License plate lights

The Do It Yourself section is used provide assistance with mods and fixes. Whenever you are making a change to your car please take pictures and notes. Let others know what to watch out for and any useful tricks you learn. If you are starting a post in this section from scratch please hold it to a higher standard than you would for other forum posts. i.e. technical detail and even grammar.
Please post about issues or problems in the Technical Support & Problem Troubleshooting forum.
chazyouwin
Posts: 402
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:57 pm
Location: Northern New Jersey USA

I screwed up the small metal brecket conduit - it popped out. So I ordered a new holder from ThatGMPartsGuy in Chicago area (about $22), which came with a bulb . I took a picture.
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To get this in, I followed the above steps - then I found that there is a flat bracket that goes all the way across from the left license plate light holder to the right. The bracket is removed by unscrewing the plastic knobs which are located about on the outside of the plate light holders - and by removing the two larger head phillips screws on the trunk handle and letting the handle drop. Once you pull the bracket back toward the inner part of the trunk, the light holders pop out easily.
So you don't actually need to buy a new plate light holder of course because you can pop these holders out and that makes it much easier to pop the bulbs in.
2010 Kizashi SLS FWD Gray; 2013 Grand Vitara 4wd red; 2012 SX4 blue; 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV black

Previous: 2002 XL-7 Limited (2); 1992 Accord; '91 Volvo; '85 Toyota; '84 Celica; '73 Mercedes.
aranciata-oz
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2016 2:15 pm
Location: Sydney

I may have missed the information early on ... but having managed to successfully replaced the licence plate globe/bulb myself recently (thankfully didn't need to come on here to find out how!), can anyone recommend an LED globe/bulb? I just have concerns based on previous experience that the cheap eBay ones can heat up dramatically and burn out, and God forbid I don't want a fire engulfing my Kiz! Also I've read that LED globes can cause CANBUS issues?
2013 MY14 Kizashi Sport Prestige (Auto)
bdleonard
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:39 am

aranciata-oz wrote:I may have missed the information early on ... but having managed to successfully replaced the licence plate globe/bulb myself recently (thankfully didn't need to come on here to find out how!), can anyone recommend an LED globe/bulb? I just have concerns based on previous experience that the cheap eBay ones can heat up dramatically and burn out, and God forbid I don't want a fire engulfing my Kiz! Also I've read that LED globes can cause CANBUS issues?
No canbus monitoring with any lights on the Kizashi. The only LED problem area is the turn signals, which will "hyperflash" with many LEDs as the lower power draw of the LED confuses the "flash" circuitry. This can be solved by adding appropriate size resistors, or using amber signal LEDs with extra resistance built in (often called canbus compatible). Any other bulbs can be replaced with the LED of your choice without issue.
aranciata-oz
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2016 2:15 pm
Location: Sydney

That's brilliant, thanks!
2013 MY14 Kizashi Sport Prestige (Auto)
KlutzNinja
Posts: 286
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2019 6:58 am

Learned last night my left bulb is out. Funny how in a lot of the how-to videos I found (for other cars), and in Petr’s images, the left bulb seems to die first more often. Going to AutoZone soon and replacing the bulbs tonight.
I wish I knew why Suzuki used this bulb on the Kizashi; other Suzukis seem to use the more common 194/168 style bulb, and so do most other cars. The only video I saw use this pointy pill style bulb was a Mini, of all things. The guy used a tool that looked like a dental scraping tool to hook around it and pull it out. Why does this bulb even exist :lol:
Also wish I knew why Suzuki made it so hard to get to. In the Ciaz, their more recent compact car, you just twist and pull a harness in the lid that’s easily accessible and that’s it. The Nissan Altima has a similar lid structure to the Kizashi’s and yet theirs is easily accessible, too. The Mini’s 6148 bulbs could be retrieved from outside. The Kizashi’s setup is probably the most convoluted I’ve seen so far.

I’m guessing this procedure will take me much longer to complete than it did for everyone else here.
Current: Blue 2018 Mazda 3 GT 5-Door
Previous: Blue 2010 Ford Focus SES,
Black 2013 Kizashi Sport GTS-L (CVT; FWD)(RIP)
KlutzNinja
Posts: 286
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2019 6:58 am

Ok it took me a while like I knew it would, and replaced the burnt out bulb. I didn’t replace the other bulb because I didn’t have enough time. Took forever to remove the bulb and then replace it with the new one. And then I had trouble trying to put the black plastic clips back in to hold the trunk lid trim. I broke three before I gave up lol.

Does anyone have any tips for how to reinstall them without breaking them? I feel like I’ve handled this type of clip before on a different part of my car, but for whatever reason I can’t get them to go in this time.
The trim seems okay since I was able to reinstall the handle, and getting that piece of metal by the emergency opening latch through the hole in the trim helps keep it up. I’ll try the clips again tomorrow. I also took some pics to fill in some of the experience of the bulb change, and I’ll add them to this post later.
Current: Blue 2018 Mazda 3 GT 5-Door
Previous: Blue 2010 Ford Focus SES,
Black 2013 Kizashi Sport GTS-L (CVT; FWD)(RIP)
User avatar
SAEED_KIZZY
Posts: 507
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:31 pm

I just changed mine with a new LED type 36mm but decided to remove the whole LED assembly from the car and install it on the bench. I remove 2 Phillips screw bolts from the outside and 2 plastic on the inside and carefully release 2 plastic tabs separate led from the switch as shown in the pictures below.
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