Originally Posted by
208james@gmail.com
Hi again. I found the reason for the exterior light problem.
The led bulbs I installed a few years ago in the licence plate lights, without problems until now, are both illuminating.
I decided to replace them with the original incandescent light bulbs and the exterior light warning went out.
I reinstalled the led bulbs and the exterior light warning came back on. Obviously a problem with the led bulbs even though they were illuminating and had been working without illuminating dash warning light.
I decided to try two new led bulbs the same type I originally installed. The new bulbs illuminated the same as the previous set of led bulbs but with no dash exterior light warning.
Must have been a problem with the original led bulbs after a few years use. Maybe the have a built in resistor or something that failed.
I had installed LED bulbs in my license plate lights as well. No bulb out indicator but one night I was driving and the dash lights went out. It turned out that one of the LED chips fell out of one of the LED license plate bulbs and caused a short and blew the fuse.
I've only used the regular bulbs since then. You can buy an LED replacement license plate light. These replaces both license plate lights with a new assembly. However, some of them cause the bulb out light to come on.
I just don't see the need for having bright license plate lights.