How to: Explorer LED Interior swap + Puddle Lamps DIY

[dont slow down]

On as in completely on or dimly on?

 

[Brian T]

On as in completely on or dimly on?

completely on, only when driving though. Goes off when the ignition is off and the other lights go out.

 

[Brian T]

Further to my light issue. Now I notice it will sometimes be on, sometimes full bright and the other times about half as bright. It almost seems like a grounding issue. Any else have this problem

 

[Merc50323]

9 LED install

thanks for the write up... i replaced the map light with two 5-led bulbs and much brighter and a much whiter light.

i was going to go with the 9-led up front like you did but someone mentioned they are long enough to touch the clear cover and i rather it not... personal preference but i would imagine the 9-led to be overkill.

i actually found the 5-led to be bright enough... borderline too bright and maybe too white... because i want the brighter light to illuminate the car more when needed... but i also dont want people 50 yards away to be able to see inside when on.

i would almost want to find some type of film apply on the inside of the clear lense to diffuse the light and soften the light just a tad.

I just installed the 9 LED dome lights and they are nowhere near "touching" the plastic. Just be sure to tuck everything back in nicely and all will fit perfect.

 

[HDJulie]

Who knew it would be so much fun just to change some bulbs. I've done the LED exchange on the map lights & the two 2nd row lights. They look great. I've also added blue LEDs to the license plate lights. I tried to do the vanity lights but I just could not get the bulb out. I tried the tape trick & I tried with a thin silicone grip thing (used to open jars) but just couldn't get it to come out. I also could not get out the bulb in the glove box. I'm now looking at the lower cargo light. According to the Pauls Travel Pictures site, the bulb I need is a 212-2 & it is a swap like the other bulbs -- no soldering needed.

 

[z3roz]

My third row light has a mind of its own as well. Comes on whenever, stays off for a few days, then comes on again, repeat. My bulbs from JDM ASTAR have resistors on both leads so idk what the deal is. I might just send off the light to get the LED swapped from Daytime Bright Lights. I took the circuit board off but i'm not sure how to get the LED off without breaking something.

I'm also going to add LED strip lights to my cargo area and wire them with the cargo light. Maybe that will add more resistance and stop the 3rd row light from being an a-hole.

 

[RedDen]

I've never changed any interior bulbs since I got my vehicle in 2011, but when I swapped them for LED, I have already changed 3 of them!!! Bloody cheapooooo Chinese ****!
First, two LEDs started blinking in less than a month after installation. Second, the one I have already replaced went dead again! This time board with five LEDs fell of from the base, it was soldered, so maybe due to heating, no idea...
Anyway, I paid $6 for 20 of them, so still have spare ones...

 

[z3roz]

Just FYI in case anyone with a 2011 or 2012 hadn't tried it; the reverse and turn signal bulbs can be swapped. Now I have red LED turn signals where my reverse lights used to be and my reverse light where the turn signal was, also LED. Now there is no issue with washout and imo it looks way better. Both bulbs are 5201. I had to nip off one little nib on each bulb and take the o-rings off to make it fit.

 

[NewYorkistanSux]

I have the same problem with JDM ASTAR LEDs from Amazon. They were fine for 5 months then started randomly blinking.

I've never changed any interior bulbs since I got my vehicle in 2011, but when I swapped them for LED, I have already changed 3 of them!!! Bloody cheapooooo Chinese ****!
First, two LEDs started blinking in less than a month after installation. Second, the one I have already replaced went dead again! This time board with five LEDs fell of from the base, it was soldered, so maybe due to heating, no idea...
Anyway, I paid $6 for 20 of them, so still have spare ones...

 

[PDExplorer]

I did the bulbs in my Mustang and never had an issue except blink plate bulbs. But seems like most people have a nightmare with the explorers. And I HATE buying things more then once, so ive been hesitating doing this..... Dont want a psycho rear light staying on cause that will drive me absolutely bonkers!

 

[Boisean]

2015 Explorer LED Conversion Solutions with Sylvnia ZEVO

PDExplorer asked if anyone was using Sylvania (Osram) "ZEVO" Series LED replacement lamps. I just completed (well, it's almost complete) the LED conversion on my '15 X using nothing but Sylvania parts. I thought I would share my results here in hope that it would make somebody's life easier in the future.


