L.E.D. lightbulbs ?

[fatbloke-dim]

Has anyone ever fitted L.E.D . bulbs to the taillights on a late-ish C4 ? I have a pair lurking in my kitchen , and I'm thinking of dropping 'em into my '93 . Do these things cause any glitches or gremlins in the electrickery on these cars ? I put a pair in my '02 Skoda Octavia , and the cruise stopped working , and sundry other little annoyances and diag codes presented , after much faff ,the fellow at the garage was close to giving up , and then found the L.E.D.'s , and cursed loudly , as he knew them to be a bit flakey in modern cars . Might as well use 'em seeing as they're here .

 

[air1jpg]

I know Mid-America and Corvette Central sell LED tail light kits for a C4. You will need to make sure the lights you have were specifically made for a C4.

 

[fatbloke-dim]

G'dday Air 1........

Was referring to just LED bulbs , rather than complete taillights ,altough I have'nt looked at MAMW's site for those yet . The ones I have lying in a kitchen drawer are just replacements for regular filament bulbs in any car , tho' the C4 with all it's micro-current earths and such may put a different slant on compatibility issues , however . They did cause my daily to get a bit of a bad head , and that car seems quite robust electronically otherwise . So , I reckon with a C4 anything could / would happen ! I don't want to fry anything , as I've got the re-man ECM on there , and it fixed all outstanding issues , but unless anything irreversible may result from their fitment , I may just whack 'em in and see what gives . If I do , I'll post up , might be of use to someone else . Just off to have a scoot thru' MAMW's site for those lights ,tho ' we have to have amber turn signals on vehicles newer than a certain age .What that age is , I can't rember now ,I do know I did'nt need 'em and kept the red ones as nature intended on my '57 Fairlane .

 

[fatbloke-dim]

Well.....

It's been uncharacteristically dry here for a few days , and getting a bit milder ,so I managed to get the cover off and let some air get to the car . Gave it a run up for 20 minutes to get some oil round and warm up the tranny by letting the car in and out of the drive a bit . Just far enought to get the rust off the discs . Anyway , I was checking the lights ,and remembered the L.E.D. bulbs . Put them in and so far no worries . No dash lights or other ghost in the machine capers . Have the spare filament bulbs in the stowage compartment just in case , or if a bulb fails . They look different to the filament ones when lit , and quite a nice look . They'll maybe look better in the dark , too . Just like me , then .

 

[Dad]

Due to less currant draw it could affect the flashers, most require some resistance be added.

 

[fatbloke-dim]

Hmmmmm....

I'll have to check that ,did'nt think to try any other lights at the same time . We'll soon find out , if things play up ,I'll just drop the filament bulbs back in .

 

[air1jpg]

Well.....

It's been uncharacteristically dry here for a few days , and getting a bit milder ,so I managed to get the cover off and let some air get to the car . Gave it a run up for 20 minutes to get some oil round and warm up the tranny by letting the car in and out of the drive a bit . Just far enought to get the rust off the discs . Anyway , I was checking the lights ,and remembered the L.E.D. bulbs . Put them in and so far no worries . No dash lights or other ghost in the machine capers . Have the spare filament bulbs in the stowage compartment just in case , or if a bulb fails . They look different to the filament ones when lit , and quite a nice look . They'll maybe look better in the dark , too . Just like me , then .

Just an FYI.... If you start up the car in the winter to let it warm up, make sure you let the coolant and the oil warm up to "normal" operating temp. If you don't, condensation could form in the cylinders and cause damage. :bash If you don't have the time to wait until it gets up to temp, it is better off that you don't start the engine.

 

[fatbloke-dim]

Oh yeah,
I make certain that the oil and coolant get up to temp . Oil gets to 160 ,coolant to at least halfway up the analogue gauge ,, that is "normal " range , and it runs for another 15-20 minutes from there , with the added jiggling back and forth a couple of car lenghts . I also open the doors to let the breeze/wind blow thru' , and I leave the top un-latched and raised at the back edge to reieve pressure on the rubber seals . Only thing is , have to watch for cats going in when the doors are open . It's bads enough they squirt up the wheels and the cover , you come away smelling of cat p155 after having the cover on and off !ad

 

[WhalePirot]

Due to less currant draw it could affect the flashers, most require some resistance be added.

Some flasher circuits require an LED flasher, for this reason. They apparantly do not need the resistance of the bulb filament.
Enjoy changing that puppy, if need be!

 

[fatbloke-dim]

Hey , WhalePirot.....

sounds like you know something I don' t !! Never looked for the flasher relay ,never had to , but I reckon , form the tone of your quip , Chevy decided to give us all a real treat when they placed the relay ! They're good at that !