Mongo

ok this is a dumb question <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" />

Is it easy to change the front side marker amber bulbs? I just noticed both were burned out after having this car for like 5 months now

:burnout;

Incendier

Piece of cake. Remove the fender liner, reach up at an uncomfortable angle, and pull the bulb (it's hiding behind a rubber cover - there's a tab at the top that needs to be slightly depressed).

Two nuts hold the entire assembly into the fender; if your bulb is stuck this may be necessary (and often advisable) to remove to do a full cleaning).

Have fun.

ViribusUnits

Mine wasn't too bad.

I end up removeing the wheels to get into anything in that area. Remove the wheels, remove the foward wheel well guard, and then it's a pretty easy deal to change the light out. At least on my car, there's plenty of space, and the only difficult part is removeing the rubber cover over the backside of the bulb, and getting it back on.

Btw, there are 4 bolts in my finder liner. Two on brackets on the bottem, and two on a peice of angle iron attached to the inner side of the fender.

Just be thankful it's not the rear passangers side one. Mine likes to be tempermental, and it's a *itch to get to, what with the fuel tank getting in the way and everything.

Should be easy.

Roger

hey Eurospec944...

On my S4, I found that removing the headlight is the easiest way to change the side marker bulbs (assuming that you have a US model). On my car, there were only 7 (easy to access) screws.

Hope this helps...

Roger

Larry

[quote] ViribusUnits
Just be thankful it's not the rear passangers side one. Mine likes to be tempermental, and it's a *itch to get to, what with the fuel tank getting in the way and everything.
<hr></blockquote>

So this is exactly the marker light that is out on my car. Not the bulb either. Seems like a short at or in the assembly.

Any words of advice on the best way to remove the assembly? Any tricks or short cuts?

Thanks.

Larry
88 S4

MichaelR

I changed the drivers side bulb on my 85 without removing any of the misc pieces mentioned (wheels, shield, etc). I reached under the spoiler, around the alt hose, blah, blah, and finally found a position I could get my arm in there and reach all the way to the light. I ended up removing the two nuts to remove the light. Either the bulb housing was stuck, or I just couldn't get it loose because I wasn't sure what was holding what. Not sure if the passenger side will have more/less room for an arm.

John Struthers

Euro,
1. Are you sure that they are amber bulbs? Mine are the 5 watt clear type. Is the fuse (8amp) intact?
2. On my 82' the bolts are all hex-bolt head - 8mm. They are easy to remove with out pulling the wheel. Just turn your front wheel sharply when you stop to get at all the small machine bolts. Do the same for the opposite side.
3. On my 82' all of the sidemarker retaining brackets front and rear are held on by small wing nuts and small lock washers - finger tight -.
I'm not sure if the wing nuts are standard, or not????
4. Once the nuts and brackets are removed (pretty easy)Just push on the assembly from the back side and it pops out of the fender well where you can clean everything including the assembly electrical blades, leads, and sockets. Brown wire is along side the light socket and gray wire is socket lead. It's alot easier to remove and install the boot with the assembly hanging out from the outside of the fender.

This is a good time to see if the rubber marker light body assembly seal is dry rotted or crushed.
Keep in mind that if you drop hardware while removing there are a lot of places for nuts, washers to hide. More so in the front than the rear. At the rear hardware tends to lay on the fenderwell lip or bounce free.
The rule of thumb is to replace bulbs in pairs - Nicole tipped me to this. However you can buy american made bulbs for replacement at WalMart - they work for me and are readily available. If you do get to WalMart you can also buy the euro fuses or the american made version of the euro fuses. They are the glass type cylinder fuse common to american made vehicles, 'BUT' have the tapered -torpedo- ends like the euro fuses. Cheaper than a auto parts store. Stock up on the multi-pack assortment and get the plastic fuse remover and installer. I recently replaced all of the Euro fuses and it really cleans up the appearance of the fuse box 'line if you go to all glass. Save all of your old euro fuses in a ziplock bag for emergencies. Good to have spares.

There is a 4 pin plug up under the headlight, mine is encased in a rubber boot. Ican reach it from the wheel well to check for snugness but I can't reach it from anyplace else -Big hands -.
Since I went to a Flowmaster muffler to replace that big breadbox rear muffler I can reach the left rear without taking the splash guard off.
Right rear is also easy to reach without removing anything.

A related question: I downloaded that sHARk screensaver awhile back. I think it has Steve C.'s 928 before the Porshe Emblem was applied and dennis W.,s two 78's are there among others.
Anyhow with the exception of 2 sHARK's the majority of sHARK's with marker lights on don't have the front running lights on when the markers are lit-up....was there a wiring change along the line somewhere?
later, have fun.
John S & Pattycakes
<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Mongo

So far I haven't gotten the chance to replace the sidemarker bulbs. Oh and by Amber i mean thats the color of the sidemarker, the bulbs are probably clear in the inside. I've been real busy with school lately so hopefully I can do it when I get home today

<img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

SteveG

Viribus wrote: "Should be easy." How many times that changes to "Should HAVE been easy."

For example: Took off cover to replace fuel filter. I found 4-6 ozs of mud had gotten crammed in there. PO must have backed into mud bank. Enough to start a nice pitting rust job on the inner side of the cover. A one hour job turns into 6 as I break out the dremel to sand off the rust and re-paint the sucker.

Larry

[quote] John S & Pattycakes
Anyhow with the exception of 2 sHARK's the majority of sHARK's with marker lights on don't have the front running lights on when the markers are lit-up....was there a wiring change along the line somewhere?
<hr></blockquote>

John, my '88 has a switch on the pod (between the headlight and odometer reset switches) that controls the running lights. The running lights can only be turned on, though, if the parking lights or headlights are on. I thought all models had this switch.

Thanks for the info on the side marker lights.

Larry
88 S4 5-sp