REASONING

I decided to use the Sylvania brand LED's because:
1) Sylvania is a name brand and a global innovator in lighting products.
2) They are readily available from reputable retailers.
3) As PDExplorer points out, I figure a billion-dollar company has a bit better quality control than something I could find on eBay that is shipped from China.

I purchased all of my parts from O'Reilly because:
1) There is a store about 3 minutes from my house.
2) They have stock "on the shelf" and I can SEE what I am buying before I buy it.
3) If I get it home and it doesn't work or won't fit, I can easily just take it back and get a refund.

When you add in the numerous bad experiences with "gray market" parts and the frustration of expired eBay and Amazon links making finding good parts even more troublesome, it was a no-brainer.

Are they as bright as some of the gray market LED's? Probably not, but they seem brighter than the stock bulbs - at least in the interior - and my goal was not to blind myself (and others), but just convert them to the "sexier" LED versions. And my hope is they won't give me any problems in the long run.

Keep in mind that, like the gray market lamps, these are NOT D.O.T. approved. Phillips claims to have some versions of their LED replacement line that have received D.O.T. approval, but I didn't look in to that.

PARTS LIST

Here are the Sylvania/Osram Part Numbers of the Lamps I used:

Front Map Lights: Sylvania 168SLBP2 (Standard 6000K, 2 Pack) $7.99

2nd Row "Courtesy" Lights (w/moon roof): Sylvania 168SLBP2 (Standard 6000K, 2 Pack) $7.99

3rd Row "1-Button Dome" Light (modified): Sylvania 168SLBP2 (Standard 6000K, 2 Pack) $7.99

Glove Compartment Light: Sylvania 168SLBP2 (Standard 6000K, used 2nd leftover bulb from above)

Rear Side Cargo Area Light: Sylvania 6411LEDBP (ZEVO Series 6000K, 1 Pack) $9.99

License Plate Lights: Sylvania 168SLBP2 (Standard 6000K, 2 Pack) $7.99

Puddle Lamps: Sylvania DE3175LEDBP (ZEVO Series 6000K, 1 Pack x 2) $9.99 x 2

Front Marker Lamps: Sylvania 168SLBP2 (Standard 6000K, 2 Pack) $7.99

Backup Lamps: Sylvania 7440LEDBP2 (ZEVO Series 6000K, 2 Pack) $22.99

Front Turn Signal Lamps: Sylvania 3157LEDBP2 (ZEVO Series 6000K, 2 Pack) $22.99

Rear Turn Signal Lamps: Sylvania 7440RLEDBP2 (ZEVO Series RED, 2 Pack) $22.99

Load/Ballast Resistors: Sylvania LOADRSLBX2 (2 Pack x 2) $14.99 x 2

The entire conversion cost about $190 with tax... plus some elbow grease and head scratching.


(1) INSTALLATION - FRONT MAP LIGHTS

Installation for the front map lights was simple and straightforward. Probably the easiest to replace. For this installation, I left the domed plastic "diffuser" on the front of the bulbs to soften the distribution of light. In my opinion, they are adquately bright.

168/194 LED vs Tungsten


(2) INSTALLATION - 2nd ROW COURTESY

Installation for the 2nd row courtesy lights was a little trickier. The bulbs install from the side of the housing and there is no reflector. The 168/194 LED bulbs from Sylvania only use 1 LED and it is focused out the end of the base through a domed "diffuser" cap. So the only light that exits the housing is what emits from the side of the diffuser. That's not a very efficient use of the light.

Fortunately, the bulbs can be easily modified to "fire sideways", through the lens and down toward the seat. Using a tiny flat-blade screwdriver you can pop the diffuser cap off the base.

Diffuser Removed

Fold the wire leads back straight.

Leads straightened

This gives you enough slack to "tweak" the LED to point toward the side of the base.

Disassembled

Bent/Tweaked

Since polarity matters with these bulbs, you may need to fiddle with this a little in order to maximize the light coming through the lens housing. And just leave the diffuser cap off, you don't need it. The lens of the housing is sufficient to diffuse the light from the LED.

