Thread: Brake Lights Giving up the Ghost

Blown brake light bulbs is a common problem, for me anyway. I get about 12 months out of a bulb and always carry a spare. Maybe its the pulsing that wears them out?

I changed brands from Varta(?) to something else (Philips?) last time to see if they'll last longer.

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

Blown brake light bulbs is a common problem, for me anyway. I get about 12 months out of a bulb and always carry a spare. Maybe its the pulsing that wears them out?

Thanks WhiteD3...... 2 spares is no in my cubby hole..........

Is it possible to fit LED (or is that LCD?) bulb clusters instead of the normal bulbs? Or would this cause some sort of problem like LED trailer lights?
I changed all the Parking & tail lights to LED on our ex Terracan due to it constantly blowing the bulbs in the bull bar. Worked a treat.
Might not in a D3 though?
Jonesfam

Good question Jonesfam...... and worth investigating, would be a good fix to the problem..... one concern though, would LRA be able to use changing the bulbs to LEDs as an excuse to deny any warrantee claim?

I don't see how LR could knock back a warranty claim unless they warranty cover the bulbs which I am pretty sure are considered a consumable item. I haven't got the Warranty book in front of me.
My concern would be does the car pulse test these bulbs like it does trailer lights? Or is there some other reason (like disengaging cruise control) that it need a strong current draw on the Brake light bulbs.
Most cars have a switch on the brake pedal lever but LR do like to do things differently.
I will phone the D3 Guru in Townsville next week & find out.
Jonesfam

Keep in mind that what ever you buy at Supercheap or Repco is probably crap quality so after the original bulb goes I think its down hill from there, hence why I tried a different brand of bulb.

Originally Posted by jonesfam

I don't see how LR could knock back a warranty claim unless they warranty cover the bulbs which I am pretty sure are considered a consumable item. I haven't got the Warranty book in front of me.

My concern is fitting a non standard bulb (in particular LED) could be grounds for denying a claim on the lighting system due to fitting non standard hardware..... cynical I know, but I have owned Land Rovers in 3 countries and the dealers are all the same......

Originally Posted by jonesfam

I will phone the D3 Guru in Townsville next week & find out.
Jonesfam

Would be interested to know what he has to say!

Well, got on to the bloke in Townsville & the short answer is YES! You can fit LED lights to the rear of a Discover 3.
Land Rover have a dealer fit LED tail light set up for the D3 for, wait for it,
$1200 + fitting. It is exactly the same as the D4 set up.
As for fitting after market LED cluster bulbs, fine for tail, brake & fog lamps, not recommended for indicators unless some sort of device to increase resistance is also added as the car checks these bulbs. Also not recommended for the fog lights, no explanation.
Will not effect warranty unless any fault can be attributed to the fitting of after market bulbs.
Hope this is of some help.
When I got the LED bulbs for my ex Terracan I got them on Ebay for a few $ each (about $3 I think) so even as an experiment, retaining the old bulbs if there is a problem, it would be cheap enough to try out.
I won't at the moment because I don't see the point in pulling bits of my car off when I don't currently have a problem
Jonesfam