SeanPwnery
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- Reaction score
- 58
- Thunderbird Year
- 2003
I just thought I'd start cataloging my experiences in case anyone wanted to look this up in the future.
So far I've replaced the headlights with LED units - no errors, very clear, very nice - very happy. I've done them on other cars in the past with good success and this was no different. I got them from an Amazon seller you can find here : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076P5H7TW/
So, afterwards, I thought "Well, I might as well do the rest of them..."
Front turn signals, despite being a 3457 in there, a 3157 constantly comes up as a suitable replacement or cross-reference for LED's - apparently there is no 3457 specific LED bulb. I specifically picked up these in Amber/
Rears were Red 3157's as well.
Reverse lights ... yep.. 3057 and 3157 come up for them too. These are clear/white.
So ... here's where the fun begins. Knowing there are amperage differences, I sprung for the "LED turn signal flasher relay" as well. That's where my nightmare begins - Did you know, there isn't a single source for the location of that relay for us? I looked darn-near everywhere for it - and tried the "Well, just switch on your signal and follow the noise until you find it" method. Wanna know where that sound is the loudest? Right behind the gauge cluster 😡 I mean... really? You couldn't put it down near the firewall like everyone else does?
No matter, the cluster was coming out eventually any way so I decided to leave it for now, and just try the bulbs and deal with what most people call "hyperflash" until I get the relay swapped out. Popped off the front left headlight, pulled the turn signal bulb, plopped in the new one and did a dry run before putting it back together. Fired up the car, flipped the turn signal, flash was normal speed, and nice and bright as expected. Cool - we're halfway there. Clicked it back off, flipped on the parking lights, it lit up just fine - alright, 2 out of 3 so far, looking good. Then I flipped the turn signal with the parking lights on - as expected the clicking was faster, but no blink up front and the dash indicated bulb out. Weeeeak. Super weak you guys.
So I thought maybe... just maybe I have to change both ends, front and rear before it plays nice - run around to the trunk, pull the panel, see what I thought was a 10mm nut, removed it (maybe 11mm, I didn't check which side of the wrench I used). Did a little wiggle, and .. well, there's obviously a nut on the other side - on a bolt that's 5 inches long! What?! Seriously?😱 It got a little dark outside so I put everything back together and gave up for today.
So essentially, I'm reading about the relays, and there's these Load resistors you can wire up in-line that help the signal speed too. It was my understanding that you can do the relay, or you can do the resistor, but didn't need both. I'm in correspondence with the bulb makers just to verify. If any of you out there have tried this, drop me a little insight on what you did or how you got it working - maybe save me a lot of trouble - otherwise, I guess I'll be the one exploring this uncharted territory for you all.
As for the headlights, this is how they look (as compared to the fog's which are on the way) - don't mind my old man - he loves photo-bombing me.
So far I've replaced the headlights with LED units - no errors, very clear, very nice - very happy. I've done them on other cars in the past with good success and this was no different. I got them from an Amazon seller you can find here : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076P5H7TW/
So, afterwards, I thought "Well, I might as well do the rest of them..."
Front turn signals, despite being a 3457 in there, a 3157 constantly comes up as a suitable replacement or cross-reference for LED's - apparently there is no 3457 specific LED bulb. I specifically picked up these in Amber/
Rears were Red 3157's as well.
Reverse lights ... yep.. 3057 and 3157 come up for them too. These are clear/white.
So ... here's where the fun begins. Knowing there are amperage differences, I sprung for the "LED turn signal flasher relay" as well. That's where my nightmare begins - Did you know, there isn't a single source for the location of that relay for us? I looked darn-near everywhere for it - and tried the "Well, just switch on your signal and follow the noise until you find it" method. Wanna know where that sound is the loudest? Right behind the gauge cluster 😡 I mean... really? You couldn't put it down near the firewall like everyone else does?
No matter, the cluster was coming out eventually any way so I decided to leave it for now, and just try the bulbs and deal with what most people call "hyperflash" until I get the relay swapped out. Popped off the front left headlight, pulled the turn signal bulb, plopped in the new one and did a dry run before putting it back together. Fired up the car, flipped the turn signal, flash was normal speed, and nice and bright as expected. Cool - we're halfway there. Clicked it back off, flipped on the parking lights, it lit up just fine - alright, 2 out of 3 so far, looking good. Then I flipped the turn signal with the parking lights on - as expected the clicking was faster, but no blink up front and the dash indicated bulb out. Weeeeak. Super weak you guys.
So I thought maybe... just maybe I have to change both ends, front and rear before it plays nice - run around to the trunk, pull the panel, see what I thought was a 10mm nut, removed it (maybe 11mm, I didn't check which side of the wrench I used). Did a little wiggle, and .. well, there's obviously a nut on the other side - on a bolt that's 5 inches long! What?! Seriously?😱 It got a little dark outside so I put everything back together and gave up for today.
So essentially, I'm reading about the relays, and there's these Load resistors you can wire up in-line that help the signal speed too. It was my understanding that you can do the relay, or you can do the resistor, but didn't need both. I'm in correspondence with the bulb makers just to verify. If any of you out there have tried this, drop me a little insight on what you did or how you got it working - maybe save me a lot of trouble - otherwise, I guess I'll be the one exploring this uncharted territory for you all.
As for the headlights, this is how they look (as compared to the fog's which are on the way) - don't mind my old man - he loves photo-bombing me.
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