I did NOT install the 1/8 watt 1k ohm resistors as others have suggested. Everything seems to work fine, however when you turn the individual lights on/off with the lens switch, the other lights will quickly flicker for a split second. Adding the resistors might eliminate that, but it's a minor annoyance so I'm not too concerned about it.


(3) INSTALLATION - 3rd ROW 1-BUTTON DOME LIGHT

As everyone knows, these are tricky buggers, but I didn't find the solution all that difficult. And a hat tip to chieftomahawk for showing the rest of us the way!

Popping out the circuit board is easy, but do it gently not to break anything. I covered the circuit board in several layers of blue painter's tape to protect the other surface mount devices from damage. I used a flat file and carefully filed the LED down through the packaging, through the LED chip, and finally reached the two copper contact pads. It took about 30 minutes to do the filing, but I didn't want risk damaging anything else. A bit tedious, but I just worked on it while I watched Netflix.

Once I reached the copper contact pads, I cleaned everything up and removed the painters tape. I disassembled one of the 194 LED bulbs. I plugged the circuit board back in to the car's wiring harness, and held the LED against the copper contacts to determine which way the LED needed to be soldered in to work (again - polarity matters). Once I had determined the polarity, I unplugged the circuit board, trimmed the leads, and soldered the LED to copper pads.

Broken down

Side view

End view

I plugged the board back in to make sure it work before I finished reassembly.

Then I removed the periscope reflector and the black ring from the lens housing. Since I had changed the LED, the reflector was pretty ineffective, and the black ring only reduced the spread of the light, so I figured I was better off without them.

Housing mods

Popped the circuit board back in to the housing and reinstalled.

Even without the 1k resistors, I haven't experienced any of the eratic behavior that others have reported, such as the light not going off when the rest of the lights do. All interior lights seem to work perfectly.


(4) INSTALLATION - GLOVE COMPARTMENT LIGHT

Nothing to report here. It was a simple swap, and very easy. Works great.


(5) INSTALLATION - REAR SIDE CARGO AREA LIGHT

This is a "festoon" bulb. This was the first ZEVO series light I installed. Appears brighter than stock. Again, this was a simple swap, and it works beautifully.


(6) INSTALLATION - LICENSE PLATE LAMPS

This one was also fairly straighforward, but I did do one modification. Like the 2nd row courtesy housings, these housings to not have reflectors, and the bulbs install from the side. In this case, I removed the diffusion cap from both lamps before installation. But with or without them, the illumination on the plate was pretty uneven and not very bright.

Here's where the modification comes in. I just happened to have some "Faux Stainless" style Con-Tact brand self-adhesive shelf liner left over from another project. Rather than risking a short circuit with aluminum foil, I decided to try this first. It is somewhat rigid like construction paper, so it holds its shape with a little coaxing. I cut about a 3" long, 1/2" wide strip and slid it through the hole where the bulb socket twists in. I used forceps and Q-tips to get it to curve the way I wanted it (note, I did NOT remove the backing, the paper just sits loosely). I trimmed the excess so it wouldn't stick out the hole.

The result was a curved reflector that redirects the light more evenly. It offered much more efficient use of the light, and gave a more even cast to the license plate. And it won't cause a short because the paper is non-conductive. Works great!


(7) INSTALLATION - PUDDLE LAMPS

This one is a bit trickier. If you've done your research, you know these are a sealed housing and the bulb cannot be replaced (technically).

To separate the lens from the housing, I used an X-acto knife heated with a heat gun (you'll want to use gloves). I used the heat gun to get the X-acto blade good and hot, then worked it along around the edge of the puddle lamp lens, reheating frequently. It worked, but the edge was still a little rough. I was hoping I could get a nice clean edge, but alas. Though it did remove less plastic than a Dremel cutoff wheel would have.

Once the housing is open, bulb replacement is easy.

Then, I sanded down some of the roughest edges so there wasn't any plastic bits sticking out here and there. Finally, I used a very light bead of clear silicone adhesive to carefully "glue" the housings back together. It seems to have worked, but only time will tell how moisture proof they are.


