Has anyone changed their rear license plate lights to led lights? I am looking to do this as I think they would look better than the yellowish glow emitted by the stock bulbs. Also if you look at the plastic cover of the rear license plate lights you can see the ford logo. LOL. I guess some ford parts still remain.

 

no but i too would like to change mine to led...even the ones on the mirrors that emit the yellow glow when opening the door.

 

I've been meaning to do this since I got the car but your post reminded me so I swapped them out today with some spare LEDs I have. I also swapped most of the interior bulbs but didn't have enough so had to order more.

For those interested, here are the bulb types by location:

front footwells - 194/168 bulbs, 1 per well
front overhead lights - 3 x 194/168 ( I think -- haven't figured out how to remove the cover yet)
rear footwells -- 31mm festoon bulbs, 1 per well
rear overhead lights - 2 x 194/168
rear license plate - 2 x 194/168

for a total of 9 x 194/168 bulbs and 2 x 31mm festoons.

I debated on changing the lights in the vanity mirrors. I haven't for now but did open one up to see. They appear to use a #74 bulb, 2 per mirror. Just haven't tried to swap these out yet.

When removing the rear overhead light cover, careful when you remove the cover. the light cover also serves as the lock to hold the entire control assembly to the roof. removing the cover will cause the control assembly to fall out.

Also, on the rear footwells, pry from the right hand side of the light. There is a small indent which looks like a slot for a screwdriver. CAUTION! Do not use the indent. Instead, slip your screwdriver past the indent, between the cover and the seat. The indent is not strong enough to pry and will break off. (yes, I broke the first one. Have to order another one)

Finally, for the rear license plate lights, the holders were stamped with Jaguar on them. No mention of Ford anywhere I can see.

 

another_geek,

have you tried changing the ones on the mirrors?

 

If you are referring to the puddle lights in the side mirrors of the doors, no I have not tried to replace those yet. I want to try and replace the parking lights in the headlights too when I get a chance.

 

OK, just opened up the puddle lights in the mirrors and they are 194/168 bulbs. Cover has a tab on the side closest to the glass (rear of the mirror). Has a 2nd tab on the front side (farthest from the glass) along with the bulb holder on that side. Wasn't too hard to remove.

 

Do those mirror/puddle lights have a dim effect? If they do, you can't use LEDs I think. I wanted to switch those on my LS460 too but when I get close to the car with the key in my pocket the lights slowly dim up to their full intensity. Seems like LEDs are either on or off, I'm not sure if they will dim without a specific circuit.

 

I haven't swapped out the puddle lights yet -- waiting for parts -- but they do dim. The footwell lights dim also and I have replaced them with LEDs and they dim fine. I have not had any issues with LED dimming on my other cars either.

I had some initial issues with LED replacements for my Mercedes when I replaced all the lights. Mercedes lights are "intelligent" and the car knows exactly what light is out and it will tell you on the display. LEDs use less power than regular incandescent bulbs so it thinks bulbs are burnt out. Took some trial and error with different brands & bulbs to find a set that doesn't trigger the error msg.

The Jag seems more forgiving and doesn't appear to have any checks for blown bulbs.

 

Generally LED's always are dimable in most applications. CFL's or fluorescents are often not dimable. You won't find those rarely in automtive applications.

If the car has lighbulb checking functions, it is usually a matter of the correct fit, meaning one which reports the correct amp usage back when turned on. Good aftermarket LED products are often designed to do just that.

With all the LED's in use, lightbulb checking functions are soon the be unneccessary as they LED's last, well, virtually forever.

Do you know if the Jaguar has lightbulb check function? I haven't seen anything on that.

 

The XJ does not appear to have a lightbulb check function. During my testing today, I had completely removed some bulbs from their sockets and the car never indicated any sort of error.

 

Thanks. Cool, that means you can put in almost anything you like best. I am getting my LED strip in front to illuminate at all times. NOT DLR but just the strips. I posted the hack of "how" somewhere here.

 

Thanks for the feedback another_geek it was very informative.

I ordered my bulbs today.

 

Just an update -- got all my parts in today and swapped out all the interior bulbs w/ LEDs except for the front overhead lights. Haven't figured out how to remove the cover without breaking something. Anyone have a maintenance manual?

All the other lights work fine and function as before, including dimming. Also replaced the puddle lights on the exterior mirrors and the license plate lights with no problems.

Also discovered I forgot the trunk light. Turns out this bulb is a different size than all the other bulbs so have to order parts again. For those interested, it is a 36mm festoon bulb (not the more common 31mm bulbs used in the rear footwells)

 

can these bulbs be available at local auto parts store or do you have to special order? if so where did you order yours from another_geek?

 

I order them online. I used 3 different suppliers

http://www.autolumination.com
http://www.superbrightleds.com
http://store.ijdmtoy.com/

The spare parts I had already were from autolumination and I used festoons for the rear footwells from them. I had some 194 bulbs from them also and used them temporarily but ended up replacing them with bulbs from superbrightleds (wasn't quite the color I was looking for)

I ordered a dozen 194 leds from superbrightleds that came in today but their color doesn't match the festoons from autolumination. So I ordered some festoons from ijdmtoy tonight (including the trunk bulb I forgot) to see if I can match the color of the other bulbs.

I'm pretty picky about color temp of lights and I like to experiment with bulbs that accent the items they are lighting, so I try a lot of different products. There is one other supplier that I have heard good things about but haven't tried them yet -- http://www.v-leds.com -- but I may try them in the future. I've been buying from the first two on the list for over 5 years now and both have been reliable. I've only ordered from ijdmtoy once before but they are local here in SoCal so parts arrive next day.

 

Which 194 bulbs did you order from superbright led. I wanted to order the one with 18 LEDs but I dident think they would fit as they look a little bigger so I ordered the ones with 15 LEDs. Also which color the warm white or cool white? Did you find them to be bright?

 

I ordered

WLED-WHP5: Cool White for the interior lights
WLED-WHP9-T: Cool White for the exterior lights

I'm not sure the 15 or 18 led bulbs will fit, depending on where you plan on using them. For the interiors, the 5 leds are a tad too bright for my taste. I'm going to use them for a while before I decide if I want to try a different bulb.

 

UPDATE:

Correction on the sizes of the festoon bulbs (that's what I get for eye-balling the size rather than actually measuring )

The rear footwells use a 36mm bulb, not 31mm as originally stated
The trunk uses a 41mm bulb, not 36mm

 

In general LED can be dimmed. However, depending on dim rate voltage it may be a far less gradual effect then with conventional bulbs. Depends of what type of LED is used, such as one with built in resistor or full 12V native LED. (not sure how to better describe).
You may think of fluorescent types which in general cannot be dimmed.
In the case of the car....trial and error is pretty much the only way to get the answer.