tad stubborn to get off the first time aswell.. TRIPLE check that all the nuts are out before you pull out the 6ft prybar tho ;)

all the nuts are out. every nut i could get at is off. im trying to pry it off, but it seems im just not stong enough. ive tried using a screwdriver, but i stopped before i got to the point of gouging.

i got it off, finally. sliced my thumb open, but its off.

jwakamud, Just out of curiosity, why are you removing that center piece? There was a service bulletin for trunk leaks that removes that bezel to apply sealant to a horizontal seam.

what?

im removing it so that i can take it apart and remove the yellow from the top portions