Changing light bulbs

[LordOfTheFlies]

So I finally decided that I would change all the lightbulbs in my '04 S except for the side marker (on the plastic trim since there is no clear replacement lens available as of yet and tailight bulbs.

Yes, I could have spent the $250 on getting a lowering kit, but at this point, I feel the handling is sufficient unless I decide to track the car on a regular basis (have yet to go btw).

Miniac, please post this up in the FAQ's as I think it would be helpful. One legal notice is that it is illegal in some states to have white indicator bulbs so please be aware that this is supposedly only for off-road use and that I am held totally not responsible for any potential tickets anyone can get

Here it goes:

I have ordered from http://www.xtremewhite.com for my previous car and was very impressed with their selection.

I have chosen to go with Raybrig's light as I found them to match xenon HID's very nicely.

First off I ordered a whole bunch of LED 194 size bulbs. You need one pair for the parking lights, one pair for the side markers (side of car), one pair for the dome light, one pair for the footwells.

These are 12v/.2W Raybrig RC23 bulbs - $23.95 per pair:



Notice that they only draw .2W as opposed to cheap 194 bulbs you get at autozone that are painted and draw 5W+.

Next up I needed to change the indicator bulb. I actually ordered the R137 which is an 1157 bulb.....The 1157 bulb has two bumps in it at different heights. What I found was that the housing is very weird and requires the two bumps to be aligned ina V shape so I just dremmeled the higher of the two bumps off.

I just got off the phone with them and they told me that they don't even carry bulbs with V shaped bumps and what they tell all their customers to do is exactly what I did.

They also said that if you put an 1156 bulb (with one bump), it won't light up since it needs to contact points at the bottom. Not sure about this one - someone correct me if I'm wrong....But using the 1157 bulb worked fine for me.

*Edit* I looked at the old bulb and noticed that it only has one hump...Which means an 1156 will work.

Here's a pic of the R137 1157 bulbs - $12.95 per bulb:



Next I ordered the wrong bulb for the rest of the interior (glovebox, center dome light, and trunk light) because of a misprint on their site...but what you should get is the R133 dome bulb.

Raybrig R133 center dome/glovebox/trunk bulb - $10.95 per bulb:



Lastly I did the fog lights. I wanted the indicator, xenon low beam, parking lights, and fogs to match so I took a chance and orderd the Kyo standard wattage (55W) since I didn't even want to THINK about messing with burning up the wires.

KYO SuperBeam EX Xenon White H11 Halogen Bulb (H11 Standard Wattage) - $24.95 per pair



I am returning the incorrect dome bulbs and will wait for the new R133's to come in anxiously.

Next up is installation and I will be taking pics tonight of what everything looks like.

[LordOfTheFlies]

Installing the parking/indicator bulbs was easy:

1 - Pop the hood

2- Look into the space just above the parking lights and you'll see that there are two plugs - one fat (for the indicator 1157), one thin (for the parking light 194)

3 - Simply push down gently on the top of the plug to release the clip. It's kind of a tight space but if you use two fingers from the same hand, it shouldn't be too hard to take 'em without cutting yourself.

4 - Take out the indicator housing first (fat one) by twisting to the right (if you are looking down at the housing)

5 - Twist the smaller parking light housing out the same way.

6 - Pop out the old one and plug in the new ones being somewhat mindful not to touch the lense of the bulb too much. After you insert them just give them a clean wipe with some paper towel.

7 - Be sure to dremmel off the HIGHER of the two bumps on the 1157 bulbs btw.

Next I did the side markers. This was pretty easy...but don't clip your nails before you do this as you'll need them to pop out the lenses. Btw I also installed awesome looking smoke lenses to match my PS/B combo.

1 - Pop out the lense and twist off the housing genlty.
2 - Pop out the old bulb and insert new, wipe down as above.

Interior:

Footwell - genlty pry out the two plastic housings. The connector (depending on who installed it and how much slack they left) might pop out but it's really no big deal to push it back in. I found it was easier to pop the housing in and then attach the plug afterwards.

Use 194 bulbs here btw.

Dome light - use a really small flathead screwdriver and pop it out the clear lens. This comes out with very, very, very little effort.

Unscrew the screws holding the housing to the roof. Twist out the two black housings for the outer bulbs and swap out with 194 bulbs.

Lastly I did the fogs just now.

1 - Contrary to other threads I have come across, there is no need to take off the bumper - of course, I discovered this after taking off my bumper!

2 - I decided to take off my wheels since that would give me plenty of room to work with and required minimal effort.

3 - Unscrew the four plastic clips that hold in the wheel well.

4 - Pry open the plastic liner so that you can reach in and unplug the fog connector.

5 - Twist COUNTER CLOCKWISE 1/4 of a turn ot remove the old bulb.

6 - When inserting the new bulb, make sure you DO NOT TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR BARE HANDS AS THIS WILL LEAD TO THE BULB EXPLODING/CRACKING ON YOU since the oil from your hands will burn and make sure the bulb does not touch anything else for that matter.

I've heard that people do this with just turning the wheel.....but unscrewing those clips is a helluva lot easier with the wheel off.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I will be posting pics tonight.

[LordOfTheFlies]

Here's a pic of my smoked out lenses - took this along the hudson hanging out with Peter (uptick) up in Tarrytown:

[LordOfTheFlies]

Here are some pics:

Side by side by side:

Indicator on:

Front Indicator only:

Outer Dome lights;

Side Markers flashing:

[VWY]

Accolades on the extremely helpful writeup. It was just what I was looking for, as I intend to do the same thing with my MCS.

[asinn]

Hi guys,

I bought a pair of PIAA driving light (the small light at the front which sit next to the indicator light), anyway, when i pop them in i found them light up very well, but the problem is when i turn off the light and turn off the car, they still light up (but very dim).

i am worry that if i leave them there, it might draw out current of the battery and the battery turn flat.

Did i buy the wrong blubs? or is there something i done wrong?

[LordOfTheFlies]

Quote: Originally Posted by asinn

Hi guys,

I bought a pair of PIAA driving light (the small light at the front which sit next to the indicator light), anyway, when i pop them in i found them light up very well, but the problem is when i turn off the light and turn off the car, they still light up (but very dim).

i am worry that if i leave them there, it might draw out current of the battery and the battery turn flat.

Did i buy the wrong blubs? or is there something i done wrong?

Same thing happened to me, actually...And it seems to happen kind of irregularly.

It's the fact that they are LED bulbs and that they hold the charge for a bit (I learned this after the fact). But eventually (like after 1 min or so) they shut off and everything is fine.

No need to worry about battery draining....Those bulbs draw VERY little power (.2W) and plus it's just the charge that has been built up.

By the way I think you are referring to the "parking light".

[luVlee]

Lord Of the Flies..that's a fun book.

[obehave]

Quote: Originally Posted by luVlee

Lord Of the Flies..that's a fun book.

The whole pig thing still gives me the willies and I haven't read it in 30 years