Some lighting mods

[i-s]

So I had a mixed day of success with making (or not) a few lighting mods on the GS. 

Boot Light

The easiest and the most successful mod. 

The boot light in the Mk4 GS is.... bluntly, abysmal. It's a single wedge bulb, but for some reason it isn't even a 5W but a 3.8W. You could be forgiven for not noticing that there is a boot light. 

Very very simple to replace - unclip the light cover, pull the bulb out, replace and refit the cover. The key is the correct choice of bulb - the bulb is held pointing directly downwards, so you want an LED W5W 501 that emits in that direction. I used the (very expensive, but brilliant) Philips X-treme Ultinon:

So, without further ado, the result (same exposure value on the camera)

Puddle Lights

Next up, the puddle lights in the bottom of the door mirrors - the ones that light up when you approach the car with the key. 

These are 5W 501s, and a bit of a pain to change. I followed a guide from ClubLexus, but really struggled getting the second mirror back together. 

This is nothing like as dramatic an improvement, as the housing design is more efficient and it has a 5W bulb. The housing holds the bulb side-on, so the end-emitter LED doesn't work as effectively as it does in the boot. However, I did it more for the more sophisticated colour (the murky brown of a filament lamp seems rather dated these days). 

I have some pics I'll process if people are interested, but they're not brilliant. 

Indicators

I also wanted to change the front indicator bulbs for chromed bulbs (I prefer the look - sadly the rear cluster can't be de-oranged). 

In this, I failed. 

The bulbs I bought, Silvatec WY21W, turn out to be identical (even to the part marking on the bulb) to the XTEC ones I have in my Leaf. However, they could not be fitted into the GS (nor could I get one of the XTECs in) - the bulb holder in the GS is very tightly designed and the clip features of the chromed bulbs simply would not fit in (even after I attempted to grind a bit off the bulb using a whetstone). 

It's a shame that Philips and Osram don't offer their chromed amber bulbs in a wedge fitting

[lukash]

Hi

Any issues or errors after you changed the bulb in boot for the LED bulb ?

[i-s]

No.

These bulbs are just courtesy/comfort and the car doesn't monitor them (they are not part of the legally required/tested/etc lighting on the vehicle). There are no errors (which people wrongly describe as "CANbus error"). 

[Initial P]

Is the MK4 boot light still off to the right side rather than in the middle like on my now gone BMW E60 ? I swapped mine out to LED pretty soon after buying the car lol

[i-s]

No, it is central

[Initial P]

Looks like they saw the light 😁

[Malachy]

What about the Glovebox? The interior lights in the MK3 GS are really weak for some reason too. Thanks for the tip for the boot one!

[Initial P]

All my interior lights are LED my mate reckons it could be a mod by the last owner or was this stock ?

[Malachy]

Ya they are LED from factory but they are really dim unless their is a way of turning them up!

[Initial P]

They look ok to me but I prefer dim lighting or maybe as they improved some things on the 2007 model (sat nav screen rez) mine could be brighter.

[Dapprman]

The boot light, can I just confirm it is this one?  (also where's recommended to get from in the UK ?)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-127994000KX2-X-tremeVision-4000K-CeraLight/dp/B00OYT11RE/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1548447633&sr=1-2&keywords=philips+x-treme+ultinon+W5W

[i-s]

Yes, that will work - later renamed x-treme ultinon, but seem to be the same bulb. I got mine from amazon also