How do i replace a rear turn signal bulb do i have to replace the whole assembly or can i just put a bulb in somehow

Quoting from link:

https://itstillruns.com/replace-lights-lincoln-town-cars-7660993.html

Tail Lights, Stop Lights and Rear Turn Signal Lights

Turn the Town Car's engine off, and open the trunk. Remove the trunk retainer if your Town Car is equipped with one. Put on the gloves.
Pull the carpet away in order to access the tail lamp assembly. Remove the three nut-and-washer assemblies with a socket wrench.
Remove the desired bulb socket by turning it counterclockwise, and then pulling it straight out of the assembly. Pull the old bulb out of the socket, and install a new bulb. All three lights use 3457AK-type bulbs.
Place the socket back into the assembly, and reinstall the three nut-and-washer assemblies. Place the carpet back into the vehicle, reattach the trunk retainer if necessary, and close the trunk.

https://itstillruns.com/replace-lights-lincoln-town-cars-7660993.html

Front or rear? If its the rear light, you should check inside your trunk. Move any liner that may be over the light housings, and look for fasteners, usually plastic wing nut types, that you can remove and lift out the whole tail light assembly. Once out, you can change the individual bulbs.

If it's the front turn signal, I think that's part of the headlight assembly, and you may have to remove the whole assembly to get at the bulbs. Look for screws in the top cross member, and in the panel next to the radiator to remove the assembly.

The bulb for the turn signal/brake light is a double filament bulb. It will come on with the lights on, but should light the second filament, making it brighter, with the brakes applied or turn signal on. It could just be a bad bulb, but one common problem on these years of truck is the rear light circuit board and requires the whole assembly to be replaced. Start by checking the bulb first though.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

There are detailed instructions in the the manual. If you do not have a manual, here is how to do it (directions assume removing drivers-side headlight assembly and viewing the area from the front of the van): Remove the thumb screw on the left side of the headlight assembly as well as the thumb screw on the top of the head light assembly. The third thumb screw simply anchors the turn-signal assembly to the head light assembly. Initially, just loosen that screw. The whole assembly is now loose but still held in by two plastic posts on the bottom of the headlight assembly and two plastic posts on the end of the turn-signal assembly closest to the fender/wheel area. Pull the whole assembly kind of up, out, and down. It takes a bit of juggling but it will come out. Once the whole assembly is out you can separate the turn-signal assembly from the head light assembly and put the headlight assembly back in place. To separate the assemblies remove the third thumb screw (if its too tight to remove by hand you will need a Torx screw driver of size T-30; if you don't have a Torx a small flathead screw can work); also, you will notice the hidden clip that is the final anchor holding the turn-signal assembly to the head light assembly. Use a flat-head screw driver to release it. Now the units should be separated. To remove the turn signal bulb socket from the turn-signal assembly, simply turn it counter-clockwise while pressing down on the safety clip and pull it out of the back of the turn-signal assembly. The owners manual lists the type of bulb. It should be an amber 3157. The bulb pulls straight out of the socket.

Replace the bulb. Place the socket back into the turn-signal assembly (turn it clockwise until the safety clip snaps). Replace the Headlight assembly (two thumb screws and the two plastic alignment posts anchor it), but do not tighten the screws until the turn-signal assembly is in place. Replace the turn-signal assembly by first aligning the plastic posts and then anchoring it to the head light assembly with the third thumb screw. Make sure everything is aligned properly and tight all the thumb screws. An experienced person can probably make this change, start to finish, in 15 minutes. First timers will probably take 30 minutes as it takes some time to understand how the designers anchored everything.

Good luck and thank you for using Fixya

Open the hood and look for a small screw or bolt holding the signal light assembly on by the fender.
Remove this and pull just the signal light assembly straight forward.
Not the whole headlight assembly.
Twist and turn the bulb socket to remove the light from the rear of the light assembly.
Check the # and color of your bulb and get a replacement.
Push in and turn to remove the bulb.

Remove trim panel inside trunk. A plastic nut retains tail light assembly in body. Remove the bolt, slide whole tail light from body, disconnect the wires, twist bulb socket to access bulbs.

There are 2 pins and 2 bolts that hold in the head lamp. Remove the head lamp to access the signal bulb. Good Luck

You have to take the whole assembly off to change the bulbs. There are two screws next to the taillight when you lift of the rear hatch

remove the trim panel at the very rear of trunk, remove it and place it out of the way, remove tail light Assembly retaining nuts top and bottom, I think there are 6 per side, pull the tail light assembly straight back to access the bulbs for replacement.

look at the plastic cover of the light. see if there are screws on the front, remove the screws and the bulb will be exposed.

if your signal light is a whole assembly, you can remove the whole assembly by unscrewing the holding screws and sliding the assembly. then twist the bulb holder that is inserted in the back of the assembly and the bulb would be exposed.

tnx 4 using fixya,

drcool