DIY: FD Civic rear licence plate bulb change

[.k.]

DIY: FD Civic rear licence plate bulb change


Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!


Aim: To install or replace stock/blown licence plate bulbs, very easy process should take no more then 5~ minutes.
Required:


• FD civic
• Phillips head screwdriver
• T10 (Led if you wish [recommended]) bulbs x 2
• Tissue/Cloth – don’t touch the bulb with your bare hands (not sure about this one)


Steps:

1. Get all required tools together – screwdriver, t10 bulbs (x2), tissue/cloth

2. Park car so that once boot is open you have ample light to see – in my case, in the shed with all lights on

3. Locate 4 outlined screws holding the trim for the boot on.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/51MPL/step2.jpg

4. Loosen the screw until you can pull at it and the screw + circular thing at its base come out. Do this to the remaining 3 screws and place them somewhere you can’t lose them

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/51MPL/step4.jpg

5. Peel back (down) the lining to give you access to where the licence plate bulbs sit. The connectors which hold/power the bulb are circled in red

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/51MPL/step5.jpg

6. Hold connector with thumb and index finger and squeeze in + pull down. The connector will come out of where its being held.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/51MPL/step6.jpg

7. Silly me forget to get a picture so i’ll get one later on; to get the stock bulb out – use a tissue/cloth and grip the bulb then pull straight out. No need to wriggle around or anything it comes straight out.

8. Put in your new led – here’s a pic of my 5 led one

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/51MPL/step8.jpg

9. Open your drivers side door and turn the parkers on and check to see if your led is working. If it is then all good, do the other side then reverse all steps.

Here's a couple pics of the end result:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/51MPL/DSC05319.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/51MPL/DSC05322.jpg

Something to take note of; because of where the connector sits - when putting the led light it doesn't aim directly out of the hole.. I've seen on 8th civic someone had a led/bulb thing that is a really strange shape which makes the light aim directly out - you'll get what you mean after this pic but yeah.. any questions / c&c let me kno.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/51MPL/DSC05321.jpg

Hope it helps ^_^

Cheers,
k.

[black8thgen]

nice write up, very easy for people to follow =D. the headights/parkers one will be even more helpful though, rear license plate is prob easiest of the three =].

btw in the pic it doesn't look as bright as i thought it would with a 5LED bulb =/.

and btw with the stock t10 bulbs i think its fine to use bare hands (well i do anyway) - someone once told me its fine.. i THINK.

i'm using blue LED SMD t10s.. verrrry bright lol..

anyays cant wait till the headlight/parkers write up comes hehe gj mate

[.k.]

aiight thanks for the info, SMD hey? i'll have to look into that..

btw do u get what i mean about how the light doesnt aim directly out of the hole? i've seen some1 on 8th civic with this weird bulb thing that aims outta the hole..

[black8thgen]

yea i get whatu mean, it aims like.. half into the wall of the inside prt of the boot lol, so really only half of the light is fully used.. although my SMD ones are verry bright =D.

[NZFD2]

cool write up and clear pics too..nice :D

[.k.]

thanks mate, so it was easy to read and understand and everything? ^_^

rep me? =P HAHA

[NZFD2]

yeah dude..easy to read and understand. I've got myself 4 smd T10s just now so I'll use your DIY to do the num plate tonight and hopefully do the front parkers tomorrow.

and rep given! :P

btw..do you know if the courtesy lights on the front driver and passenger door are easy to change? Do they use T10s as well?

[.k.]

not sure about the courtesy lights! i wanna do those next up.. these smd bulbs hey, i heard they are really good.. gonna look into changing to these next :)

[NZFD2]

cool..look fwd to the write up for that!

yeah I tested the smd leds straight on a battery and they're quite bright..I'll take some photos after putting them on and I'll post it up on the FD mod thread

[FDBenni]

So which type of LED give the brightest light? Also the LEDs on the write up look bluish .. do they have pure white?

[.k.]

they're not blue-ish its just the camera.. dunno who it comes up that way =\

im guessing these SMD style ones give the best light.. i'll wait til nzfd2 gets pics so i can see wat its like

[NZFD2]

I posted them out on Friday but on the other thread :D..here are the pics, sorry for the crappy phone cam pic, couldn't find my digicam

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2256686&postcount=3782

[eNGee]

Lookz awesome.

Great work .k. & nzfd2 :thumbsup:

You've inspired me to do this to my civic too haha.

[.k.]

no worries champ, just bring ur bulbs to next meet and i can help show you waht to do. Takes <5minutes - and don't be put off the colour isnt blue-ish its just the camera, white led ;)

[hiepness]

definately giving this ago for my car also haha =)

[davek]

To get the light to shine directly out of the hole, you need flank leds.
The led is at 90 degrees to the base, hard to explain but easily available on ebay.