(8) INSTALLATION - FRONT MARKER LAMPS

These were easy. I popped the diffuser caps off the 194 bulbs as they didn't seem necessary, but other than that, no modifications were required. Direct replacement.


(9) INSTALLATION - BACKUP LAMPS

Once you get the housing off the vehicle, replacement is easy. It's a direct swap, and this is one instance where I think the LED's truly are brighter. I seem to be able to see better with the backup camera at night. It was a good upgrade.

Backup lamps


(10) INSTALLATION - FRONT & REAR TURN SIGNALS

The turn signal bulbs take a little engineering.

First off, I took off the hood overslam bumper towers by removing the two 8mm bolts.

The front turn signal sockets can be a bear to remove. To help, I removed the 10mm bolt toward the front of the housing, and then, using a flat blade screwdriver, I popped up the rear "tab" that holds the back in the sheet metal. This doesn't let the housing move much, but it gives you an extra fraction of an inch that seems to make it a little easier to get the bulb sockets in and out.

10mm bolt

Rear housing tab

Once I had the sockets out, I started by just replacing the front and rear bulbs with LED's, and then testing the turn signal function. The hazard flashers work fine, but the turn signals hyperflashed. Damn.

Okay, I guess I need ballast resistors. So, I bought a pair (2), thinking that all I needed was one for the left, and one for the right.

I patched in one of the resistors to the rear circuit. The turn signal still hyperflashed.

To make a long story a little shorter, I won't go in to the details of my troubleshooting. But you will need ONE RESISTOR PER BULB - in other words TWO FOR THE FRONT, and TWO FOR THE REAR.
Once my tests proved that I was able to get the LED's to flash without hyperflashing, then I started working out how to install the resistors permanently.

On the rear, I decided to use Harley#356's method with the aluminum flat bar. (You'll note that the Sylvania resistors are quite a bit bigger than his were.) But rather than using gel super glue (which is an insulator) to attach the resistors to the aluminum, I used screws and added heat sink thermal compound (just happened to have some) in between the resistor and aluminum to increase heat dissipation.

Rear turn signal setup

I then attached the whole thing to the light housing with 3M VHB double sided tape. It's not going anywhere.

For the front, I decided to mount the resistors - rather conspicuously - right under the hood overslam towers. This actually is a pretty ideal location. It's easy to access, you can mount the resistors right to the sheet metal for better cooling, obtain a solid ground with a crimp ring lug, it's directly adjacent to the wiring harness, and the resistors can get plenty of air around them.

Front resistor install final

Wiring in the resistors in is a little tedious, but not complicated. You can use the "Scotchlok" style pinch taps if you don't know how to solder, but personally I hate using them. They are too bulky and look unprofessional. Not to mention you can potentially cut the wire in half if you are not careful. Therefore, I prefer soldering.

I used an X-acto knife to carefully strip part of the insulation from the appropriate wires. I then soldered the resistor wires to the factory wiring conductors. Once the resistors were soldered in, I double checked that everything was working, and then used electrical tape to cover the solder joints. Finally, I re-installed everything as it was.

Rear solder joint

Front solder joint

Front circuit layout

I used 6000K "white" LED's for the front because the stock bulbs were clear. However, the "whiter" light from the LED's washes out the factory orange color that you see with halogen bulbs. The color is a little more yellow than before. But it looks okay to me.

Front color & brightness comparison

For the rear, I decided to go with red versus amber, but Sylvania does make an amber 7440 LED, in case you want to stick with that. The LED's don't seem to "fill" the reflector with light like the stock 7440 amber halogens. I'm not saying that the LED's are "dimmer", per se, but you certainly don't get the VOLUME of light in the reflector that you do from the stock bulbs, if that makes sense.

Red rear turn signal


HOT TURN SIGNAL RESISTORS

The resistors DO get hot. Surprisingly hot even though they are only flashing at about a 50% duty cycle. After the turn signals are on for several minutes I couldn't touch them for more than a second. That probably means the surface temperature was somewhere around 130F degrees. However, I don't think they are getting hot enough to do any significant damage to plastic parts or wiring. I think they would need to get quite a bit north of 200F degrees to soften plastic parts or melt wiring insulation.

