LED's in side marker lights?
 

Here's a picture of my rear side marker lights in my '02:

Attachment 161858

I should have taken a picture of before and after, but what you are seeing is black shrink wrap tubing over JB weld holding the "tube" where the bulb is on to the rest of the light. For some reason both of mine were broken where the tube comes out of the light so I decided to JB weld them back together and then shrink wrap it for good measure.

There was some melting of the plastic also because the bulb was resting on some plastic where normally it wouldn't. My question about LED replacements is this- will replacing the #194 bulbs with LED ones in the rear drive the lighting circuit crazy because not enough current is being drawn? I know this can happen if you replace all of your lights with LED's but what about two? These are really hard to get to and the heat from the incandescent bulb melted some plastic in the tiny, enclosed space where the bulb is. I'd like to be able to re-install these and forget about them. Hopefully they won't break again.

What have been your experiences with using LED replacements?

Thanks-

Val

If it is a 02, first gen, I don't think it does not monitor bulbouts to the smaller lights. Even on the gen 2, I believe only forward and rearward facing lights are monitored.

As long as you have them out like that just remove the bulb and turn the car on. If you don't see a bulbout you know you are home free. Then you can use a non canbus LED which will tend to last longer and run cooler.

Just curious. What is involved in removing those housings? That's the only bulb I haven't switched over and I have plenty of 194 LED bulbs laying around to do it. My first mini's alternator died so anything that reduces amp draw gets my attention.

Also my sister in law might be your neighbor, over there near Fauntleroy and California.

For the first generation models, you have to pull the rear wheel (putting the car on appropriate jack stands) and pull off the screws and plastic fasteners that hold the fender liner in place. Pull that down and off and then the side light is easily accessible by removing those two speed nut looking things with a 10mm spanner or socket. Not shown in the pictures is the bulb holder, which twists out from the housing but can be kind of difficult due to dirt buildup. I recommend un-clipping the wire first and then removing the bulb holder.

I don't have bulb monitoring on my '02. I have heard that sometimes exterior lights can exhibit odd behavior when too many LED's are used.

We're near 35th and Trenton, so your sister-in-law is sort of my neighbor.

Val