2008 SRX marker and parking lights

Wiring, DIY, lighting, etc.
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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

2008 SRX marker and parking lights

Post by kevm14 »

I noticed there are some burnt out lights on the SRX. There are the small parking lights that are in the inner lower corner of the headlights. All of my Cadillacs have these. Passenger side one is out. So I ordered some AC Delco W5W bulbs which have the correct blue tint (I think this is plug-compatible with the 194 but is 5 watts and blue tinted to better match the color temp of HIDs). This will require removal and disassembly of the headlight. I will be careful with the gasket.

I also noticed (forgot) that it has amber marker lights in the sides of the headlight housings. I don't know if these blink or just come on with the headlights. But they are BOTH burned out. So I ordered new ones. I think they are 194 style but I got what I assume is the correct 12961LL (Philips). These will NOT require removal of the headlights. They are accessible from underneath after removing the front wheel wheel liner (same labor as getting to the DRL/turn/fog housing). Apparently you reach up and can twist out the side marker lights from down there.

Honestly I don't recall ever replacing these the entire time we've had the car. Not sure how long they've been out. Probably a while...maybe including through the last inspection. So I'll rectify all that.

Now here's the kind of weird part. The DRL/turn signal bulbs are 3757 amber and they are dual filament. I would have expected the low wattage filament to come on as running lights, like my STS and I think CTS. On the SRX both are out. So when I see Jamie pull in the driveway, there is nothing amber on at the front end. It doesn't seem right. I did a ton of research and looked at my manual and I believe the low wattage filament is NOT USED on the SRX! It is not used as a running light, the way it is on my STS and CTS. I am still not 100% sure this is right but that's where I'm at. Seems weird to me but if true, nothing to fix except the aforementioned bulbs.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: 2008 SRX marker and parking lights

Post by kevm14 »

TL;DR I replaced everything I planned to. RockAuto shorted me one AC Delco W5W bulb (one of the boxes was empty). I wasn't planning on using both but that's still annoying. Guessing not worth the return hassle. The bulbs were $3.99 each...

So here was the situation on the driver's side. Only the parking lamp was working. Not the marker. Also it turns out this parking lamp was the wrong bulb. Someone probably put a 194 on it. It is dimmer and more yellow than it is supposed to be. But it works. So I did not remove this headlight assembly.
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Even worse on the passenger side! No parking, no marker. Who knows how long those have been burned out.
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Jack up, remove wheel, remove front inner splash shield. Look up and to the outside and you can access the marker bulb. Not too bad. It's this weird long thing. The non-194 but 194-looking 12961LL seemed correct so that was good.
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Quick test, works! About 30 minutes into it. But call it an hour if you include jacking up, and putting the splash shield back (I wasn't done so I didn't at this point). A bit excessive but still easier than having to remove the headlight assembly.
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Next up was the fog and turn/DRL assembly replacement. The cover was flapping in the breeze. Two screws were sort of holding it on but it wasn't even making a seal. I have no idea how there was no moisture inside.
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Removal required removing two 7mm screws. One on the bottom, one on the inside. The inside one was a very tight fit but I got it with some patience.

The new aftermarket assembly was made in Taiwan. I saw one definite quality issue. It came with new bulbs which is good I guess (think about a body guy getting one and putting it in, one less hassle). However, I knew enough to test the fitment. Good thing I did. The fog light bulb was very loose, and it was already twisted into place. The metal flange was not holding any of the tabs firmly in place. Ugh. I looked at it for a while and fortunately I was able to remove the flange with 3 small screws. Then I put it on my vice and hammered each tab down a bit with a mini-sledge and screw driver. I just sort of eyeballed it. Put it back on the fog reflector and the bulb twisted in nice and firmly. Nice save. I ended up using my old fog light because I figured the bulbs were Chinese junk. Later I noticed it was made in Germany but whatever. Oh also, one cool thing I will say for the assembly is bulb replacement is way easier than OEM. With OEM, you had to remove like 6 or more screws holding the whole back cover on to get access to the bulbs inside. With the aftermarket one, they provide these rubber covers that you can just pull off. If it keeps moisture out, this was smart.

I also swapped the turn/DRL bulb (3757NA). It was a Philips long life I put in a little while back. It was still working. However it had two deficiencies. The plastic base was actually starting to melt which didn't seem too great. But maybe worse from a functional sense, the amber bulb coating was getting baked off! It was slowly becoming a clear bulb. Sure enough, when I put it back together, Ian was outside and immediately noticed that it was not as amber as the passenger side. Geez. So I put the new bulb back in and it is nice and amber. Again this bulb does the DRL and turn signals. That took longer because of this fiddling but it's good to check and double check because of the labor to get access to the bulbs. So that was done.
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The beam quality seems crappier than OEM but still seems better than my STS so there's that.

With the driver's side done, I buttoned everything up and moved onto the tougher job. Passenger marker (easy) and parking light (requires headlight removal).
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: 2008 SRX marker and parking lights

Post by kevm14 »

On the passenger side it's the same thing. Remove front inner splash shield. Remove the rear bolt for bumper to fender fastening. Loosen front nut. Pull out all of the plastic push rivets as required to be able to pull the front bumper away from the headlight a good 8-12". Then remove the 3 10mm bolts holding the headlight in and pull it out.

The marker was easy as before. But now I have the correct W5W bulb for parking. It looks like the STS now. What was amazing was it is accessible on the outside of the headlight housing so I did not have to disturb the main cover gasket. This seems like a more serviceable design than the STS.
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Passenger fog for no real reason.
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Looks good and mostly correct now. You can see the dimmer/yellower parking bulb on the driver's side. I'll replace it when it burns out.
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Lookie here. A spider. It is inside. I'm not going to ask too many questions....I guess it could have crawled in through one of the vents. Or it could have possibly crawled in when I pulled the marker bulb out...
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I probably was outside like 4 hours when you count all the fiddling, jacking up, checking aim and that stuff. I didn't really mind I guess. I could have just done marker lights as those are definitely safety-related. The parking lights in the headlights don't seem to do a whole lot other than providing a European look.

Total cost for everything: $128 (I subtracted $4 for one of the missing W5W bulbs since I didn't actually use both for this particular job)
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