[VwGTIKid]

Rear tail light assembly..which bulbs are in there?

I have a question. I am replacing a smashed rear tail light assembly in my car and was wondering what bulbs I need back there. None work...
Is there three of them?
A reverese, turn signal and brake?
FYI...it is only the rear tail light, not the light attached to the hatch
thanks guys

Modified by VwGTIKid at 6:53 PM 2-2-2010


Modified by VwGTIKid at 6:54 PM 2-2-2010

 

[Ikey3125]

FV-QR

there's only 2 bulbs, one on each side of the red, one does brake/parking and other is turn/brake/parking

 

[GT17V]

Brake/turn/running light is P21W (1156 works also).
The light attached to the hatch is your reverse light, also P21W.
If you got the Euro ones, then the middle position would be H6W (but the US/Canada ones are not set up this way)
P.S. it is printed on the bulb tray

 

[Marek K]

Re: (GT17V)

Quote, originally posted by GT17V »

Brake/turn/running light is P21W (1156 works also).

Someone correct me if I'm wrong... but the output power of a P21W bulb is only 21 watts. I believe that's the standard in Europe.
But an 1156 is 27 watts (North American standard).
They'll both fit in an emergency, but a P21W would be significantly dimmer.
There was a thread about this somewhere... but 1156 is a single-filament bulb. The VW CECM modulates the output to produce two output levels when used variously as parking light/brake light/turn signal. Weird. Pretty cool (don't have to have a dual-filament bulb any more), but weird.

 

[silverA4quattro]

FV-QR

N 017 732 8 P21W 12V, 21W for tail/brake/turn signal
N 017 732 2 P21W 12V, 21W for reverse bulb
Osram calls this a 7506 bulb which is typically what your local auto parts store sells. Buy the 7506LL (long life) bulbs for best results. Personally if one of the 2 bulbs goes out, I replace both as typically the other one will soon follow.


Modified by silverA4quattro at 10:41 AM 2-3-2010

 

[GT17V]

Re: (Marek K)

Quote, originally posted by Marek K »

Someone correct me if I'm wrong... but the output power of a P21W bulb is only 21 watts. I believe that's the standard in Europe. But an 1156 is 27 watts (North American standard). They'll both fit in an emergency, but a P21W would be significantly dimmer. There was a thread about this somewhere... but 1156 is a single-filament bulb. The VW CECM modulates the output to produce two output levels when used variously as parking light/brake light/turn signal. Weird. Pretty cool (don't have to have a dual-filament bulb any more), but weird.

yes @ 12V, the power output is 21W
the 1156 standard is measured by 12.8V, which is 27W.
There is more to it.
P21W is brighter than 1156 (465 vs. 402 lumens). However, its life span is 10% that of a standard 1156 (150 vs. 1200 hrs). Then on top of that, you can get double-life 1156 bulbs.
a good bulb for the reverse lights is the 3497, which outputs 565 lumens & has 4 times the life of P21W (600 hours)-- the extra lighting helps when you only have 1 reverse (due to a rear fog)
Yes, lighting is operated by Pulse Width Modulation.

 

[VwGTIKid]

Re: (GT17V)

thanks for all the awesome replies!
so this is what I ordered a year ago from ecs tuning
http://www.ecstuning.com/Volks...S6316/
It looks like I only have 1 of those bulbs the turn signal or reverse..

 

[Marek K]

Re: (GT17V)

Quote, originally posted by GT17V »

P21W is brighter than 1156 (465 vs. 402 lumens).

OK, that's interesting. I assume when operating off of the same voltage?
But I've lived a lot of years in Europe, driving U.S.-spec cars (yes, military and civil service). I didn't always have easy PX access to 1156 bulbs, and sometimes had to go with the P21W's available on the local economy. I've always noticed that the P21W bulbs were quite definitely dimmer than the original 1156's... so much so, that I always had to replace them in pairs. I assumed that was because of the nominal wattage difference.

Quote, originally posted by GT17V »

a good bulb for the reverse lights is the 3497, which outputs 565 lumens & has 4 times the life of P21W (600 hours)-- the extra lighting helps when you only have 1 reverse (due to a rear fog)

Good tip; thanks. I just ordered some for my (single) reverse -- both cars. Wife's been grumbling about the single reverse light on her Jetta.

Modified by Marek K at 10:20 AM 2-3-2010

 

[Marek K]

Re: (VwGTIKid)

Quote, originally posted by VwGTIKid »

so this is what I ordered a year ago from ecs tuning http://www.ecstuning.com/Volks...S6316/

Oh, that's great! Didn't know those kits were available here in the U.S. -- I'll have to order a couple for our two Mk5's.
Way over-priced, compared with buying the bulbs and fuses separately. But worth it for the box, so the stuff isn't knocking around loose.

 

[Marek K]

Re: (GT17V)

Quote, originally posted by GT17V »

a good bulb for the reverse lights is the 3497, which outputs 565 lumens & has 4 times the life of P21W (600 hours)-- the extra lighting helps when you only have 1 reverse (due to a rear fog)

Wow, that was quick. The 3497 bulbs just arrived, that I ordered on your recommendation.
Do you know how much hotter these burn? Not a problem with the reverse light.
But I'm thinking of installing them into our rear fog lights too. We hardly ever use our rear fog lights, but when we need to, they're going to be on for longer at a time than the reverse lights... Any risk of damaging plastic housing or reflector parts, you think?