The ballast resistors are housed inside finned aluminum heat sinks. A heat sink works by increasing surface area available to the air to facilitate better cooling. The manufacturer's instructions recommended installing them against metal to improve heat dissipation.

Resistor top

Resistor bottom

On user mentioned wrapping electrical tape around the ballast resistors in order to keep them from melting something they touch. DO NOT wrap the resistors. That will actually make the resistor even hotter because it can't get the airflow it needs to disspate heat. So install the resistors in as much "free air" as you can.


FUTURE CHALLENGES

I want to figure out how to disable the interior lights altogether. I've seen a number of users on the forums ask how to disable the interior lighting when the doors open. I, too, find it annoying that there isn't a simple way to do this. I've enjoyed the ability to disable the interior lights on the last two vehicles I have owned.

A better solution for the center console compartment. I currently have a battery powered "taplight" mounted in the console compartment so that I can find items at night. Why Ford didn't put a light in there like they did the glove compartment I will never know, especially since the driver is far more likely to use the center console for storage. And since the map lights aren't positioned over the console, they are no help with illuminating the inside of the dark compartment. I have contemplated a couple of solutions - either tapping the power from 2nd row 12V power point in the back of the console, or the backlight for the rear climate controls (but those only come on with the park lights).

Visor Vanity Mirror LED's. I haven't converted my visor mirror lights to LED yet. Sylvania doesn't seem to make the very small T5 wedge 74 LED replacement bulbs yet. I may have to resort to gray market. But here's how to get to the bulbs.

Mirror lamp screws

Mirror lamp socket removal

H11 Fog/Driving Lights. I haven't decided yet if I will convert these to LED. Since a poorly focused bulb could blind - or at the very least annoy - oncoming drivers, I want to be sure that my choice here does not create a bigger problem than it solves.

Headlights. I likely will not convert these if for no other reason than I don't want to have to figure out how to retrofit an LED solution. From my current research, it appears that there is no direct swap that will fit in the HB3 lamp socket without causing headaches. If someone here knows otherwise, correct me.

Exterior Lighting ALWAYS ON. I would like to figure out a way to have the tail/marker lights and headlights come on ANY TIME the car is on - not just at night. I drive with my park lights and headlights on during the day - to me it's just safer. I also ride motorcycles, so maybe it's the "always be visible" philosophy that riders live by.

I think that's it. If you have questions, let me know. Happy to help if I can.

Cheers!

 

[Brian T]

/\ What a write up!!!!

Thanks for taking the time to put it together, lots of excellent info.

 

[deewan]

I have the same problem with JDM ASTAR LEDs from Amazon. They were fine for 5 months then started randomly blinking.

Yea, I was having the same problems. The cheapo LED's from amazon and JDM ASTAR would last about 3-6 months then start blinking. I then decided to bite the bullet and purchased some from CARiD that ran about $8 a bulb. HOWEVER, I have had them installed both above my plate and on the interior for over a year now and not a single issue.

 

[GBot]

Hello all -

I posted in a different thread about a nearly complete LED conversion on my 2015 Explorer Limited. I thought it might be helpful to link to it in this thread also.

Click here.

Cheers!

Awesome write up!

If it's not too much to ask, I'd love to see some pics of your lights at night or closer to sunset. Basically any time that's not broad daylight. It may be helpful to see how much cooler your car is than mine

What problems have you heard of with the LED conversion lights? It seems like there are some direct 9005 replacements that are plug and play, though I could be wrong.

 

[Boisean]

Thanks, GBot!

It has been on my "to do list" to get some shots of the lights on. Probably at dusk. At night it's so dark the lights just look blown out and it's hard to get an idea of "relative" brightness. I'll make a point of it... when it stops raining.

FWIW, I have "eyeballed" it with both the front and the rear pointed toward the sun in full sunlight and the front turns are plenty bright. The rears are, indeed, a little washed out, as others have reported, but the brake lights aren't really that bright in full sun either. The difference being that the high mount brake light is shaded under the spoiler, so it gets your attention a little better.

On cloudy days or at night, I think the turns are plenty bright.

