PaulJ

GM's instructions for replacing the front turn signal, parking and DRL (Daytime Running Light) bulbs seem like more work than necessary. Here is what worked for me.


The front turn signal and DRL are in one bulb, type 3157A (I believe the A is for amber, make sure you get an amber one, don't get the clear). I believe the 4157A will work as well, the bulbs I got claimed they replaced both. Push the brake vent duct back and down. Reach in with your palm up and you'll immediately find the wire to the fixture. The fixture is pear shaped with the stem of the pear toward the center of the car. In the corner of the fixture toward the nearest corner of the car is a tab. You have to push the tab in toward the center of the fixture and pull the stem toward the front of the car and the fixture will drop down. Since you're working in the blind here this is a little tricky, but the tab pushes in very easily once you've found it. I had enough wire to pull the fixture out through the duct. The bulb then just pulls straight out of the fixture.


The parking light is type 194 (clear). For me the easiest way to get to this was to raise the headlamp, take the bezel off of the headlamp, then you can reach down and take it out.


If you need to replace your brakelights they're style 3057.

paul

goldman

Many people (like myself) prefer the clear 3157 or 3157LL (long life)...

I also tried the N57 (hyper-white) but they are too "blue" looking for me.. I have them F/S in the "parts for sale" forum, for less than they cost me.

Your instructions are good, but they probably only work for us people with small hands... Even at 5'8 / 150lbs, I could barely fit my hand in there.

sar10

Resurrecting an old thread, but thanks to the search function and the good folks here who take the time to share their experiences, I was able to replace my burned out bulb with no problem. Some bulbs are pretty straight-forward, but I was thinking of pulling the wheel and removing the inner fender to get to this bulb. Then I thought, surely on a C5, someone has already been through this - sure enough, pretty simple. Thanks gang!

rws.1

For those with large hands/arms, put the front end on ramps ., get under the car and directly below the fog lights you will see two inspection plates ( one each side) remove those and you have direct access to the , fog lamp, drl and turn signal bulbs.

mmartinez

I just replaced that lamp on Friday, I was able to snake my arm under the headlight and get to it. The problem I had was the replacement lamp had two plastic tabs on the base that were not the same as the one I removed,so I had to cut and file them off.

Kehraus

I took off the inspection plate underneath. 5 screws and it's off. Then move the brake duct out of the way and there it is, easy access.

I tried the through the duct method and got my hand stuck, panicked and ended up loosing skin on my wrist.

dadaroo

That is not the Parking light but the Side Marker. The Parking light is the other filament in the DRL/Turn Signal bulb.

rkdc5z06

you unhook the brake duck, and reach in w your hands. It's tight space, but you can do it.

laurent_zo6

Jeff Lockhart

I have been doing some research on this topic and have decided to go with LED lighting. Side markers are:https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...edge-base/206/

The turn signal light I will be using the Switchback lights: https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ype/1916/4478/

Very cool lights

carlspeed

thread revival:

I've got decent sized paws, and I was able to make it up through the brake cooling duct hole. Kind of a rush job this time, but I think I'll also order the LED's for next time. It's been close to a year, any issues with them?

Attack Position 23

GCG

According to this info both draw the same currents, but the 3457's big filament is 100 lumens brighter. From Sylvania:

Lamp Filament Wattage Lumens

3157 Minor____8.26W_____37
3157 Major____26.88W____402

3457 Minor____8.26W_____37
3457 Major____28.54W____502

4157 Minor____8.26W_____37
4157 Major____28.54W____402

DWC4

IF you have slender arms, and though it will scrape you up a bit maybe, going in the brake duct vent can take as little as 1 minute per side to swap the lights. It's tight, and don't try it alone - I got kinda stuck at one point. Take your watch and ANY jewelry off. For the passenger lamp, lay on your right side and go in with your left hand, opposite on the other of course. I put in LED - saw a red dot on one side of the bulb, wondered...hmm, polarity? but saw no mark on the socket so put it all together and.. no light. Undid it, flipped it around - light. So make sure the light works before reinstalling, duh. Hardest part, twisting it in securely but it just has to travel maybe 1/4" of rotation to lock in place. I used this same techqnique last year on my turn signal lamps, it is the ONLY way to do this easily. Chunky arms.. fuhgedaboudit. Find a skinny friend.

red50th

Anyone find led turn lights, drl in amber that are not SWTICHBACK . Looking for simple plug in led amber drl ?

TCFS

You may find them on Amazon or else. Exist also by philips.
https://www.autozone.com/electrical-...led/770350_0_0

DWC4

===
This is really helpful info, I couldn't even find it on the Sylvania site, thank you! I do see this on the Sylvania site and it's good advice, though I doubt it's my problem:

"When changing your bulb, never touch the glass. Always use gloves or a clean shop towel to reduce the transfer of oils during installation."

After a bit of a front end crash and recent repair in this area, my passenger front turn signal light is now failing within a short time of installing a new bulb (in 1-2 days and maybe 50 miles total). Not sure what is going on in there, if they're getting banged up for some reason, maybe some debris up in the housing or, what. When I get the bulb unit out, the bulb is busted up. At almost 20 years old, the heat has discolored the plastic mount and it's brown and crumbled a bit at the top edge, I think the heat and years have taken a toll on it. That made me thing the whole unit is overheating and the bulb is getting fried and falls apart???

So to test if it's mechanical or electrical, I put in another 4157NA but did not put the signal unit back in the signal housing, instead because fortunately the wire is pretty long (thus allowing us to pull the unit out via the brake cooling duct to change bulbs), I taped the bulb unit in that brake duct area. So, I have a working turn signal and can see if it lasts longer than before. Which means, if it does, something in there is breaking the bulb or too much heat accumulates in there maybe???

I'll try going in via that underneath panel access a member mentioned here and see what I find.

DWC4

Thanks, had no idea this was an option. So today I get under there and went at it.

And it seems the housing 'hole' that holds the bulb was damaged in my little off road incident some months ago (or maybe heat just got it and it's begun disintegrating?) Anyway, it was not repaired/replaced by the body shop. So the bulb holder would come loose, the bulb then flops around and breaks. Great.

I really couldn't repair that hold/mount this time around though I'll scheme up a way to do it properly and go back in. For now I jury rigged support for the bulb unit to hold it in place. It may require buying a whole new light housing and I can just imagine that $$$$.

Pics, there's about 8 screws that hold that access panel in place, 7mm socket. And I discovered this is where the horns live.

Broken turn signal mount.

passenger side turn signal panel access

passenger side turn signal panel access 2

Here's where your horns are.

jdmvette

Never have to replace your drl bulbs again with the newest corner light design

https://www.ebay.com/itm/31408220969...mis&media=COPY