liscense plate bulbs stopped working

[driftphenom]

95 s14
yeah, so i got pulled over tonite, appearrantly, my liscence plate bulbs stopped working. i never even considered them until now, so i have no idea how long theyve been out for. the lenses are really decroded looking and the harness are all rusted out. the clip looks good, just the metal wire that holds them up is shot. anyway i'd like to know if this is a commom problem or what? i searched but really didnt find anything relevant. im not an electrical whiz, and i looked on the fsm, but it may as well be written in latin. does anyone know how or if you can test that clip and tell what the deal is? ill tell you now, i havent tested the bulbs, its midnight, i just got home from work, but i doubt that both bulbs went out at the same time. i'd just like some input. thx in advance

[koukimonster139]

take the lense off, with the battery disconnected spray everything with contact cleaner and scrub with a brass or nylon brush


make any obvious visible repairs

put new bulbs in, then begin to troubleshoot if they still dont work

[bbejj123]

its possible for them to both be out probably not at the same time though u might just not have noticed.

also i had the same problem didnt even realize it and then went to autozone got the lights and they worked =) but as he said^ the bulbs are cheap and ull probably need new ones anyways

[idahotuner]

i all ways thought it be sweet to take the plate and paint it all white then the raised letters paint them black. then replace the lisence plate bulbs with black light bulbs.

very illegal but hey it would look kick ass haha.......

[Vinny]

The way you described your wires and lense sounds just like mine, except mine are working fine. I even replaced them with LED 194 bulbs and they look great...I might try to polish the lenses to clear again, dunno if it'll make things better or just the same. Goodluck tho!

[koukimonster139]

yea the led bulbs make a huge difference and look great, if you want more attention to your tag area


anyway you can wetsand the lenses with like 1500-2000 paper and hit them with a minibuffer to make them look brand new, as with any lense.

[driftphenom]

well i just got up and im going to see if i can figure this out. thx for all your input, i like the idea of polishing the lenses and putting in leds. the blacklight idea even more. where do they sell those leds at? i seen em on egay, but thats a little too long to wait, dont want to get a ticket this time around.

[Vinny]

I get my leds from v-leds.com

I replaced my interior lights(dome light, map light, and gauges) with them as well.