I recently changed most of the lights and lamps in my car to LEDs. Made it a mix of orange LEDs for the footwells and ambient lights and bright white LEDs for the reading lights that you actively switch if you want to really see something.

Now I am struggling with the removal of the rear footwell lamps that are embedded into the back covers of the front seats. I don't find any way to take them out of the seat without breaking the glas (already happened on the left side). Is there some magic trick? Do I need to disassemble the front seat to access them from the inside? Can't believe that ...

 

Hi Aix - the short answer is yes, you need to get to them from the back side of the covers, but luckily it is fairly easy to do. If you don't have the tea/picnic/laptop trays, it's one step easier! In my case, one of the lights was burned out, or so I thought.

If you do have the trays, remove the release latch first. There is an Allen head screw under the latch that removes it. Next, remove the seat back by prying it away and releasing the spring clips, there are six in all. Then lower the seat back down, and you will then be able to access the bulb and housing. I discovered that someone had been into my seat at some point before. The spring clips were not fully seated, and one clip was 90 degrees off. The big thing was the wiring was disconnected from the light. Always nice to be able to fix a problem with no parts required. There may also be a way to release the bottom catches to get the seat back completely removed, but I couldn't easily figure out how, and I didn't find it necessary for what I needed to do. I hope this helps.

Dave

 

Thanks a lot for this documentation!
The car doesn't have trays, so I can just pry them of.
I broke to much plastic in cars over the years by trying that, but now that I know that this is the correct way ...

 

This is ONE way to get there, but seems like major overkill - I agree the light lenses are tricky to remove and often we find out how things are attached by looking at the broken part we just removed the WRONG way. However, I have replaced bulbs in these on 3 occasions. Twice in my 06 XJ8-L and once in my 07 Vanden Plas. The lenses push to one side against a spring clip, and the other side has a tab on the plastic. as long as you don't use excessive force, metal tools or a giant crow bar, you won't break anything.

In my car they BOTH had the spring clip on the right side, so pushing the lens towards the right,then pulling out on the left side free's them right up.

They appear to have a long Festoon bulb. I originally only had 36mm Festoons and had to bend the thin metal band that holds the points of the festoon bulbs it two small holes in the metal - Test first if putting LEDS in that are polarity sensitive. Rather than disconnect the battery (I have blown fuses putting LEDs in live circuits and its not worth it) I just wait till the interior lights time out, then try the bulbs - hey - it's a 50/50 shot you will get it right the first time!

Then just put the spring side in first, compress it by pushing the lens in that direction, and pop the tabbed side in. Very similar to the two trunk (boot) lights and the oval side marker/repeaters on front fenders on 2006-2007 models. Earlier 04-05 models had the protective body side strips/spear shaped lights

The trickiest interior bulbs to swap in X350's in my experience is the overhead console dome/map/reading lights. No only is the fixture resistant to slide and pull off, the bulbs rely on the cover to complete the circuit, AND when you are checking the bulb polarity, the cover clicks back in place really easily, cause much aggravation. Still its worth it in the long run.

 

Thanks, I'll give that a try and hope that the pre-facelift lamps are the same as your 2006 ones.

And speaking of the overhead console lights ... what an incredibly "creative" feat of engineering that is
These will be the last ones I exchange (currently only the center is LED is changed and working) and I'll find a way to modify this into a cabled connection of some sort. Reading lights never reconnected both at a time after the change, and I tried far more than once

 

Well, I went out and took another look at mine, and I could not get it to move to the right. In looking at a higher res version of the photos I took, I can see a spring clip on the right, but it would not move far enough to clear the electrical connection on the left side. The only instructions that I have found on removing the light were contained in a TSB for the rear seat blower motor, and those involved removing the seat back cover, then disconnecting the wire. Not sure if this is something unique to the X358 or not, but I was just sharing my experience. I've attached a photo from the bulletin.

Dave

 

Are the top friction clubs supposed to be super hard? I've been trying for a bit and can't get it. Pulling somewhat hard but it just feels like if I try harder it'll break? Maybe I'm just being scary but someone let me know please

( side ones eere tiny ones and came off really easy. )