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Home/ Registry/ Ford/ Crown Victoria/ 1998–2011/ “Gone to the great parking lot in the sky”/ Headlight Switch Bulbs supermotors.net/registry/15812/53599

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Headlight Switch Bulbs

From 1999 Ford Crown Victoria “Gone to the great parking lot in the sky” — documented by Steve83.

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1999 Ford Crown Victoria - After reading 2vModular's article, I bought these as possible replacements for the stock bulbs. http://www.p71interceptor.com/autolamps 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - The original incandescent bulbs are known to burn out quickly because they're on constantly, but not even Ford offers replacements. Only th… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Even though it's expensive from RS, this blue LED is a better replacement because it will last indefinitely. The only drawback is that it r… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - To begin, unwrap the factory bulb's wires from the base. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Straighten them out so the bulb can be removed from the plastic holder. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - It was easier for me to remove the "bulb condom" with the bulb out of the holder because this one had been baked onto the bulb. But if it w… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - These RS bulbs are noticeably larger than the stock ones, so even if it wasn't destroyed, the filter probably wouldn't fit over the new bul… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - The 5mm LED is larger, also, but it doesn't need the filter, and the lip can be shaved off. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - With the lip still on the LED, the assembly is probably too long for the switch, and the leads aren't long enough. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Since there's glue & heat-shrink tubing on the base of this bulb, it doesn't fit into the holder correctly, either. But its leads are sligh… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - The bulb condom only fits because it's torn up, and the stranded leads would have to be stripped & tinned to wrap around the plastic base. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Instead of using the 12V incandescent bulb, I decided to use the 3.7V LED, and a 560Ohm resistor. I removed the LED's lip & the holder's re… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - I cut the LED's short (positive) lead & soldered it to the resistor, & soldered the cut end onto the long (negative) lead so I could wrap i… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - After getting the polarity right, it works! I could have soldered the LED & resistor directly to the board, but I like the stock look (even… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - I only bought one LED, so I could only check one position at a time. This is the old worn P71 switch that I'm getting rid of, but I'm using… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - I only bought one LED, so I could only check one position at a time. Later, I plan to add the red "AutoLamps Active" LED into the face of t… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - I made another one, and although they work, there's an obvious bright spot; especially for the top L one. I'll pull them out & try some dif… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - To add or remove pins from this style of connector, the white locking plate must be moved up one notch. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Using a small flat screwdriver, pry one side free, and while holding upward pressure on the top white tab, rotate the screwdriver blade so… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Repeat for the other side so the lock plate exposes each terminal socket fully. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - With the connector button on top, insert a thin-bladed screwdriver or pick into the top (rounded) of the front of the terminal socket until… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Holding slight inward pressure, pry the pawl up. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - While holding the pawl up, roll your fingertips to pull the wire out of the connector, then release the pawl & remove the screwdriver. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Now, the terminal can be inserted into another similar connecotor, or a different socket in the same connector. 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - After a brief discussion with dRock on CVN about making the headlight switch backlighting work with the panel illumination (instead of bein… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - With a little effort, I was able to release the 3 wiring harness retainers & pull the harness out far enough to work on it. My hand barely… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - I cut the wires at the splice, trying to leave some of the insulation & tape intact so it won't short out & blow a fuse later when it's tuc… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - Cutting the 2 Wh/Pu wires far back in the dash is critical to allow enough length to do the difficult work further out where it's easier. T… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - I removed a small section of insulation from the Or/Bk wire & stripped the ends of the 2 Wh/Pu. Then I used a sharp probe to split the stra… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - A cheap 35W soldering iron isn't quite heavy enough to tin & solder this much wire all at once, but after tinning each, I was able to join… 1999 Ford Crown Victoria - A little tape & it's finished.