The screws that attach my rear license plate are darn near impossible to loosen. I got one loose but the other is still stuck. I'm sure I did not over torque them when I put the plate on in 2008.

The one screw was very hard to remove even when I finally got it turning. Seems like it was really binding in there, and was rusty.

The screws are just normal flat blade type, which makes it harder to get a grip on.

On other cars I notices the screws go into plastic. On the TCH it's just a hole drilled into the steel deck lid.

I have sprayed the hole with Liquid Wrench lubricating oil, keeping the deck lid open, hoping it will start to penetrate down in. But I'm not hopeful.

Anybody have suggestions?

 

I just went through this exercise myself.

The screws actually thread into an insert welded to the backside of the sheetmetal. Liquid wrench or pbblaster is about all you can do.

My old screws were plastic. The head broke off one while closing the trunk. The other head broke off while trying to remove it. The rust on the trunk threads froze the plastic screw.

After I removed the screws, I re-tapped the holes (M6 metric tap). I then replaced the screws with stainless steel screws. I also used lock-tite. Lock-tite should help keep the threads clean and avoid seizing in the future.

I tried plastic screws as my initial replacement, but they fit poorly (very loose). This would allow corrosion to penetrate and seize them again.

 

I had a little foresight several years ago -- and bought stainless tamper-resistant license-plate bolts to start with. The stainless part helps to prevent seizing. The tamper-resistant part helps to prevent license-plate theft. The kit of 4 was about $10 at the local auto parts store, IIRC, in a display right next to the license-plate frames. Just make sure you get the metric 6mm size.

I also put some foam weatherstrip around the perimeter of the plate, between the license plate and the car. The kind you use on house doors, with adhesive on one side. The foam strip prevents the license plate from ever vibrating, which might make noise or scratch the paint. Be sure to leave a gap at bottom so any water that gets in can find its way out.

I've done this for each of the last several vehicles... no problem so far.

 

When you get the screws out put some anti seize on them.

 

Steve, I did exactly the same thing when I first got my car, put on anti-theft bolts and weatherstripping.

 

Maybe someone put superglue on the bolts. Someone did this to my daughter's car at her college as a prank. Made it next to impossible for me to get them out. I didn't see the humor in it myself.

 

For License plate screws/bolts:

Get proper size Stainless Steel bolts, not screws. The hex head will be easier to get out.

Coat with anti-seize, grease, or beeswax before installing.

NEVER USE LOC-TITE. These products require either heat or a large amount of torque to break loose.

When applying the weatherstripping product to prevent damage; Apply it to the LICENSE PLATE, not the car.

If you are trying to loosen corroded bolts:

Penetrating oils may require multiple applications over2 or 3 days. You may also need to tap the bolt to loosen the corrosion/rust, do not hit it too hard.

Remember: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

you could use blue loctite, they are for smaller bolts (they come in different colors and applications) The red loctite are the ones that require heat and muscle to loosen (they are permanent) I use blue loctite to secure the adjustment bolt for the chain on my garage door opener and it's not that difficult to remove them (I just replaced my garage door motor a few days ago)

 

I used anti-seize myself and had no issues....

I saw some rust and decided to be proactive.

 

Okay. Recently my state issued me new license plates. Until now, I just got new stickers when I renewed my plates. So I couldn't kick this can down the road any longer.

I tried to remove the pan head screws that held on the license plate, but the one still wouldn't budge. I used my Dremel tool to re-slot the head, and went to the hardware store to get the biggest flat head screw driver available. Also tried to spray in some penetrating oil and let is sit, but no success. NOTHING would get it to budge. I tried using my Grabit screw remover with my power drill, and it couldn't torque them out either.

My final option was to drill out the screw. I did so VERY carefully, making sure not to mess up the threads in the deck lid. Turns out I was lucky. The screw finally did drill out in pieces, and I had to remove the inner deck lid fabric liner to remove the part that was stuck on the inside. It was extremely corroded -- probably from salt spraying up on the back of the vehicle over the past few winters.

After all this work I went to the hardware store. The size you need (and I couldn't find this ANYWHERE on the internet) is 6 mm x 16 mm 1.0 pitch. I got stainless steel ones for 62 cents each from my local hardware store.

It is maddening that Toyota didn't provide stainless steel screws in the first place. I had to spend hours dinking around with this, making multiple trips to hardware store, etc. I can just imagine some middle manager doing a Powerpoint on how they could save a million dollars by buying a cheaper fastener for this application by saving 10 cents per screw per car!!!

Lesson learned: never use regular screws to fasten on your license plate. Get stainless steel screws now, before it is too late. If my experience can save just one person from the aggravation I have been through, I will be glad this helped.