I noticed last night that one of my rear license plate lights had burned out...no big deal I thought, two screws and I can pop a new bulb in.

HAHA, boy was I wrong. As soon as I touched the thing with a screwdriver whatever it was attached to disintegrated into a rusty dust cloud. Of course the screws rounded right off too. That's what 7 NY winters will do to exposed metal, I suppose.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has run into this problem, so I'm curious as to what others have done as far as replacements go. I was thinking of upgrading to an LED setup but I'm really not even sure where to start. Cut the assembly off, dremel it open and go to town? I'd appriciate any input!

 

Been there done that, rust rust rust. I took the whole thing bracket and all out and got the screws out one way or another. Big PITA sure but LEDs and anything colored is ghey.

 

mine were rusted to **** as well.. changed bulbs to 194 white leds.. and their very very sexy

 

this happened to me, i managed to get a zip tie around the bulb and suspend it up so it still shines the plate. a temporary fix is good enough for me.

 

I'm dealing with the same problem. I was able to get one side off but the other side rounded off. As long as 1 works i'm good for now. Looks like crap but I won't get pulled over again for having blown bulbs.

 

That happened to me during the summer. The bracket was all rusted and just crumbled. I just got it replaced on the weekend. We found one at a junkyard like 2 weeks ago that was rusted and then my dad ended up finding one on the weekend at a different place for 5 bucks.

 

Yep, those screws are super cheap. I ended up buying a new OEM bracket, but I wouldn't recommended it, it was about $30 for a flimsy piece of metal. I have installed 194 LED bulbs (white) but even the 6-LED bulbs from superbrightleds.com don't have nearly as wide an angle as regular bulbs, so they make a big light spot on the pavement below the bumper more than on the license plate. The pure white color is very cool though.

Ideal option is to fab up a homemade LED unit that spreads light evenly and angles the LEDs toward the plate instead of away from the plate.

 

what type of LED do u put in there? 194s?

 

yeah theyre 194/168s

 

Oh!! I had to replace the entire thing. It was rustier than the Titanic... My license plate holder crumbled as the mechanic pryed it off.

In case anyone needs the dealer part numbers for the REAR License plate lamp assembly and bracket.

• Lamp Assembly - 26510-40000 Net Price 25.86
• Bracket - 96252-40000 Net Price 33.66

 

Happened to me last night, one light was working. So, today I was changing the bulb, & the screws & bracket were rustier than ****!!! The bracket broke off, so now I have it screwed in with a self-tapping screw.

Thanks to Mischievous for the part #'s, but I think I'll stick to my Mac Guyver bracket.

 

I got some LED (194/168) lights off ebay tp put on mine. They look bright n white and light up the ground as well. Of course that requires a "health" housing for the light of the license plate. No trouble so far. Got pulled over last time I put red light bulbs in.

 

My car is green and I was running a green 168 in there for like 5 years. I got tired of it so I switched to a two led 168 with a diffuser in white. Looks great, but it does light up the pavement really good. I don't care.
Never got pulled over for those, but at one time I did have those ghey led washer nozzles (when they were cool) and I did get a ticket for those. Aux. lighting not allowed to be lit when the car is in motion.
Oh well.
That was the dumbest mod I've done to my car.

 

I just bought 2 of these:


Hopefully they'll spread the light because of the design. If not, i'll live.

 

Interesting.. If you get the results you are looking for would you mind posting pics?

 

Sure no problem, i'll post em once they're installed.

 

Let me fill in...... Got a few pics taken couple days ago when finished the trunk light......






LED lights I used on the front doors are very similiar to 4x4MAX's.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2pcs-...5657QQtcZphoto (Polarity sensitive)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/194-1...0387QQtcZphoto (Polarity insensitive)

LEDs on the license plates:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/194-1...5728QQtcZphoto
This kind gives me more light down and lights up the pavement better.

Dome light, you could find how to do that here.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....11#post2393811

I did the trunk LED mod myself. Might look a bit weird. I just want to light up my trunk better while gone fishing.

 

Nice look ya got there T65k3 was thinking about doing mine that way now that I have seen your pics will def start getting LED's to do all of it

 

Hmm, I think I found the best option for these kind of lighting needs. Instead of wiring up an ugly array of LEDs yourself, just buy one of these weatherproof flexible LED strips and wire it in. I think the 9.5" white strip would be perfect for the license plate, and you could use whatever you want for a trunk light. They look really bright and they're designed for 12v car power. You can just zip tie them around the bracket or wherever you want them.

http://www.oznium.com/led-flex-strips

 

This happened to me...I replaced the bulb and ghetto rigged it with zipties up top..you can't even see the ties, and its all fine and dandy.

 

happenend to me as well.

I simply fabricated a new bracket out of bendable Aluminum strips I found at the local hardware store..
took me 1 hour to make them and put them on..
I used the original bolts.

 

happened to me too...used these to fix until I replace the entire rear bar (all rusty).
called lite-n-boltz from DEI
http://designengineering.com/products.asp?m=sp&pid=21

they were easy to install, and work well, similar to factory light pattern, plus has nice look.

 

I got pulled over cause my license plate lights were out but i took off the cover and the bulbs not blown in either one. Then i checked the fuses, still nothing the matter can't find my problem. Any help?