As I've been driving around on sunny days, I've noticed that the turn signals on most cars on the road are difficult to clearly make out at any appreciable distance; like more than a block. But if you think about it, an experienced driver makes note of turn signals at a nearly unconscious level, as your brain is simultaneously processing the car pulling out of the parking lot, the woman standing on the corner waiting to cross, the cyclist in the bike lane, the guy tailgating, etc. So I don't know that it needs to be obnoxiously bright to be effective. (But maybe it makes us feel better?)

As for the fog/headlight conversion, you may well be right. I found pics of the Philips Xtreme "Ultinon" H11 LED's for the fogs, and it appears they may be an easy swap. I have 2 concerns - the inline "ballast" and the way the LED lamps will change the beam pattern. I haven't looked under there yet, but I want to make sure there's plenty of room for the ballast and that it can be zip-tied securely up out of the way. As for the beam pattern, brighter is great, but the reflectors are designed for a certain bulb, with a certain filament, of a certain shape, at a certain distance from the socket, so if the LED's aren't well designed, one could be blinding oncoming drivers.

Hopefully I can post up some pics later this week. I'll try to do it right and use my DSLR instead of my phone so I can better control exposure. Stay tuned!

 

[mmartin028]

Awesome write up Boisean.

So far I've swapped my front two map lights, back cargo light, and license plate lights. (Went for the easy stuff first....lol.)

I also did your little trick with the right side license plate light. I found some shiny foil looking wrapping paper, cut a small piece out and put it inside the light housing (making sure there was a part covering the back part of the housing directly opposite the LED bulb).

It still doesn't point the light directly on the license plate, but it looks much better than without it. Thanks for that tip

I do have a question for you, though. I don't understand what you were filing down on the third row dome light LED. It's hard to tell from your photos. I don't have the sunroof so I actually have two of those lights to deal with.

Eventually I'll get to the glove box light, but that looks like it's a medium pain in the ***.

Not sure if I'll tackle the lights under the side mirrors or not. It would be awesome if someone would do a video on swapping those out. Or maybe I could just see what a dealer would charge.

Thanks again for your great write up. It was a tremendous help.

Mike

 

[peterk9]

Awesome write up Boisean.

So far I've swapped my front two map lights, back cargo light, and license plate lights. (Went for the easy stuff first....lol.)

I also did your little trick with the right side license plate light. I found some shiny foil looking wrapping paper, cut a small piece out and put it inside the light housing (making sure there was a part covering the back part of the housing directly opposite the LED bulb).

It still doesn't point the light directly on the license plate, but it looks much better than without it. Thanks for that tip

I do have a question for you, though. I don't understand what you were filing down on the third row dome light LED. It's hard to tell from your photos. I don't have the sunroof so I actually have two of those lights to deal with.

Eventually I'll get to the glove box light, but that looks like it's a medium pain in the ***.

Not sure if I'll tackle the lights under the side mirrors or not. It would be awesome if someone would do a video on swapping those out. Or maybe I could just see what a dealer would charge.

Thanks again for your great write up. It was a tremendous help.

Mike

There is no video on changing the puddle lights but there are some posts by members that have done it.

Peter

 

[deewan]

[MENTION=301999]mmartin028[/MENTION] I just redid my puddle lights last Friday because the LED lights I ordered from Amazon were always flaking out on me. I got tired of the blinking and decided to buy the Sylvania DE3175LEDBP at O'Reilly's. I'll try to give a quick runs down in hopes it's enough info

1) Pop out the puddle lights. Use a regular screw driver and release the pins on one side of the round puddle lights.
2) I used a dremel and disc wheel to cut the lens away from the housing.
3) Take out the old lights, pop in the new LEDs
4) take the housing back to the Explorer and plug in the wires to ensure LED works. If it doesn't work, switch the positive/negative and try again.
5) Use clear adhesive caulk to attach the lens back to the housing. Let dry
6) Install the housing back into the mirror,

YOU'RE DONE!!!

 

[dont slow down]

There are so many great tutorials in this thread explaining each step of a LED conversion however many pictures and posts were scattered throughout the thread and hard to find. I took the liberty of combining and condensing those pics and useful posts into one post together. I cut and mashed multiple peoples posts into others to give the most detail and information. I hope the original posters do not mind. Thanks to those that have done the research and shared their information with us.

