BDoggPrelude

I'm in the process of replacing all the interior bulbs with LED's. Do the lenses in the trunk just pop off? I was kind of prying at them with a flat head and they don't seem to want to pop off. I searched around and didn't find anything. Just wanted to ask before I break it.

oo7spy

There is a little notch in the lenses where you can fit a flat head screwdriver in. Insert and pop. Then go find your SO and repeat.

For the license lights, you have to pull the rubber stoppers towards the outside of the car to remove them. Then the whole liner pops off.

hondaxacura

The courtesy light housing on the trunk itself is hard to remove. I actually almost broke the clip removing it, it requires some force.

As for the license plate light, I just remove the access cover to the reverse lights and if your hand is small enough, you can remove it through there. (Honda should have gave us an access panel for the license plate lights too)

But as oo7 said, removing the trunk liner is the way to go. However, I do suggest like a plastic pry tool, as stated from the Service manual. or something similar. To note, the clips holding it on there are tight and might require you to pull pretty darn hard. You want to be as close to the clips as possible so you don't ruin the clip mounts. There's a chance that you might peel them off from the fabric liner, if you do, hot glue it back to the same spot.

BDoggPrelude

Thanks guys. I already did the license plate lights a couple weeks ago. That process is well documented on this forum and was easy to find. I just wasn't so sure about the lights inside the trunk. It seems like I'm going to either break the lenses or rip the carpeting. I'll try it again.

BDoggPrelude

Thanks again guys. I ended up using a butter knife and it worked a lot better than the thin flat head screwdriver I used for the cabin lights.

hondaxacura

Let me know how it goes when changing your map light in the front. I got the cover off, but the bulb itself is so hard to remove!

BDoggPrelude

I already did it once just to check the brightness of the LED's I got for my license plate lights. They are a bitch to get out for sure. It's just hard to get a good grip on the bulb to pull it out. I managed to get them out though. I'm still waiting on the door, trunk and front map light bulbs to come in. I received the rear dome lights today and put them in already.

oo7spy

I used a screwdriver for the map bulbs. Pry at the base and they will loosen. The bulb has enough of an edge to grip.

Sniffles

The map lights were def the hardest! I put on some latex gloves and just started to pull it out...theres an angle that you can grab the bulb and just pull it straight out. It'll take a few tries for sure tho but worth it!

hondaxacura

Good suggestion with the latex gloves! I will definitely try that.

Sniffles

Just remember to wiggle it from all angle so it loosens up and then pulling it straight is much easier. Just don't OVER do the wiggling haha. What color are you going for?

BDoggPrelude

Thanks for the hint there. Made it a lot easier to get the bulbs out. Same thing for the trunk lights.
I did white. I actually received the last of the bulbs in the mail today and just finished putting them all in. I'll post some pictures in my build thread in a few days when I can get around to taking them with my DSLR. Here's a crappy iPhone pic for now.



BTW, I spent less then $20 including shipping on all the bulbs. I ordered cheap ones off eBay. Might swap them out with higher quality bulbs in the future but I didn't want to waste a ton of money on expensive V-LED's or something like that just to find out later I want to go a different route. I'm glad too because I think I'm going to put something brighter in the map lights.

Sniffles

nice! make sure the led's match! I ordered mine thru ijdmtoy or their ebay name: motormax. They are kinda expensive but if you get their 8 pc interior set, its not too bad since they all match.

mg7726

i also used the ijdmtoy set for entire interior/trunk looks awesome.

hondaxacura

I just might do the white. Could I request an overall shot of the car's interior with the LED's? I'm thinking of doing it also, but not sure if I should put a trigger if the output or the look of it is bad.

BTW, what kind of LED did you get? Like SMD led all around, or single tip kinds, etc..

Sniffles

Definitely go with LEDs...just depends on what color you're going for. I went with all blue since my radar detector is blue and so are the foot light, door handle..etc. I'll post some pics later tonight..however, I put in white LEDs for my sun visor since blue wouldn't really help you see yourself haha

thephantom

Which bulb (size) did you use for the visor? From where and how much did you get the visor bulbs?

Lucky7uciano

I tried to change the interior lights in 2011 Acura TL to then realize that my back seat lights aren't regular bulbs that I can swap out and I'm afraid the front ones (map lights or whatever) might give the same exact problem. Any suggestions?

oo7spy

First suggestion: try this question again in the TL forum.

Second suggestion: look up what bulbs you need with the Sylvania bulb guide.

The RL rear dome lights are the only bulbs that aren't wedge bulbs. They are festoon bulbs. I wouldn't be surprised if the TL is the same.

BDoggPrelude

All of the overhead lights in the 4G TL are LED's that are soldered to a circuit board. You can't just swap them out with standard LED replacement bulbs unfortunately. You would need to find the correct SMD LED's, remove the current ones and solder new ones in. A member on the 4G forum did it and it looked like a pain in the ass. Sucks too because I'd much rather pick my own lights and I'm not overly fond of the soft white color output of the stock ones.

Lucky7uciano

You're exactly right, it seems like too much of a pain to even bother...but I don't really like the soft white LEDs, but I'm not going to bother with it. Thanks for the answer, you couldn't have been any more detailed.

oo7spy

Unless you have access to a quality dual tip soldering iron and a microscope, I would say don't bother. Replacing surface mount components well takes a lot of practice even with the right tools.

You can buy the right replacements, send me them and the board, and I'll do it for $25.

BDoggPrelude

They're already on the way to you. Can't wait to see the results!

RLifer

I just ordered their 8 piece interior set from jmdtoy as well. The 8 pieces are: 2 bulbs for map lights, 2 bulbs for dome lights, and 4 bulbs for door courtesy lights. I went to their ebay store and was able to figure out which 2 bulbs to get for the vanity lights, but wasn't sure where or what to look at to order the trunk lights. Wishing the trunk lights and vanity lights were part of the "set".

Anybody have a tip on what trunk lights would work for a 2011 RL?

oo7spy

The map, puddle/courtesy, and trunk lights are all the same--T10 wedge bulbs. The dome are 35mm festoon. I don't remember the vanity type since I never got around to replacing them.

NathanJax

This is the vanity bulb...

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...d-festoon/243/

I swapped mine out. Here's the new LED on the drivers side

oo7spy

Looks like a 30 mm (3 cm) festoon.

NathanJax

yup (I have a few spares)