Replaced the Day Time Running Light Bulb

[Neil]

I had to replace the bulb for one of the Day Time Running lights on my '13 Energi.  To get to the bulb you have to remove the headlight assemble from the car.  To do this, you have to remove the front bump cover, which is a fairly involved process.  There are several different types of fasteners, including standard 'rivet' fasteners, screw rivet fasteners, two different size hex head bolts and two difference size Torx bolts.  Since I was only replacing one side, I didn't fully remove the bumper cover, just pulled it away from the front but left the other side loosely attached.  

 

Once you get the assembly off, there is a single wiring harness that pig-tails off and connects to the headlight and the DTR light.  The headlight is secured with a wire clip, that is pretty straight forward to remove. The DTR light bulb is a little more difficult to get out. To remove it I used needle nose pliers to squeeze the socket and was able to pull it up and out.  I could not find a spec for what replacement bulb to use, but the old bulb was a 5 watt, so I found replacement Sylvania bulb was close to 5w (4.7w) and it fit.  I used Sylvania 161 bulbs.  

 

Definitely not a 'fun' job, but I'm sure the dealership would charge a lot to do it.  Overall it was a very involved process but not too bad.  When the other side goes I'll do it again.  

[muzicman61]

How sad is it that you almost have to have an engineering degree to replace a burned out bulb in your car these days.  Or that the labor cost for the dealership to do it would cost more than the bulb.  Or the irony alone of the phrase "day time" running lights.  

[4cylinder]

Don't the 2013-2016 Fusions actually use the low beams as DRLs through pulse width modulation to run them at 6V? I think you might be referring to the parking lamp instead. 

 

When I had a 2013 hybrid SE I did a HID swap and since I was living in Canada with DRL laws I needed to run a relay to the ballasts from the 12V battery in order to power the HID low-beams at full brightness (as PWM would kill HIDs).

 

For those who lack steady hands and don't have extended warranties, an independent mechanic can do the job at a fraction of what the stealership charges :)

[Neil]

Don't the 2013-2016 Fusions actually use the low beams as DRLs through pulse width modulation to run them at 6V? I think you might be referring to the parking lamp instead. 

 

When I had a 2013 hybrid SE I did a HID swap and since I was living in Canada with DRL laws I needed to run a relay to the ballasts from the 12V battery in order to power the HID low-beams at full brightness (as PWM would kill HIDs).

 

For those who lack steady hands and don't have extended warranties, an independent mechanic can do the job at a fraction of what the stealership charges :)

 

 

Could be - I wasn't sure what the light bulb was - there were three bulbs in the assembly and I knew it wasn't the low beam or high beam so I just guessed it was a DTR light.  Definitely could be the Parking Lamp I replaced.  

[4cylinder]

Could be - I wasn't sure what the light bulb was - there were three bulbs in the assembly and I knew it wasn't the low beam or high beam so I just guessed it was a DTR light.  Definitely could be the Parking Lamp I replaced.  

 

From what I've observed over the years, most if not all cars don't have dedicated DRLs. They use PWM on the low beams (if equipped with halogens), or use the parking lamps or fog lights (if equipped with LEDs or HIDs). 

 

Yes, if you didn't touch either the low or high beams, what you actually replaced were the parking lamps. Though I believe you might be able to use ForScan to reroute the DRLs to those lamps (or the fogs).

[Shadoweb]

To do this, you have to remove the front bump cover, which is a fairly involved process.  There are several different types of fasteners, including standard 'rivet' fasteners, screw rivet fasteners, two different size hex head bolts and two difference size Torx bolts.

 

You know what's better? My 2015 has different fasteners than my 2013 did. My 2013 had the plastic thumb screw rivets that have a cross on top while my 2015 has actual bolts and a clip added where the 2013 plastic rivets went for the bolts to screw into.