05-07 / 08-09 Taillight Swap

[BagheeraLGT]

Hi all, did some searching and came up short on the answer.

 

Are the 08-09 taillights plug and play with 05 Outback models? If it's a relatively easy job- aka no to minimal wiring- I might go for it.

 

 

Appreciate any and all info.

Mike

[busy13b]

Yes, everything is plug and play. Exterior wise, the only difference is the '08 - '09 taillights are clear on the turn signal portion of exterior where the '05 - '07 are amber.

 

Such a little detail when you see them side by side, but makes a big difference in cleaning up the rear appearance!

[thomas1657615996]

If I remember correctly, you need to solder the bulp holders from the new lights to the existing wiring. On my car (EUDM) they did not fit the facelift tails...

[csaari]

I put the 2008 lights on my 2005 Legacy wagon (USDM) a few years ago. I seem to recall that one of the light bulb holders had an extra tab on it that prevented it from attaching properly to the 2008 light. There were 2 ways to fix that... one was to wire in the 2008 bulb holder to the car, and the other was to just cut off the tab on the 2005 bulb holder. I elected to remove the tab, to avoid having to mess with the wiring. I don't remember which exact bulb had the issue, but I'm thinking it was the side marker light. I still have my old 2005 lights somewhere in the garage, I can check tomorrow.

 

Since this is in the photo section, here is a before and after pic of my wagon.

[thomas1657615996]

Csaari, yes, I remember now. I had the same problem with JDM/EUDM facelift tail lights. I also chose to cut away the tab.

[Infosecdad]

I put on JDM 08-09 rear tail lights on my 05 wagon. The USDM has three sockets, JDM has two (no side marker light). I just taped up that "extra" socket. Also, as previously mentioned, one of the other two has a third tab on the socket plug on your USDM car. If you got the wiring for it, you could swap sockets; but I just carefully trimmed off the third tab and it works fine. I've swapped back to the OEM for a while, then back to JDM and it stays put, no issues. It's too cold out to go pull the socket for you to show the missing tab, but it's easy to figure out when it's in front of you. Took me like 30-45min to install the JDM rear lights on my wagon.

 

Warning (to your wallet): Depending on which lights you get, you might end up wanting to replace the hatch trim to match :-P

[clarker01]

Wow, the 08-09 lights look way better

[csaari]

Thanks guys, for validating my sketchy memory! I just went and looked at my car and also the old 2005 tail lights. The "problem" bulb is actually the turn signal. There are two tabs on the 2005 bulb holder that will not fit into the 2008 tail light socket. Also, the 2008 bulb holder will not fit the 2005 light. I went with the OEM 2008 tail lights, and they actually came with the complete wiring harness for each side. Probably not hard to swap harnesses, but I figured if I ever wanted to put the 2005 lights back on, I'd have to put the 2005 harnesses back on too. Seemed easier just to cut the tabs; even with them cut, the 2005 holder shouldn't have any problem with being put back in the 2005 light, as Infosecdad verified.

 

Here's one more picture.... in my "after" picture above, I was still using the original yellow incandescent bulbs. Now I have leds which show no yellow, so I think it's even a cleaner look. (The lights are still yellow when on.)

[Heffernan]

I had to dremmel down some tabs on the light housings to get the blinkers (i think) to fit properly. No big deal, easy work.

 

I went from 08 to 05 taillights on my 2008 outback (i prefer the amber turn lights over the clear versions)

[jonnyt88]

Here's one more picture.... in my "after" picture above, I was still using the original yellow incandescent bulbs. Now I have leds which show no yellow, so I think it's even a cleaner look. (The lights are still yellow when on.)

 

Dat back bumper!