Meist21 Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 Was taping up my side marker light wire (keep it nice and dry) when I noticed my marker light (the amber one) is cracked. Has to have been the damn gravel truck that pulled out in front of me. Drivers side of course. I will ask the question I doubt only the lens is replaceable does anyone know if it is the whole assbly and how pricey it is. I am assuming I can change this one out myself. (Yes neighbor if you read this it happened today @#$@#@) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98 LS Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 Meist21 ....... sorry to hear that. It looks like you will have to do some working in tight places to get to it? The amber/orange lense itself does not appear to come off from the outside by itself? Perhaps the whole assembly "pops" out from the bumper cover? Let us know how it is replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meist21 Posted December 12, 2003 Author Share Posted December 12, 2003 All, Good news is the whole assembly is only $29 from Lexus. Yes it is the whole assbly. and there are two hex nut screws that hold it in from the inside. Will replace Sat. Even if I have to take a couple wheel well screws out I am sure I will get to them. My $4 ebay Lexus parts list came in handy. The prices they have listed in there are not too far off. This piece was listed in my book for only $23. Not to shabby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98 LS Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 Mystery solved ............... cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meist21 Posted December 14, 2003 Author Share Posted December 14, 2003 Replaced the side marker light on the drivers side. Not a real problem at all. I saw in a post someone said almost the only thing you need for these cars is a 10 mm wrench. That is so true. I took out the wheel well bolt (right inside the wheel well behind where the plastic bottom bumper meets the car body). If you fold back the inside plastic (do not do this in 20 degree weather) you can reach the right side nut with a box end 10 mm wrench. Take out the driving light (fog) and the bottom side marker light and you can reach the left side nut with the same wrench. Whole assembly pops out. Then put back together in reverse order. Make sure you put the bulb socket in the back of the new lens before you put everything back together. This way you do not cut the hell out of your arm trying to reach up from the driving lights to put the bulb socket back in the housing. When the marker light is off you really can see how this thing was added after market. There are three cheezy looking holes cut right into the body. This was definately not the original design of the car. By the way LS I put amber bulbs in my lights. I looks pretty tight with the ambers. I also used a wedge type socket instead of the double contact one so I would have more choices later down the road....... Thanks again for the step by step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98 LS Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 Meist21 ....... thanks for the feedback on the replacement of the side marker. The process sounds very doable. On the other subject .......... what is the part # for the wedge type base socket? I might like to try some other bulbs as well. Did you have to modify the housing any or can you use the 3/4" hole as is? Also, what bulbs have you tried? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meist21 Posted December 14, 2003 Author Share Posted December 14, 2003 LS I will find the part # for ya. Picked it up from Autozone. Yes modifications had to be made. I used the same socket you used. Took the inside guts out so I was left with the same housing. The wedge socket was rubber so all I did was get out the carving knife and cut off the excess rubber on the outside. Just keep cutting in a circle and get it round. Kind of hard without pics. I will try and post some. The bottom is shaped oval just like the housing bottom. Keep the fit tight. Just push it through the top and kind of crimp it at the bottom and wrap with elec. tape. Pretty easy. They just don't make a lot of double contact bulbs anymore. More and more are wedge type. I tried bulb numbers 194, 168 and 921. The 921 is a bigger bulb but only shines at 2 candle power. If I could just find something that shines at about 6 I would be good to go. Also I want to get a rubber O ring to put around the socket to keep water out of the housing. I know those can be found at any hardware store. I will post pics like you did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tansupplyman Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 Check on bulb # 148; it is 5 watts and think it comes in 7 watt. It is the stock bulb for sidelites,lic plate, etc on the Gen 1[but of course not 'orange' in original use]. It is what I used yesterday in my clear ft bumper lite[side] conversion yesterday-the turnsignal uses #1156. These were all 'orange'--DOT req--but you are not under DOT on the one you are doing since you already have a amber(may be the correct word) side lite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meist21 Posted December 14, 2003 Author Share Posted December 14, 2003 Thanks Tans. My neighbor and I were just talking about that. Since there is one (amber light) there you can put white or amber there. I just thought the amber looked good. Since I have the HID lights and matching the color is a pain. I did order some PIAA 194 lights. We shall see how they work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tansupplyman Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 You will be happy with the PIAA lites--did you see mine in the gallery page 26? difference between stock and the PIAA--and I have artificial HID's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tansupplyman Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 NOTE: be sure to check the wattage on the PIAA bulbs--mine are 18 watt and I believe that will too hot for your application. I would have preferred lower but where I got them did not list any wattages so I didn't know until I got them what it was--still only 1.25 amps but the lens are warm. You do not have as much clearance between the bulb and the lens as I do on the GEN 1 sidelite. At least that was my observation when I looked at a '98 in the parking lot the other day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98 LS Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 Hey guys ........... while on the topic of "wedge" type bulbs ....... do you know if there are any that have a "silvered" top like a shield? In other words, it would cover the filiment from direct sight but light would still escape from the sides of the bulb. The reason is that it would produce a bit less direct glare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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