need a reverse / backup bulb replacement

I just finished the foglight-bulb mod. This fix is a winner:

1) even in daylight the brightness difference is noticable;

2) not too much wattage. You're replacing two 18W bulbs with two 38W bulbs - adding a mere 3 Amps;

3) no wiring mods, no new lamp housings, no brackets. You do the "nasty" to the easiest replaceable part, the bulb;

4) it's CHEAP! The bulbs were $8 each at AutoZone;

5) it's FAST! Including the round trip to the store it took me 45 minutes;

6) it's technically sound. There is plenty of room in the taillamp housing to handle the extra heat, and the extensions on the contact pins isolate the heat from the socket. Also, the socket has the pins horizontal (see above), so no risk of vibration pushing the bulb out.

There are only two caution points. First is that most foglight bulbs are going to be halogen-type - so keep them clean and dry. Wash your hands first to minimize oil transfer. Second is that it might take a little force to push the folded contact blades into the socket, and if you aren't careful you might bend the pins too close together. I spread the pins slightly before pushing into the socket.

You don't need a Dremel to do this - I cut the bulb base with a mini-hacksaw; an X-Acto micro-saw would work fine, too. Just cut up against the flange of the plastic base (remove the silicone gasket first!). The trickiest part was making sure that the tabs were even after bending.

Ramy, this is a great mod. It was quite astute to realize that the dimensions of the bare foglight bulb were the same as the T-5 spec of the originals. Good job!

8)

I picked up a pair (actually two pair after I broke one) of these bulbs from ebay for around $8 for the pair shipped from auto8811. He is one of the few who charge a reasonable shipping charge, so look closely before bidding from any others!

You can avoid a quick bulb burnout by wiping the bulb down with a rag and denatured alcohol after plugging it in. This should remove all of the oils from handling it during your modification.

The length of the bulb from the socket actually turns out to be really close to the original bulb. That combined with no actual contact of the glass to the socket should ease any worries about too much heat. (As mentioned by MikeQBF) I have one on for as long as 5 minutes while taking the original photos and I could not really tell a difference in temperature of the tailight housing to the touch between the upgraded side and the original, (real scientific I know) and no melted plastic!

But as with all do-it-yourself mods, proceed at your own risk.

Re: Lamp specifications Back up

Faggettabout Autozone, their cross reference goes to 2003 and then quits.

Here is what I did after some experimentation.

I took a #855 bulb- Sprawl mart #4.96 ea
While holding the flat portion of the leads with a needle nosed plier I crushed the plastic socket away by cranking down on them in a bench vise.
You will notice the flat leads do a one half twist in order to make the right angle turn inside the now removed plastic. Still holding the flat part above this point with needle nose pliers flatten this half twist with another pair of pliers. Then grasping just above the now flattened out twist bend the tab over to make the new lead fat enough to be held firmly in the lamp socket.
You now have a 50w halogen back up lamp.
Open hatch and lower tailgate, remove 2 phillips screws from the tail light lens and wiggle it free. Remove the backup lamp socket by turning it 1/4 turn counter clockwise. Install the newly modified bulb. Re-install the bulb socket in the lens assembly. Engage the 2 pins of the tail light lens in the car first and put the 2 screws back.
All of this goes smoother if you look at the base of the original bulb to see how fat to leave the bends in the lead. If you need to open the bend up a bit slide a pocketknife blade in.
Don't bend near the glass or anywhere on the round part.

No hacksaws, no dremels required.

The reason you hold the flat part of the leads with a needle nose plier is the weld between the round lead and the flat is very weak and can easily break.

Bench vise, needle nose pliers, regular pliers, #2 phillips screwdriver.

The 37.5 W 896 bulbs will also work , they aren't as bright and they cost more.

Do not do this in the bathtub or while actually in reverse, eye protection never hurt anyone, fingerprints ruin halogen bulbs, if you void where prohibited don't face the crowd, your mileage may vary.

Re: need a reverse bulb replacement

I'd be happy to post a pic if I could find those 50W bulbs bamboo was talking about. In another thread, he calls them #855 bulbs, but I cannot find them anywhere on the internet, even at Walmart where he got his. I wonder if 855 was a typo? Here's the post:
http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showpost.php?p=123335&postcount=5

[EDIT] The bulbs are 885.

MikeQBF, if you think the 50W's are too much, I'll settle for the 894's.

blutch, maybe this'll help: I have attached a picture of an 894 bulb. If I understand the procedure correctly, what they're talking about is cutting off the lower plastic part, leaving just the two metal leads as long as possible. You would then bend both of those up and stick those in the socket, effectively creating a new base to insert out of the bent leads.

[EDIT] OK, here's some pics of the finished product. I used a Dremel to cut off the leads after breaking a bulb ($10.99 at Kragen!) by trying to emulate a bench press with a pair of vice grips.