Changing Light Bulbs

[ChrisTKD]

My rear brake light went out so I went to the local Advance Auto to pick up a replacement Sylvania pair for around $5. Changing brake light bulbs in usually easy-peasy and it is as long as you don't make the silly mistakes that I made.

 

Open the side compartment in the boot and look into the tiny space. There are several bulbs -- the brake light is NOT the bottom bulb. The bottom bulb with the two plastic fins on the base is the turn signal and it's a royal pain in the butt to put back in. Why do they have two plastic fins you ask? Because you need to hold on to the plastic fin as you reach in and maneuver it around the metal piece that blocks access to the bulb socket.

 

Lessons learned:

1. the light bulb has two small bumps on the base of the bulb. These do not line up with the metal connectors on the light assembly. Instead you rotate the bulb until the bumps line up with a slot in the assembly. If you push the light bulb into the assembly and hear a click that doesn't mean you got it. If you can easily pull the light bulb back out then the light bulb will fall out as you try to fit it back into the car.

 

2. Don't freak out if the bulb falls off and falls into the car. It's not going to rattle around in there forever. You can fish it out or call someone with small hands to get it out for you.

 

3. Turn signal bulb replacement - Ok, so I had to put this one back in because I took it out by mistake. Be prepared to curse but if your bulb is not falling out like mine you will curse less frequently. I finally decided that trying to see what I was doing wasn't going to work. Final decision was to use my left hand to put in the left turn signal bulb (blindly feeling it in place).

 

So the guy at Advance Auto recommended that I replace my front light bulbs with LEDs - - they come with a kit that deals with the heat transfer so the housing doesn't melt. He said the cost was about $100. Not sure if he meant for both or each. Thoughts?

[ucf3]

be careful selecting the correct LED bulbs. I converted a number of bulbs in the front of the car to LED and have been getting the flickering effect. BMW electronics don't like voltage changes so you may need to find correct type of bulb that includes a regulator.

[Gearhead60]

be careful selecting the correct LED bulbs. I converted a number of bulbs in the front of the car to LED and have been getting the flickering effect. BMW electronics don't like voltage changes so you may need to find correct type of bulb that includes a regulator.

 

I had to replace some fog light bulbs on my wife's car (non-BMW/Mini) and want to replace with LED. Found this site http://www.jdmastar.com/ which coincidentally carries bulbs that they claim will not code on BMWs/Minis. The bulbs (to replace Halogens) I ended up getting look and work very nicely.