Tail Light Bulbs Causing Minor Melting?
 

Hi Everyone,

I just received a set of red/clear taillights from Woody to complete the de-ambering of my 986 (Shoutout to Woody for the great part and great service!). They are in great condition from the outside, but the inside has some minor melting/warping around the brake light bulb. The two brake light bulbs are stamped with "CEC China 7506LL" the rest of the bulbs in the holder are Osram or Philips.

I could not find much on these bulbs, but my guess is that these are cheap bulbs that ran too hot. Does that sound plausible? Trying to figure out if higher quality bulbs will stop the melting issue, or if I need to look into LED's. Is anyone aware of LED's that don't cause cruise control and polarity issues? I am not concerned about the melting that has already happened, but I don't want it to get worse.

Thanks,
-Rick :cheers:

From what I can find, the OEM bulb and the CEC China bulb are both 12volt/21watt bulbs so they should be equivalent.

There is a possibility that someone had installed a higher wattage bulb which caused the damage and then it was replaced with the OEM equivalent (CEC) to avoid any more damage (just like you are trying to do).

Technically, the 7506LL bulbs should be ok to use but if you really want to be sure, get a factory bulb.

I've seen the same thing in the red/clears and original amber. I think it's just a design flaw.

Here is a link to the LED subsitute.Ask if you need a CAN bus replacement because that is too large??
https://www.superbrightleds.com/vehicle/2001-porsche-boxster-vehicle-led-lights?make=61&model=454&year=2001

thstone, thanks for the info on the CEC bulbs. I may try some standard Osram bulbs and monitor it to see it gets any worse.

particlewave, Woody also mentioned he commonly sees 986 tail lights with some minor melting, so you could be right about it being a design issue. As the authority on all things light related, do you think it is worth trying to straighten and reinforce the inner plastic with a heat gun and some high heat epoxy?

Gelbster, thanks for the LED link. Those look like a good solution, and have the correct polarity, but I'm still not sure if they would be error free. It looks my '99 986 does not have a CAN Bus system, so I don't have to worry about an error code, but I'm not sure about the cruise control being affected. For $20, I may give them a shot.

Thanks for the replies! :cheers:

Had 3 sets of tail lights in my 2 cars. No burning or warping. I have heard of "circuit board" failures as I gave or sold my original lenses and boards to some folks who needed replacements because of that problem or accidents. Forget where I got clears but they were fine and good for 60k later though always with correct wattage bulbs.

I'm not sure how, but I haven't had to change out my Litronic's xenon bulbs, my side marker light bulbs, my tail light or third brake light bulbs for 15 yrs so far (although maybe 13, as first couple years, I had amber front, side, and tails), and I turn on my lights even when I drive during the day! Watch...all of them go out tomorrow. LOL

It might also be an issue with Texas heat that causes them to do that. 80% of the halogen headlights have burn marks too.

If you find LED bulbs that work,please let us know what the spec and part number is ?

Thanks everyone, I have decided to go ahead and just install the tail lights with my existing Osram (OEM) bulbs and not overthink this. I will check them at my next oil change to see if anything as changed. If it has I will look into trying some LED's. Just waiting for a set of Philips SilverVision turn signal bulbs to arrive to complete the de-amber. :cheers: