Bought my 1st pcar 2 weeks (and 1 day) ago. '95 993 coupe...great ride!
I noticed that both interior lights don't work as well as the light under the front deck lid.
The owner's manual says that to change the bulb you squeeze a small screwdriver between the black frame/housing and the lining. Sounds odd to have to take out the whole unit and I certainly don't want to rip the headliner.
Is that how it comes out or is the screwdriver used to remove the clear plastic piece from it's frame?
Thanks!

 

The frame and lens must come out as a complete unit .... so place a business card or something to protect the headliner against the frame and work around the ends with a screwdriver as described. Once you do one, the rest can be done with eyes closed.

However, before taking them out, there are a few checks to be done .... especially as you have three dead ones: that suggests that something else is wrong, which would most likely be

- the pin switches behind the rubber nipple on the front door pillar are not making good contact to ground/earth when the door is opened. Press the switch in and release several times - this may clean the contacts.
- the two overhead lights click into three positions by pressing on either end of the plastic lens -[ on with door open when pressed down at one end: off at all times when centered: on at all times] verify that the lenses are not nicely level in their frames - if so, they will not light.

 

Thanks Garth. I checked out some old threads and learned just what you said about the contacts with some pretty descriptive info. Does the engine area have a light too?

 

Hey Garth S, my present interior bubs are very dim. Can you suggest brighter ones?


Thanks,

Ken

 

There is a light in my engine bay ... so I suspect that they all have one

Re. brighter bulbs in the interior, I'm not aware of any: the stock bulbs are quite bright when full voltage is available - check that the door switch grounds properly as mentioned above. Also, measure the voltage at the holder.
As tungsten filament bulbs age, they can deposit a black film inside ... easily checked, and correctable with fresh bulbs
It is likely that the plastic bulb holders would not tolerate higher wattage bulbs, even if available

 

Ken,

I just put some 15 led ! festoon bulbs in which directly replace the standard ones. The whole interior is now bathed in pure white light. I might do the same with the licence plate lights too now I have seen the light that they can produce.

I like them a lot but they are not to everyones taste.

The Ebay UK link is where I got them from.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Car-15-LED-Int...QQcmdZViewItem