Luis de Prat

I was driving behind the S2 today and noticed that the left tail light parking light is brighter than the right. At some point the bulb in the left housing on my car was replaced with a bit larger unit than the stock intensity bulb in the right.

I was wondering if using a higher intensity bulb has any adverse effect on the circuit, reflector, etc. The neat thing about the brighter bulb is that you can still see the tail light in broad daylight, whereas you can only see the stock bulb at dusk.

Any thoughts welcome.

who1

I noticed this on my Audi. The little "5W" bulbs also come in 10W versions as well. I think the number (Sylvania) is, 5008 for the 10W. Just check the local Autozone or the internet.

threesticks1

Its funny that you should mention this as I have just been through an experience that may help.

When I first got my car one of the right hand parking lights was not working. When I removed the bulb sock the bulb had worked loos and was also burnt out. I took the bulb to the local auto parts emporium and replaced all three of the RH parking lights with the same that I removed. I did notice that the RH side of the tail lights were brighter but I attributed it to the new bulbs having no filiment deposition inside the glass. Two weeks later someone told me that I had a burned out light on the right side of the car. I pulled the bulb and it was still good. I then realized that all of the parking lights were not working on the right side. I pulled fuse #41 and it was blown. I replaced it and it lasted about two weeks. A bad fuse I thought and replaced it and the is one lasted about two weeks.

I cleaned the grounds gor the entire car and replaced the fuse and it lasted about two weeks.

Just on a hunch I pulled out one of the parking light bulbs on the LH side and it was different from what I had installed on the RH. I had installed 10 watt and the LH had 5 watt.

I removed all of the 10 watt bulbs from the RH side and installed the 5 watt and I haven't had to replace the fuse in about six months.

I hope that this helps.

Steve Frew

'86 951 Mostly stock and all fun!

IceShark

Stock is 5 watts for the running tail lights.

Those bulbs do get dimmer with age so maybe replacing with new 5 watt bulbs will help. Going up to 10 watts, or more, could cause 2 problems. You may melt the plastic. However, the tail lights may be big enough with enough air to avoid this: try it out and watch carefully.

The bigger problem in my mind is that the brake lights are only 21 watts and some drivers behind you may not notice quick enough the light differential between 21 and 10 watts when you apply brakes and rear end you. Every second in reaction time counts. Heck, reaction time is one of the big reasons people are retrofitting LEDs as brake lights. A LED will light up to full intensity a few fractions of a second faster than an incandescent bulb.

ZV

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by IceShark:
<strong>You may melt the plastic.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Listen to him on this. The passenger side tail-light on my 924S is warped from something. I can only assume that it was bulb heat. It's next to impossible to remove the bulbs now, have to be really careful to avoid breaking the bulb because the hole is actually slightly too small in one direction because of the warpage.

Why must the PO always do something stupid? Someday I'd like to buy a car from someone else who's like me instead of someone who didn't give a rat's ****. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Aaron

turbo944

I had the same problem as Steve with my 86 951, put in a bulb that was too bright and it kept blowing the fuse for the whole side marker setup. It is possible to actually put a high rated fuse in there, but as has been mentioned the heat could damage the plastic or you could overload the wiring, making other heat/electrical related problems.

If you want more taillights, I got that little kit on Ebay for like $10 to add another taillight in the reflector portion and his kit works very well and I've had no problems with either heat (since they are bulbs same as stock) or fuse problems using the original fuse in it. Really helps add visibility from behind the car to me. I've noticed a lot of these Jap cars with the clear taillights are difficult to tell anymore what they doing with such tiny lights. Saw one with a signal light no bigger than the face on my watch....had no idea until I finally saw this little tiny flashing red light what they were doing. That's why I like my amber turn signals and having a nice big area for them to shine on as well as the brakes and rear lights. People don't pay enough attention for me to let them rear end me because I want little tiny lights on the back or light covers or whatever.....

Cheers!

nine-44

OR, you could go to a Volkswagen dealer and order the bulb socket for the Type 1 beetle. That is the part you get in the kit. Also a factory replacement for the single sockets on the tail lights.

Mark Parker

I scored a complete tailight assembly which had the lens broken,,for nuthin'. The yard threw it in with some other stuff, 'cause it was worthless to them, but it has several of the very sockets we need.

triscadek

You WILL melt the housing.

After I bought mine I noticed that one taillight was brighter than the other, didn't do anything about it for a couple weeks and was checking something back there and noticed the housing had partially collapsed, tried to get the bulb out-hole now too small.

Had to turn the light on and heat the housing enough to get it soft enough to get the bulb out.