DSD

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Map lights, second row lights (sunroof version)



Second row light (NON SUNROOF VERSION):

Many of you know that the non sunroof version second row light contains two built in yellow LED's on the circuit board and not an easy swap out. I have completed an LED swap on this light using the third row light as a guide. It is NOT an easy plug and play swap and required some modification to the housing, soldering, and ingenuity. The way I did this was based on the type of bulbs I had and the housing my EX was equipped with. I have a 2013 XLT explorer and this may vary depending on which year you have. Let's begin.

Remove the second row light housing from the roof, it just pops out starting by pulling at the rear of the light. Once it is out take it to your work station. Flip the light so that the circuit board is facing up. There are four tabs that lock into the sides of the housing which hold the circuit board in place. Using a small flat head screw driver gently pry the tabs out of the holes. You may need to work around the board evenly to get it out. Be careful not to crack the board!

Once the tabs are free work the board out of the housing being careful not to bend the connector pins. Lift up and slide the board out.

A few notes about this light. The lights and switches work opposite of each other. In other words when you press the right hand button the left hand LED comes on. The light beams are X'd, meaning they cross. This produces a "spotlight" effect so each passenger can have their light on without disturbing the other.

Let's look at the bulbs I am using. This is a standard 194 bulb and fits almost all the interior bulb sockets. Mine have 5 LED's on them and actually make them quite large for the housing. You may want to look for some smaller ones that will fit better.

I had to remove the white base in order to get these to fit. Bend the leads straight so the base can slide off. My base was "glued" to the light so I had to cut it off with a dremel.

As you can see my bulbs already have a resistor installed to give them the proper load rating. If yours do not have a resistor then follow the instructions further down in this post to add your own.

Now lets have a look at the housing. Mine has two center ports for the LED's, and two push buttons on the left side to operate the lights.

This step is optional but made things a little easier. There are four tabs in the corners of the yellow housing that hold it in. Removing this whole assembly makes it easier to mock up your lights to see how they fit in the housing. Gently pry each tab out of the hole and work your way around to each tab.

Remove the two housings by lifting up on the tabs held by the clips. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO BREAK THEM. Pretend you are doing surgery on these next few steps, it's delicate.

Now separate the two halves by unclipping the center snap on the other side.

It's time to test fit your bulbs into the housings. As I said mine are pretty large and a smaller bulb would fit better. The circuit board sits flush with the top of these housings so your bulbs need to sit below the edge of the plastic as to not short out the circuit board. I needed to enlarge the top opening to allow them to fit. I used a dremel to gradually enlarge the area for the bulb. Grind a little and test fit, you don't want to remove more than you have to.

Once your bulb fits bend the leads on the bulb down along the sloping part of the housing. I drilled two small holes in the top edge to allow the leads and bulb to sit a little lower in the housing so it didn't contact the circuit board. I used a small dab of CA glue (or super glue) to hold the bulb in place while I soldered the wires to the bulb. Using some 22 gauge wire that I had laying around solder the wires to your bulb. You don't need much only about an inch and a half. Finish off your solder joint with some heat shrink to prevent shorting.

Do this for both bulbs and make sure everything fits nicely in the housing. Once you have it assembled to your satisfaction snap the two halves back together. If you removed the whole socket assembly then reassemble as shown. Make sure you run your wires through the large notched area to prevent the circuit board from pinching your wires on final assembly.

Now lets turn our attention back to the circuit board. This is where it's the point of no return. You need to shave off the ceramic material and diode off the LED down to the base. I used an x-acto knife to do this. Be very careful not to slip and cut yourself as well as slip and damage any other components on the board. Once you see the silver pads showing up just clean it up. There are two solder pads separated by a little bit of the ceramic, that doesn't need to come off. Just make sure you have all of it off the pads.

