Ok, before you all get excited, I just wanted to share my 5 minute tail light conversion. Nothing overly fancy here, just a slight change to our existing setup and no parts or $$$ is needed.

Background. I was behind a TL the other day with a burned out tail light bulb on the inside of the taillight housing. In other words, our taillights have 4 bulbs total, the burned out one was one of the inner bulbs. Anyway, when the lady braked, it came on. Obviously the running light filament was blown, but the brake light filament was still good to go. So the light was dark until she braked but it got my attention.

So, I went ahead and made my conversion to this setup on both sides.

1. I removed the inner 7443 bulb on both sides. By looking at the bulb, you can clearly see which lead goes to which filament.
2. I then bent the two inner metal connectors on the bulb so they stuck out straight and were not folded back on the bulb. If you want to make sure, just trace down the wire in the bulb to the outside of the bulb. The thinner filament is the running light, the thicker filament is the brake light.
3. I then used snips to cut the leads flush with the bottom of the bulb.
4. Tested them out and good to go.

So now, the outer bulbs come on when the lights are on and when I brake
The inner bulbs are off until I brake, which I personally think draws a little more attention if someone is behind you.

Here are the pics: Keep in mind, pics taken with no flash and the running lights and brake lights are just as bright then before I did this. The camera makes them appear dim, but be assured no intensity is lost.

WITH JUST LIGHTS ON (NO BRAKING)


WITH LIGHTS ON AND BRAKING (It would like this w/o lights as well)


Just thought I'd switch it up a bit. It's simple, but I like it.
The only downside to this setup is if one of the outer bulbs go out, I don't have a backup bulb that will stay on so both sides of the car have a running light. But I always have spares anyway, and I check my lights often to make sure they are working.

 

thats original! good work

 

lol cool im doin that

 

oh no. did you have a broken light bulb on one side and you decided to take out the other side to make it even or something? because i would never do that to my car.

 

Cool mod Jitty. But doesn't this trip the brake light warning light on the dash?

 

not really cause the brakelight still works

 

Exactly. No warning light since the brake lights still work. The circuit trip would occur if the brake light lead was cut.

 

No, it was purely intentional. My inner bulbs worked fine, but I wanted to remove the running light portion from working but allow the brake light to come on. I didn't cut any wiring on the car, just modified the $3 bulb.

No offense, but did you actually read my post?

 

good job. I love free mods. The only thing I did different was use electrical tape on the leads that way theres no cutting, and can be switched back If you dont like it.

 

I actually did that at first, but then I checked it after a few minutes and the tape was all gooey and sticky and I was afraid it would get too hot. So, I figured since I had an extra pair of 7443's layin around, I would just snip and avoid jamming tape into the socket. But hey you are right, that works too. As long as there is no connectivity to those leads, taping or cutting works just the same.

 

Yup you are correct they can get "gooey". mine arent so I'll leave it

 

good idea. i'll put that on my todo list when i have extra time.

 

You could have reversed it and made it so the inside one stays on and the outside lights up, a la Volvo...

No offense, but this mod just makes the TL look like it has a driver that doesn't care.

 

My friend did this to his TLS along time ago. Looks kinda tacky though, but its different.

 

CJ, you've actually gave me an idea.

I put turning signal in the outter brake light (corners), and the inner brake light area I left alone.

Looks pretty nice blinking red, a bit weird, but I'm just checking it out, so far, looks nice.

 

...Imagining an early 90's Taurus...

 

Well, the avg person won't even realize that original configuration has been changed. When they are behind me and my lights are on, they see my lights are on. When I brake, they see 4 bright bulbs. All the functionality is still there. I still have running lights and brake lights. At least it's not permanent and can be changed at any time with my other set of non-modified bulbs.

 

I don't really see the purpose of doing this. I see a lot of TLs around here with the tail burned out and It drives me insane. This mod reminds me of those TLs.

 

EXACTLY my point. i think it looks really ricey. like those civics out hear playing around with the arrangements with their lights as if there's nothing else they are able to afford to make their car unique or that it was because they had a burnt light bulb and decided to make their lights even. it sure looks like its got goofy's teeth when lit at night. not my taste at all. sorry.

 

thats why i said im only checking it out

by the way, it doesnt look too bad, but im definitely not keeping the set up.

I'll just get red wide LEDs for the turn signals, that should look g00d on an NBP

 

Hm. I'm interested in seeing how the red turn signal would turn out. Let me know when you do it teknoking.

 

My OCD is going nuts looking at the "burned out" tailight. Makes me want to run to Pepboys for you.

 

LOL so true. I'm gonna start carrying an extra set of 1157 bulbs in my glove compartment because of this.

 

no offense, jitty, but... you made me waste like 2 minutes reading all that just for something i would never do to my TL. why?

 

Well, you took the time to read it and took the time to write a response so I guess that's not really my problem, is it? Damn, now I wasted 2 minutes!

To each is own, just wanted to switch things up a bit. I'm really just trying to figure out why they make aftermarket LED Brakelight kits for other cars and not ours yet. That's what I really want.

 

i actually decided on doing something else, I really love the Bentleys GT set up, there is an red LED strip in the rear window on top, the covers the from edge to edge when the brakes are used, I think that will look hot. Also, I might make a portion of the LEDs blink according to the turn signals...

so far in a search for a good LED strip.

 

good idea. my tail light went out the other nite and so i did this trick. beats paying for the bulb

 

Don't look for one! ... Make an led strip... I'm going to go ahead and do this once i move and find me some tails i guess... as poor as i am... i wanna make the tails that look like some BMW i saw the other day... i have the same leds... and i'm trying to figure out how to make them dim with a pwm first... and then i'll bake... get some bigger boards and make some pretty tails... if anyone's interested in some help PM me! ... i've already taken the method that i was going to use for the taillights... and made some interior lights on pcboards... and looks good

... btw i was going to do the leds somewhat like you did your tails... i like how they look...

 

hey shrink can i see some post or some post in this thread?!

 

Dude, its your car and if you like it...GO FOR IT... originality is the best kind of modding.

Good Job!

 

Don' like, just looks like your two bulbs burnt out....

I'll give you props for trying it tho

 

Funny thing, about a week ago, another guy in a TL pulled up behind me as we were slowing down for a light. On the next light, he pulled up and actually asked me why my tail lights did that. He thought it was a change in design from the 99's to 02/03 models. I told him I made them do that and said he noticed the brake lights more vs the regular way, so I told him how basically what I did and he said "It's that easy? I said yup. Weird, never thought I would have anyone actually say anything to me, but a fellow TL'er did so at least for this case, what I hoped to achieved actually worked..that is, have different way to run my running lights and make them more noticeable while braking.

My ideal setup would be LED brake lights. I wish a company would make a plug and play replacement lens with yellow led turns and of course red led brake lights. They make them for other cars like older Accords, why not ours??? Argghhh! That would really be a hot selling item I think. All the new rides, even Accords and Civics have LED tails..dammit