My euro parking lenses have melted (always have been since I bought the car) right in front of where the bulb is. I ordered new lenses and before I put them on, I was trying to figure out why the original lenses melted in the first place. I took out the bulb and it is an 1156 bulb. Reading online, I saw numerous posts from RV folks who had replaced their 1141 bulbs with 1156 bulbs to get more lumens, but ended up melting their lenses. I am assuming that the original owner of my Pantera made a similar mistake. Has anyone dealt with this issue before? Did the euros come with 1141 bulbs, or did they have 1156 bulbs and maybe sometime during its life my car had a hiccup and the bulb got too hot and melted the lens.
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II would look at replacing with some LED bulbs, less heat and typically more lumens. I am sure you can find them on the internet. Larry
I looked at LED bulbs too, but there is a ton of posts from people that tried them and did not work as intended or expected. Many say the lumens is less than advertised, and many fail quickly. A lot of that seems to be the fact you shouldn't just put in an LED bulb and expect it to work like an incandescent bulb. Apparently LED bulbs in cars need resistors installed, which is typically more money (and time) than switching out the bulb. Ultimately I would like to change everything to LED lighting from Jon Hass and Pantera Electronics. Just have to budget that in. So far I have had great luck and experience with Jon and his products. He is an electronics genius as far as I am concerned.
When you say euro parking lights I assume you are referring to the dual-color, amber and clear, lenses that use two separate bulbs,
if so, this photo will show that one bulb is mounted much closer to the lens than the other
the correct bulb for the socket close to the lens is a 5007 bulb. It is a 5 W bulb.
the 1156 is the correct bulb to mount behind the amber section of the parking light.
The 1141 is an 18 W bulb and the 1156 is a 26 W bulb.
No surprise a bulb five times the wattage of the recommended bulb is melting lenses.
As for the other Larry‘s recommendation of an LED bulb, be careful, because even LED bulbs emit heat, and they are often designed with a higher wattage for greater brightness, which means more heat. Not sure even a LED is safe mounted this close to the plastic lens. 🤷
Larry
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Larry, you just hit the nail on the head. So my lenses have melted not on the amber side, but the white/clear side. And that is where I got the 1156 bulb out of. So the previous owner (or his mechanic) must have put in the bulbs in the wrong place, thus melting the lenses.
Thank you!
Fuzz
Fuzz,
The two color lenses are difficult to locate. I am curious where you managed to find yours and what their cost was.
I know of at least three different makers of those lenses. Were you able to purchase a matched set?
and one last question, are your light housings metal or kind of a beige plastic?
Larry
Mr. Fiat had them in stock. For some bizarre reason, the right side was $90, and the left side was $45. Can't figure out for the life of me why the left side is twice the cost of the right side. Here is the link:
Housing is black plastic on my car.
@lf-tp2511- I have to politely disagree with you regarding your comment amount LED lights emitting heat. All light bulbs emit heat. Pound for Pound (size and lumen output), LED bulbs give off less heat than there incandescent equal. Take the 5007 incandescent bulb is 5-watts and a 5007 LED bulb only is 1.3 watts, so this will give off less heat. The wattage is what makes heat. A typical 5007 LED bulb you get approx. 700 lumens, plenty of light. Another advantage of LED is you get to pick your Kelvin (color of light). Ranges from 3000, 4500, 6000 Kelvin. A typical incandescent light bulb is roughly 2700 Kelvin (Yellow light). A nice LED light would for this application would be 3,000 or 4,500 Kelvin. You can search Amazon has lots of selections. If you need any help, just PM me. I spent over two years working with LED lights to develop a low voltage LED lighting system that used Category 5 or 18/2 wire, NO 120V AC to be installed in houses and business. A porotype was installed at a CP Carrillo warehouse in Irvine CA.
@Fuzz - I also agree with you regarding Jon Hass, he makes great products which I have bought a lot of his products for my Pantera, but his LED lights cost more than other options out there. I can also help you with picking out correct LED light replacements. LED is the ONLY way to go. PM me.
FWIW, those are European lights and the clear part is a daytime running light, as is required in Europe and Canada. That means it’s designed to be “on” whenever the car is running. That’s how mine are wired and I’ve never had a heat related problem with the correct incandescent bulbs or the LEDs that replaced them.
Thanks to Larry's post, I replaced the 1156 bulbs with 5007 bulbs and all is well. I am still interested in the LED conversion for the lights. But for now it is as it should be with the bulbs and hopefully no more melted lenses.
This site is in France, where the original lenses were made. Seems like they still make them over there, because they were also used in some Renault vehicles. Here is the website, where you can get both left and right lenses plus the housing. They ship worldwide. Prices are in euro.
https://www.retroptic-auto.com...earch=Search&p=2
Fuzz
Sadly, once you click on each individual item on the link provided by fuzz, it turns out the only item that is still available and in stock is the right side lens.
both housings are no longer in stock, as is the left lens no longer in stock
☹️☹️☹️
Larry
Don't you still have some of these stashed away Larry?
I bought my housing and lens setup from you.
LED bulbs installed on day one, no issues since.