My 2000 Econoline E150 Van has 2 dome lights. One in front and one in back. The back one went out. :dubious:
I’ve never had a dome light go out in 32 years of driving. I didn’t think the lamp could burn out. They aren’t incandescent bulbs. Not sure what they are even called.
Is the lamp replaceable? How does it remove from the light? Should I replace the entire light?
No. You bought a dome light. The rest of the van is expendable.
Your owner’s manual should have instructions. I found this thread at the Ford trucks forum. One reply has a link to a ‘dome light’ search on eBay. It looks like LED replacements are popular.
I think this is it. I’ll double check my manual. That is one weird looking lamp. I’m like the guy in the forum and not sure how to open the thing without breaking it.
It’s not a normal screw in bulb. It’s a weird snap in thing. I wasn’t sure at first if it was even designed to be removed. Modern dome lights never seem to burn out.
After looking at the replacement, I see it pops in and out like a glass fuse.
In my experience the main reason for these bulbs to fail is when they are left on for an extended time. Be sure to check that it goes off when you shut the door.
I thought the same thing, then remembered what the bulbs look like these days. Gone are the fixtures that a 3 year old could handle. Now they all look like something designed by Escher.
I learned the hard way that the dome light will run down the battery. Only takes about 8 hours. I’ve had to use the jumper cables a few times over the years. Not recently. It’s been a couple years since I screwed up.
Those LED replacements use less power. Maybe they won’t drain the battery so quick? At least give us 10 hours to catch the problem and still start.
Another thing is that the old style dome-light bulbs get seriously hot! I think they’re just regular old incandescent bulbs, but they get hot like a halogen bulb. Sometimes leaving the dome light on overnight would not only kill your battery but bake a nice brown spot onto the white plastic of the dome light. The LED replacements are awesome, although maybe not quite as bright.
No kidding. The passenger-side daytime running light (mandatory here) burned out yesterday on my car. It cost $21 at a GM dealership — with taxes — because the bulb is permanently attached to a plastic housing, itself vastly overpriced.
Bastards.
What would a headlight bulb cost? A million dollars because it’s so much brighter?
Yeah, they’re like smaller cartridge fuses. Small ones. You can get them in different colours too. There are vast selections of them in the electrical section of any truck stop in your area. Try a Pilot or Flying J.