I have a 2006 Monte Carlo SS and I noticed the top mounting post of the taillight assembly on the passenger side has broken off . The two posts at the bottom are not broken but the taillight assembly is fairly loose at the top where it mounts to the body. I tried epoxying the pieces together but when I screwed the plastic nut on, it broke it apart again. Anyone ever had any luck reattaching the post without it breaking? Otherwise, I am down to looking for a replacement passenger side taillight but it appears the OEM assembly is discontinued. Ebay has a few used ones but its hard to tell their condition. I see there are a few aftermarket companies making the taillight assemblies. Are these any good for fit any finish. I have had much luck with aftermarket parts fitting properly or appearing correctly. If the aftermarkets are no good, does anyone know where I could obtain a new or excellent condition OEM passenger side taillight for a 06 or 07 SS? Thanks for the help.







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The aftermarket tails on ebay are not bad if youre concerned about that. Ive had two sets. Even tho mine is a 6th gen, im sure the quality of the 7th gen tails are the same. You can also use 6th gen tails on your car but it seems you want OEM/same as what you have.

What I would do for the time being is, run a longer screw into the housing. It looks like you have enough room (on the taillight housing) to get some threads to hold.

 

Are the SS taillights unique? If not, perhaps you could search local junkyard inventory for any montes of that body style range. I could see that being a real stretch if the SS is different from the other trim levels due to rarity.


Personally, I'd probably give epoxy another shot. How did it fail the second time- did the epoxy come off the plastic or did the epoxy itself crack through?

Is the epoxy compatible with that type of plastic? I know there are some combinations that don't work and would continue to fail no matter how strong the epoxy alone is.

Secondly, I'd build up the outside of the epoxy much more to try to carry all of the load through it. Since the plastic broke once, it could break again elsewhere if you're just trying to basically 'glue' the two pieces back together at the original break via butt joint. Id try encapsulating the whole joint with at least 1/4" thick of epoxy all around extending at least 1/2" away from the original break point in both directions. The more the better in both dimensions. Id also rough up any plastic it'll bond to (on the outside of the plastic stud) for improved mechanical connection so that you're not just relying on a chemical bond.

 

Not sure if this link works but there are a lot of them on amazon.

 

thanks for the info. I went to the junkyard in the morning yesterday and found a perfect taillight in the only 06-07 Monte Carlo they had. But the trunk was locked and the fuse box had already been ripped out of the car. The employee at the junkyard couldn’t/wouldn’t help. I noticed the back seat wasn’t in the car so I figured I would come back in the afternoon with a drop-cloth and crawl in to the trunk and pull the emergency release to get the trunk open. I couldn’t do it in the morning because I was on the way to work and would have been covered in dirt if I tried to get it in the morning. 6 hours later, I returned with a drop cloth to get the taillight out. You guessed it; by the time I got there, the car had been stripped bare. After some cursing, I figured I would have to locate the taillight elsewhere. I found a few at some junkyards out of the area. Sucks that I can’t see it before buying . My Car has 19,000 miles on it so am trying to keep looking as good as possible with oem parts.

 

Simply use a JB Weld Platstic Weld on the broken mount pin or one of their epoxys. LOL, sucks about the other Monte getting stripped, that would **** me off to no end.

homedepot.com/p/J-B-Weld-PlasticWeld-Syringe-50132/205685292

 

If you go the epoxy route put splints on the sides. Plastic swizzle sticks, picnic utensils anything. Give the repair some sideways force. I'm an old fan of JB Weld.

Other idea would be to put a stud in the broken off hole and use it in place of the OEM while you search for a replacement. The threaded stud from a swag hook works, or find a lag bolt and run it through the trunk,

 

Iused JB Weld Clear Epoxy and also put epoxied 3 metal splints to the epoxied area for support. After waiting 24 hours I put the taillight in and it held until the next morning when I noticed it let loose again in the expoxied area.. Suprisingly, the metal splints also popped off the plastic. I think I am going to try putting a stud in the hole. Not sure what to do with the metal backing plate that is on the current stud as this is what presses up against the car (Thre are a few rubberery type washers that sit on the backing plate and go against the car).

 

Sounds like a material incompatibility issue. That stuff is supposed to be good for nearly 4k psi, and clearly sitting on a stationary car it should be at near zero. That's the tough part with epoxy and plastic- theres certain combinations that are just incompatible. There are a few types of epoxy if you're willing to try something else.

Molded plastics can also have residual mold release that can be problematic for bonding without light solvent cleaning, but I dont think thats the case if it fell apart with zero use.