Replacing interior lights with LED

D3mon

D3mon

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Hey guys,

Tried to fit LED interior light set this afternoon and all looked good until I got to the glovebox. I couldn't find a way to switch the light off while the glovebox was open, so worked on it 'live'. Bad idea. All interior lighting is now dead (except the boot strangely.)

Diagnosing with Carista shows an error as follows:

00926 Terminal 30-2

Research online suggests to check the fuses which I have done on the panels on both sides of the dash - all have continuity. Also, it was suggested that there is another fuse panel 'under the steering wheel' but I could not find this?

Thanks all.
 
Think there is at least one fuse panel under the floor in the boot and maybe one in the side panel. Look in the drivers handbok that came with the car for exact location of the various fuse panels
 
Yeah, I'll have to dive into the 'book. Am I right in thinking that pulling fuses while the ignition is off won't cause any problems?
 
No luck so far. All fuses seem fine. Is it possible that the computer (canbus) has isolated the power for the interior lights? It's the only way I figure the lights don't work at all.
 
Did you try replacing fuse number 8 in the B section on drivers side of dash?

200E9F1A 7999 48F1 95DE 79B95F27BAB8
E8CD8F05 6E66 4B87 90DC D2C6F3EEA92D
 
Ah yeah that was the first fuse I hit. I've not replaced it as such but I've pulled it out, had a good look at it and it looks A1 TBF. Continuity test is OK, so it's still conductive and doesn't show any signs of burn. The return of daylight tomorrow morning will start a major diagnostic process of what's exactly going on.
 
Also rule out the glovebox hinge/switch as they are usually the cause of light not working but in this case it sounds like some sort of short.
Strange as led bulbs just don’t work if installed the wrong way round at the terminals.
 
Yep, that was after I'd checked all the fuses and thought the computer was to blame. I tried to clear the faults with Carista, which I've assumed is as good as any other tool in that respect.

To be fair, I tried to replace the lamp (in the glovebox) while it was powered on, which in hindsight was a stupid thing to do as it seems to have shorted the terminals somehow.
 
I was going to do mine soon. Your bad fortune will prevent another glovebox lamp getting fried here.
How do you keep the lamp off?
 
I think, in hindsight, I'd pull down the lamp holder from where it is clipped into the top of the glovebox, then unclip it from the wiring before changing the lamp for the best outcome.
 
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Glovebox issue aside how have you found the full led upgrade? It's on my list for the new year. Also which set did you buy?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
 
Dead as a Dodo. So far as I know at this point the interior lights and the horn don't work despite both fuses (one for each circuit) appearing to be perfect in every way.
As far as I can tell the computer has isolated the circuit and some 'stealer-level' reset is required (Carista error reset doesn't do it).
In conclusion, if it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it. It's just annoying because it seemed such a simple job. Grr.
 
More research on the Ross Tech forums gives some further hope.

It seems there are fuses in the boot that control the supply of power to the front fuse panels. This *could* explain why the lights are dead although the fuse in the front fusebox is good. Work begins tomorrow in the boot. The suspect is fuse box location 'D'. (the manual doesn't seem to assign letters specifically to fusebox locations, only strips of fuses.)

I've assumed in complete ignorance that this is in the boot somewhere, next to the battery. Wish me luck!
 
Last edited:
noisy_lightning said:
Glovebox issue aside how have you found the full led upgrade? It's on my list for the new year. Also which set did you buy?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

LEDs pack was from Led Mafia (LED-prinz) on Ebay. The LED that works in the boot is about as bright as the original lamp I'd say (but whiter). I've pulled all the others out for the moment and haven't seen them working in the dark yet because of the power issues I've experienced.

The product of my LED lighting install experience so far is to NEVER remove/replace a standard or LED lamp while the socket is powered. It gets slightly sparky and then you'll spend many frustrating hours chasing down the resulting needle-in-a-haystack electrical fault. Even when you have a diagnostic tool, the error message is cryptic to say the very least.
 
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Anyone know right off the bat if the lower dash panel can be removed without removing the steering wheel?
 
You don't need to touch the steering wheel, remove side trim panel so you can access the single bolt on the side, then remove the two bolts underneath and then unclip by slight pulling forward.
 
Awesome, thanks. That's a HUGE relief as removing the steering wheel would be WAY too complex a job 'on the drive' with basic tools, plus I need to refit the LED lights again at some point and plan on doing that with the lower dash panel removed so I can replace the fuse again in case it blows a second time.
 
