I just found that there actually is a light in the trunk of my roadster after three years of ownership. Since the car has very low mileage and none of the other bulbs have ever gone out, it is curious that this one (same bulb as the license plate lights) should be burned out. No mention of it in the owner’s manual. Does it operate with the trunk lid like most cars or is there some other activation that I am missing?

 

I have to replace mine and it is very easy to do ... I think it works in connection with the trunk opening ... IIRC my trunk light was different than the plate light ... what year is your Roadster ... you can put it in a signature so it is posted

 

Mine is an '05 Limited roadster

 

I put a SUPER BRIGHT LED bulb in that trunk light right after buying the car and it illuminates the entire trunk for those Winter after-work days when you have to shop at 4 different stores. If anyone wants to know I can look back in my records and tell you which one I got.
And yes, it illuminates only when you open the trunk.

 

I found that the LED licence plate assemblies fit the pocket for the coupe trunk light perfectly, so I put one in. The original bulb had no reflector so most of the light was wasted behind the light. Now it’s Showtime in the trunk as I added another light on the opposite side of the trunk.

 

I did the same as onehundred80, put 2 license plate fixtures in the rear trunk panel (MB/Amazon) with LED bulbs. Works great for easy vacuuming/cleanup too!

 

That damn trunk light caused me a few problems when I failed to completely close the trunk and the light ran down the battery. If you have an LED substitute (which will probably fit my coupe as well), I would be interested because of 1) brightness and 2) less energy draw when I stupidly leave it ajar again.

 

I have a roadster and so I don't have any idea whether the Coupe uses the same bulb. That said the original roadster trunk bulb I removed was a Philips 12866 in case you are a person who likes to keep things original AND DIM. Really, really dim!
Here's a link to the bulb I replaced it with: I bought them 2.5 years ago and just 11 days after I bought the car itself! At the time it was the brightest LED bulb I could find which fit. Notice you can rotate the bulb so that the light from every one of the 48 chipsets on the bulb's surface shines outward into the trunk. It matters not a wit whether there's a reflector behind the bulb. It would not be an overstatement to guess that this bulb puts out 100 times more light than the OE bulb. It's nuts!

P.S. I just noticed that online it says the LED bulbs are 500 lumens, but on the outside of the physical package I received it says the bulbs are 800 lumens, even though the bulbs look identical to what you see online.

 

Thanks. I ordered new bulbs based on what Autozone said I needed after having them look it up. Picked them up and they are too short! Needless to say, I was PO'd. I have now found the correct length "festoon" bulb (1.65" long x .47" wide at widest point). I also understand that I can upgrade to a brighter LED version with no issues, so that is what I will do (after I return these wrong bulbs). Thanks all for your comments and help.

 

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My car REALLY needs this mod.

I was even thinking of mounting a light up above the divider so it would shine down on the contents in the trunk.
Might still do that.

 

I can't speak for Chrysler, but Mercedes assiduously places their part number on everything. Any chance you could do a 100% front & back exploration of that part when the mood grabs you?

 

The OE part (light on just one side) has a Mercedes part number on it, so I'm betting yours does too.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GHkAA...hM/s-l1600.jpg
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194991205550

 

WD-40 I forgot to look for a Mercedes part # but just checked online and found a light assembly here for $10. I cut another hole in the trim panel, use the dimensions from the installed light , I think I used a box cutter with a new blade and tried to mirror the location on the other side of the car. I ran the wiring from the existing light behind the panel over to the new one.
try to find a high output canbus led bulb they're brighter than the stock one . Hope this helps

https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/1248200301

 

One could ask, "What was Chrysler thinking?" There's a much more logical light placement on the Mercedes CL-class coupes, for instance. Dual overhead trunk lights.

https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content...313-scaled.jpg

https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content...026-scaled.jpg

 

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