The pads will be silver and are hard to see in my pictures but you cannot solder to this. To solder to the pad you need to scrape the silver coating off to reveal the copper under it. My pictures don't show this well because of my camera but you should be able to see what I'm talking about. Once you are down to the copper brush off any shavings and clean up your area. Now you need to tin the pads with solder. Be very easy with the solder, don't glob it on or let it run over and touch the other pad or it will short out.

Now it's time to solder the wires to the circuit board. I'll save you some time and tell you that the larger inner soldering pads on each side are positive and the outer narrower pads are negative. Solder each wire to its perspective side and polarity. Be sure to arrange it so you can flip the housing over and not pinch the wires. Snap the lower light socket assembly onto the main light base making sure you install it correctly oriented so it lines up with the circuit board. Then install the circuit board on top gently pressing the tabs down and into their locking holes. Be sure you don't pinch the wires!

You should now have a fully assembled light housing. Go and test it out to make sure it works and functions properly. While my bulbs were fairly large for this application it functions fine, however I did lose some "spotlight" ability. Each bulb when on pretty much lights up the whole back seat by itself. I don't really mind and if I ever change my mind I'll find new smaller bulbs and change them out.

Third row light solution:

Credit for this goes to chieftomahawk. He did the work and figured it out, I took more pics and will explain in a little more detail.

Remove the housing from the ceiling starting at the front edge. It should just pop out. Disconnect the plug and take it to your work area. On my light the circuit board is exactly the same as my second row light however it seems there is a difference in design from year to year. It shouldn't matter the process should be the same. Gently pry the circuit board out of the housing with a flat head screw driver and pull the circuit board out.

Here it is separated.

Carefully shave the ceramic and diode off the circuit board till you reach the two silver pads underneath. Then scratch off the silver to the copper underneath.

Here is the other version of circuit board.

I had to remove the base of my bulb to make it fit in the housing. Bend your bulb leads to get the bulb to sit where you want it and make sure they exit the housing right by the little prongs.

With your bulb in the housing set it down on top of the circuit board. Remember the larger pad is positive and the narrow pad is negative, did you orient your bulb in the housing correctly? Solder your leads to the board and slide the housing up and over the solder pad.

Flip the board over and reinsert it into the light base. Be sure you line up all the tabs on the bulb housing with the base. This part was a pain to get everything lined up but make sure its lined up before you snap the circuit board fully back in. Once it's in take it out to the car and try it out!

Puddle lights:


For some models, cargo compartment lower side light LED swap:

Pop out housing from side panel carefully with a flat screwdriver.

Pop bulb out of metal holding clips. Replace with LED Festoon type bulb of same size.

Reinsert light housing into panel wire side first.

Vanity mirror light LED swap: COMING SOON

Adding 1K Ohm 1/8 Watt resistors to 194 LED bulbs (if needed, most LED bulbs now come with resistors built in since these original posts):
Original posting on cobaltss.net:

Ok, so you have decided to purchase the 194 LEDs for your car off ebay. Sure, it seems to work fine in the trunk. Works great for the rear plate. Cool, however it does not seem to work well in your map lights inside the car. It seems to stay on all the time, but being super dim. Well I will show you how to fix this problem.

You can do this to any 194 LED light. Here are the ones that I have purchased:

Step One: Go to your local RadioShack store and pick up a pack of 1k Ohm 1/8th Watt Resistors.

Step Two: Take the base of the LED light. Do this by prying the wires from the base. Then pulling the base straight out:

Step Three: Take one of the resistors. Bend one leg at a 90 degree angle. Cut off the leg leaving about 1/8th inch of led. The solder it to one side of the LED light board. It will not matter what side of the resistor to use, since resistors are not polarized.

Step Four: Measure and cut the other led. Then you can bend it towards the other leg. Doing this will prepare the other side. Then solder it.

Last Step: Put the base back on the LED in reverse of how you removed it. Make sure you do this to both LEDs for the map lights. Enjoy normal operation of your map lights.

 

[NewYorkistanSux]

Which ones did you get from CarID?

Yea, I was having the same problems. The cheapo LED's from amazon and JDM ASTAR would last about 3-6 months then start blinking. I then decided to bite the bullet and purchased some from CARiD that ran about $8 a bulb. HOWEVER, I have had them installed both above my plate and on the interior for over a year now and not a single issue.