Light Bulb Replacement

[johngoodman]

I need to check/replace a few bulbs. Specifically, the one in the trunk, and the two on the inside edge of the doors. I think they are all Festoon bulbs. Any problems with using LED Festoons? How do you pry the housings out....

John

 

[Hemi Dude]

Bob or Mark, you wanna get this one?

[Garnet & Gold]

Hi John,

Both the trunk and reflective type lights in the doors are the festoon bulbs.  To access the bulbs you need a small standard screw driver with a fine point.  On the long side of the lens near the corners there are a total of 4 ears that hold the lens in place.  Using the screw driver twist in the area described between the lens and its frame to get the ears to release from the frame it is in.  Be careful not to break the frame in the doors as the ears for the frame (not the lens) have a tendency to break off.  The plastic in the trunk light is different from the plastic used in the door lights and the trunk is more flexible.  The base for the trunk light is attached to the car while the door lights are held in the door card by snapping together and if you remove the frame the lens go in you have to open up the door card the snap the 2 pieces back together.  As you are probably aware they do make LED light as a replacement in the festoon shape.  I am not knowledgeable with the working of the difference in the electrical aspects to know if the LED are a piece of cake for replacement or if a variable load switch needs to be replaced in the fuse box.  Hopefully Mark can answer that one.

Bob,

[johngoodman]

I've gotten one of the lights out of the door - photos attached...

 

[Garnet & Gold]

John,  I assume that you are going to replace with the LED.  Do the one door and then power them up and take a picture with it back in the door and a picture of the original bulb for comparison.  Keep us informed on how it looks.  Thanks

[johngoodman]

I know that the bulbs work fine, and are brighter, because I've already done the same thing in my 2003 pickup truck. My problem is that the old bulb is still good, so it's not just the bulbs, I have finally found out that my brake lights don't work, either. So, looking at the schematic in the shop manual, it has to be fuse #6. I pulled it, and it's OK, the chime still works, so it's a downstream problem. The under-the-hood light also doesn't work. So, I must have a bad ground, or hot wire, somewhere. First problem is getting the courtesy light back into the door....

 

[johngoodman]

OK, I'm having trouble finding the courtesy light connector inside the door - I've even used an Endoscope to find it. Where would it be? If any of you have pulled the door panel, tell me what you saw....

John,

PS: I think that the mouse I could smell in the vents, was the culprit that chewed through the wiring behind the instrument panel - The chime still works, the rear view mirrors still adjust, and the vanity lights still work, but most of the lights aft do not, - such as the trunk (bin) light, brake lights, and courtesy lights.

[Garnet & Gold]

The wiring in the door has about 6-8 inches before it merges in with the harness in the door and the wires are pink and yellow.  My guess would be that the wires fell down towards the bottom of the door.  You may have to remove the door card or at lest part of it to get your hand inside to hold the silver back part from the back side as the front and back sides of this light snap together to be held in the door card.

[johngoodman]

Judging by the diagram on 8W-31, the power cord comes off of a splice (M2), and passes through an opening in the metal part of the door (that contains the power door lock) and is just above the courtesy light. It shown also on page 8W-17. The fuse description also shows it as a pink wire. The yellow wire must go to the other door, perhaps? Or the yellow wire is perhaps the ground? After this, I sill have to address the brake lights.

[ghostymosty]

The pages in the blue manual that show the actual wire diagram for the door courtesy lights are on 8w74 and 8w75.  Looks like the pink wire M1 18PK comes off of fuse #6 and at splice M1 splits off to the mirror and sunvisor lights as well as the trunk and tire compartment lights. Make sure those work (trunk check for good bulb) to rule out that fuse cavity in the fuse block. Fuses can look good but actually be bad or the wires into the fuse block can be burned/melted or just not making good contact with the fuse. The same pink wire also goes to the door mirror, check that too.  If you are following along with the wire diagram, you should see how to follow the wires to each item they power. Just do that for every item in the wire diagram. When the diagram refers to page 66 for the trunk lamp it means the number Q66 on the bottom of the page. Brake lights may just be the brake light switch on the brake pedal assembly, push this by hand to see if the brake lights illuminate, if so then it needs adjusting toward the brake pedal arm. If the turn signals illuminate normally then the brake light switch probably needs replacing. The illuminated entry system is also tied in to the door courtesy light wires but the little round key light in the door usually doesn't work, at least I haven't seen many that do.

[Reaper1]

I found on one of the car I have messed with that the wire harness inside the door down at the bottom can come loose and chafe on the metal frame, short out and cause all kinds of issues. The one I found was on the passenger door and the damage went all the way up into the harness where it melted wires together. Somehow the car didn't burn to the ground, but it easily could have!

[johngoodman]

18 hours ago, ghostymosty said:

The pages in the blue manual that show the actual wire diagram for the door courtesy lights are on 8w74 and 8w75.  Looks like the pink wire M1 18PK comes off of fuse #6 and at splice M1 splits off to the mirror and sunvisor lights as well as the trunk and tire compartment lights. Make sure those work (trunk check for good bulb) to rule out that fuse cavity in the fuse block. Fuses can look good but actually be bad or the wires into the fuse block can be burned/melted or just not making good contact with the fuse. The same pink wire also goes to the door mirror, check that too.  If you are following along with the wire diagram, you should see how to follow the wires to each item they power. Just do that for every item in the wire diagram. When the diagram refers to page 66 for the trunk lamp it means the number Q66 on the bottom of the page. Brake lights may just be the brake light switch on the brake pedal assembly, push this by hand to see if the brake lights illuminate, if so then it needs adjusting toward the brake pedal arm. If the turn signals illuminate normally then the brake light switch probably needs replacing. The illuminated entry system is also tied in to the door courtesy light wires but the little round key light in the door usually doesn't work, at least I haven't seen many that do.

I found the pages in the blue manual at 8W74 and 8W75. That will be good for my troubleshooting. But, for now, I need to find the actual lead to plug the courtesy light back into....

John

[johngoodman]

I have been in e-mail contact with several guys who have good ideas - I will probably try one, once I actually find the wire.

[Hemi Dude]

For all sorts of automotive lighting products, you guys may want to try my old friend Dan Stern at http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html

 I get nothing out of this, but YOU get better lighting.

[johngoodman]

OK, I finally took it to a real mechanic, and he reconnected to wiring... Everything now works - Yes, the LED Festoon light bulb is brighter than the older one in the passenger door!

John