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At least on '87, the verts and coupes use different bulbs. The coupe
bulb is a bit of an oddball -- nobody makes an LED for it.
I'm pretty sure they owner's manual lists the bulb numbers.
When removing the light assembly, put a shop towel between the wrench
and the targa bar. And be sure to pull the rear window up all the way to
get more wrench clearance.
Not true about an LED version of the coupe high mount brake light. My car has one. I laid out a PC board but the prototype PC board house wanted over $600 for 10 (minimum order) two-sided with plated through holes and silkscreen. In retrospect, I could have left off the silkscreen and made it one-sided, which would have been much cheaper.
I checked Digi-Key and bought the brightest red LEDs they had. It was about $45 for 100 and I used 64. I went that route because I didn't know how bright they needed to be. Now that I know better (they're very bright), I could have bought some much cheaper high brightness LEDs.
I took some PC board material I had and routed out the copper with a Dremel tool. It's been on my car for several years and I never have to worry about replacing those expensive halogen lamps. Here's a comparison between the 4 halogen lamps on the top and the LED version on the bottom. I had to hold the camera off axis because it blasted it with light and overloaded the image sensor. The LED version is actually brighter than the halogens. One advantage of the LEDs is that they come on instantly, giving a little extra margin of warning to wake up the guy behind me.
but what number bulb? I thought they were halogen, but are they the same #791 like the dash cluster?
..... It takes about five minutes to open the light up and pull a bulb out ... there should be a number on it ... and while its open try your dash bulb to see if it fits ..................
Perhaps these vary for different years but of the convertible brake 3rd brake light I've seen/changed you just need to remove the license tag reach up and change out the single bulb.
Well, for future reference there are three small halogen bulbs, #891 at your local auto parts store. Same bulbs as the dash cluster. Take off license plate and reached in to get to the two nuts that hold the light on the car. Outer bezel comes off and the light comes out from behind and through the license plate area. Two screws hold the bulb bar to the light. unsrew the two screws and replace the bulbs. By the way, these little bulbs do not have numbers on them that I could find. Too small.
Well, for future reference there are three small halogen bulbs, #891 at your local auto parts store. Same bulbs as the dash cluster.
For those with early-C4 verts ...
I went to my local auto parts store and asked for a replacement bulb for the third brake light. The person sold me an #891. When I was finally able to get to the bulb in the car, it turned out to be an #1156! Sounds like:
coupes use three (3) #891's in the housing above the rear glass.
verts use one (1) #1156 in the housing in the rear fascia.
I'm heading back to the parts store to get the right bulb. I'm hoping they sell LED versions of the 1156, 'cause I don't want to have to do this again in my lifetime. What a PITA!