Hey Guys - Firstly Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas to all (or y'all as they say here in Texas..laughing). I hope everyone is well and your BFs are running great.
I did a search and did not see anyone attempt this so I thought I would share this little upgrade. I think it was cool for Mazda to include three roof mounted lights only on the GT and GTX models but the light quality is mediocre and having just experienced a recent blown bulb I decided to give LEDs a try.
The original tiny globe Left and Right Toshiba map lights (12V 6W) are no longer available from Mazda and have been replaced by a more standard "1895" bulb, the dome / door light is a DE3175 which is still a standard / available bulb. It is important to use an 1895 bulb for the map lights (low wattage) or there might be a tendency to pop the fuse.
As this was a trial, I bought cheap eBay (Chinese made) LEDs, so if it did not work, nothing ventured nothing gained, all three bulbs cost me around $5 total.
This was an opportune time to clean all the switch contacts in the light assembly including washing the housings in warm soapy water and scrubbing them with a soft tooth brush to remove the years of crud and finger marks.
The LEDs installed with no problem and the additional brighter whiter light is excellent and far superior to the OEM filament bulbs, the dimming function on the "Door" switch also works flawlessly. In the upcoming weeks I will consider switching the trunk and the ashtray bulbs to LEDs.
Enjoy!
Yasin
I did a search and did not see anyone attempt this so I thought I would share this little upgrade. I think it was cool for Mazda to include three roof mounted lights only on the GT and GTX models but the light quality is mediocre and having just experienced a recent blown bulb I decided to give LEDs a try.
The original tiny globe Left and Right Toshiba map lights (12V 6W) are no longer available from Mazda and have been replaced by a more standard "1895" bulb, the dome / door light is a DE3175 which is still a standard / available bulb. It is important to use an 1895 bulb for the map lights (low wattage) or there might be a tendency to pop the fuse.
As this was a trial, I bought cheap eBay (Chinese made) LEDs, so if it did not work, nothing ventured nothing gained, all three bulbs cost me around $5 total.
This was an opportune time to clean all the switch contacts in the light assembly including washing the housings in warm soapy water and scrubbing them with a soft tooth brush to remove the years of crud and finger marks.
The LEDs installed with no problem and the additional brighter whiter light is excellent and far superior to the OEM filament bulbs, the dimming function on the "Door" switch also works flawlessly. In the upcoming weeks I will consider switching the trunk and the ashtray bulbs to LEDs.
Enjoy!
Yasin
1986 Mazda 323 1.6L SOHC
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