OK, so after a morning's work (not quite what I'd banked on for installing a few LEDs) here's a summary of my experiences:

1. Never install a lamp while the holder is live.
2. Fit them one at a time. If they don't light up when they should, pull the LED lamp out again, rotate it 180 degrees and refit. If it doesn't light still then its either duff or see point 3.
3. The glovebox light is just plain grumpy and won't accept an LED lamp at all. I didn't bother with it in the end and left the old lamp in.
4. Be careful when prying the lens/covers etc to get to the lamps. My passenger-side vanity lamp holder basically fell apart when I prised it out and had to be glued back together. Also, the two map lights in the back seats have a very thin cover on them that needs to be super carefully prise away from the main body. Going in heavy with the pry tool will likely rip the whole unit from the headliner.
5. Where the light covers are like a thin white plastic to let the light through, I gave mine a quick wipe over with a clean cloth before refitting as there was a thin layer of dust that seemed to discolour the white light from the LEDs.

If you find as I did that all your interior lights go dead, you'll need to hunt the blown fuse. This is all kinds of fun and seems to be different in some cases but for reference, I checked both side under dash removing the knee panel under the steering wheel and the glove box and there was no hidden fuse panel to be found. Eventually, I found the blown fuse under the driver-side cubby hole in the boot - (see attached photo).

Now just to wait for tonight to see how it all looks. I've been looking to do this for a while now and I've read reports of LED kits of old being excessively bright. Looking at mine in the daylight, they seem to be a similar brightness as the old lamps (but whiter) but time will tell.

Thanks guys for all your support.
 

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D3mon said:
OK, so after a morning's work (not quite what I'd banked on for installing a few LEDs) here's a summary of my experiences:

1. Never install a lamp while the holder is live.
2. Fit them one at a time. If they don't light up when they should, pull the LED lamp out again, rotate it 180 degrees and refit. If it doesn't light still then its either duff or see point 3.
3. The glovebox light is just plain grumpy and won't accept an LED lamp at all. I didn't bother with it in the end and left the old lamp in.
4. Be careful when prying the lens/covers etc to get to the lamps. My passenger-side vanity lamp holder basically fell apart when I prised it out and had to be glued back together. Also, the two map lights in the back seats have a very thin cover on them that needs to be super carefully prise away from the main body. Going in heavy with the pry tool will likely rip the whole unit from the headliner.
5. Where the light covers are like a thin white plastic to let the light through, I gave mine a quick wipe over with a clean cloth before refitting as there was a thin layer of dust that seemed to discolour the white light from the LEDs.

If you find as I did that all your interior lights go dead, you'll need to hunt the blown fuse. This is all kinds of fun and seems to be different in some cases but for reference, I checked both side under dash removing the knee panel under the steering wheel and the glove box and there was no hidden fuse panel to be found. Eventually, I found the blown fuse under the driver-side cubby hole in the boot - (see attached photo).

Now just to wait for tonight to see how it all looks. I've been looking to do this for a while now and I've read reports of LED kits of old being excessively bright. Looking at mine in the daylight, they seem to be a similar brightness as the old lamps (but whiter) but time will tell.

Thanks guys for all your support.
Click to expand...

You just saved me a sh*t load of time and headache!

Exact same issue, fuse below while trying to change glovebox bulb, online diagrams pointed to #8 on the driver side panel (which was a 5A) but was completely fine
Glad i came across this!

Top man! :respekt::superman:
 
I changed all the boot bulbs & the glove box one to l.e.d. last weekend with no problem at all. I just removed the light unit from the trim,removed the power cable from the end of the lamp,removed the cover & swapped the bulbs over. As above if they don't light first time turn around & they work. I had this with the first one but after getting it to ''light'' i made a not of it so when i did the others it was right first time. All look so much better & no errors etc. The interior already had l.e.d from the factory just the boot & glove box had the older looking bulbs.
 
I've just had an interior LED light upgrade form EM Tuning in Wellingborough. I didn't trust myself to do it.
Trups swopped over 17 LEDs and fitted LEDs to the reversing lights in just over an hour and charged me just £110 including fitting.
Everything just works!
 
Electricity is a tough domain for me. It doesn't matter if we are talking about something related to cars, bikes, or households. I've been working with an electrician for a couple of years now and I am so grateful for him. I must admit that I am good only when it comes to accessories related to bikes haha. I've wanted to upgrade my front light so I've decided to buy from Amazon. It's pretty hard to find people that are experts in their field. Nowadays everybody knows a bit of everything and honestly, this is not that good. I would rather focus on one domain and do my best related to that
 
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