LED Daylight Running Lights

As has been mentioned, a very few LED replacement DRL bulbs fit without modification. After reasding other posts, I took the decision to modify the lampholder and fit the LED bulbs that I had bought but didn't fit.

First Comment : Anyone with a lease car who don't want to modify their car - no-one will ever see the modification and the original bulbs will go back and nothing of the mod can be seen.

Second Comment : The problem is not the bulb holder, it is the metal reflector inside the lamp that is the problem.

Third Comment : Total time to modify was 30 minutes, including stopping to take photos.

Tools Needed

Plastic tool to pop off the lamp covers - I used a butter knife as the blade is flat and not sharp. I covered it in one layer of insulation tape just in case.

Philips Screwdriver to undo the three screws holding the lamps in place.

T10 hex screwdriver to remove the bulb holder

Hold enlarger - "Step Drill". I bought this one from Amazon for £11.25 delivered.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Tech-Lar...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

So, onto the modification. First picture is the driver side lamp (RHD) and the unmodified kerb side to show the difference. As you can see, I also have Angel Eyes fitted and I made another post earlier on that modification.



Next two photos are close-ups of each lamp, modified and original





Here is a close-up of the bulb holder and the offending metal reflector hole which is too small



Remove the bulb holder using a T10 hex screwdriver. This is why the modification is reversible - we are ONLY making the hole bigger in the reflector, there is no modification to the bulb holder



Here is the bulb holder removed. The two wires are for the Angel Eyes



This is the step drill - note you want to buy one that can drill metal. It's maximum size is 20mm which is what we want. I used an electric battery powered drill / screwdriver set to high torque / low speed. TAKE YOUR TIME - let the tool do the cutting, do NOT push, just let it slowly "nibble" away at the hole. If the drill catches and stops, you are pressing too hard. Be gentle, it's like filing your nails, not drilling into concrete. sloooow but sure. Took me about 3 minutes of gently letting the tool work it's way making the hole larger, drilling, removing the tool slightly, drilling . . . etc.



Here is the LED bulb that I had bought.



Keep trying the bulb for hole clearance - when it is a loose fit, job done.



Just for reference, here are the Angel Eyes I had fitted previously.



Refit the bulb holder and fit the new LED bulb.



Close-up of the fitted bulb



That's All, Folks!

I didn't show the refitting as it is a simple reverse of taking it apart. I apologise for the long post, but some of us are a little less sure of making modifications so I hope that this "Hayne's Manual" approach of lots of photos helps.

Jeff

Superb write-up.

I did the same modification, took me about the same time and the results have been excellent. A bright white light from the LED replacement bulbs.

Highly recommended mod.

Those FOG light lamp housings are completely different shape to the ones fitted to my PHEV.

gwatpe said:

Those FOG light lamp housings are completely different shape to the ones fitted to my PHEV.

Click to expand...

The actual fog lamp or the plastic caps? Do you have DRL fitted to your lamp units? I think that these are specific to markets with regulations for DRL to be fitted to all new vehicles.

Jeff

Jeff, Cracking mod. Thanks for the excellent write-up which was dead easy to follow. Let's hope my LEDs last longer than those I have fitted to other locations previously.

Glad it helped. I have been lucky with the LED's I have bought for various cars (side lights / number plate / DRL [so far]) so it is just down to luck I expect. I have always used eBay, but always UK based dealers, although they are all selling the same stuff.

Jeff

Hi All,

Did the same mod on my PHEV a couple of weeks ago, bought the LED's on eBay, so far so good......

Hi,

Thank you for the trouble you've gone to to provide the info and photos for this mod. I am an imposter on here...I have a 2015 GX4 diesel!

On my car I have two bulbs in the unit, 1 fog and 1 horrible dull drl ....is this the same on the PHEV as I am concerned the LEDs may overheat the fog bulb or visa-versa?

Many thanks, Mike

Standard combined LED DRLS/fog lights on the Mitsubishi do not overheat

Thanks for a great post and advice.

jthspace - Are you able to confirm the LED bulb you bought? Maybe I missed it, but I can't see it mentioned in the posts and would help with my upgrade.

Thanks

Hi,

I bought the following bulbs

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-15W-P13...-Head-Light-/161809134706?hash=item25ac937472

Jeff

jthspace said:

Hi,

I bought the following bulbs

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-15W-P13...-Head-Light-/161809134706?hash=item25ac937472

Jeff

Click to expand...

Many thanks Jeff for the prompt response and information.

Cheers
J

Hi all,

Many thanks again for all the help and advice.

I was able to install the LED bulbs into the DRLs as mentioned in this thread. I did not have a step drill as you mentioned, but did a bit of DIY with some other drill bits and was able to make enough room for the new bulb.

It looks allot better and I’m very pleased with my first mod to the car.

On a side note: I was also able to update the festoon bulbs internally within the car, so easy to do and what a difference it makes. I might get a brighter festoon bulb for the boot, but for now I’m happy with the updates.

Thanks again to all.

Regards
J

One down, many to go . . . . .

I also have led "parking" (side) lights which are bright.

The boot light (ceiling) is a pain to remove, or mine was, at least. I took out the whole unit to trace the wiring and the clips that hold it in the headlining are razor sharp. And I mean RAZOR sharp, not a small cut, but blood donor quantity, so be very careful.

Jeff

Have any of you seen or tried these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU58kZIUR34

They seem like they're able to go into our DRL/Fog lampholders without drilling-out the hole.
Furthermore, The bulb has a round, omnidirectional shape just like the original tungsten bulbs so it should use the existing reflectors efficiently.

I'll try and get hold of a pair myself.

DePHEVsive said:

Have any of you seen or tried these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU58kZIUR34

They seem like they're able to go into our DRL/Fog lampholders with drilling-out the hole.
Furthermore, The bulb has a round, omnidirectional shape just like the original tungsten bulbs so it should use the existing reflectors efficiently.

I'll try and get hold of a pair myself.

Click to expand...

Easier access on a PHEV too, no grovelling around under the front bumper!

DePHEVsive said:

Have any of you seen or tried these?

They seem like they're able to go into our DRL/Fog lampholders with drilling-out the hole.
Furthermore, The bulb has a round, omnidirectional shape just like the original tungsten bulbs so it should use the existing reflectors efficiently.

I'll try and get hold of a pair myself.

Click to expand...

They may only be an LED replacement - i.e. not necessarily any brighter.

The ones I fitted have numerous LED cells as well as a magnifier on the top mounted one, making them the equivalent of 15w each.

jthspace said:

DePHEVsive said:

Have any of you seen or tried these?

They seem like they're able to go into our DRL/Fog lampholders with drilling-out the hole.
Furthermore, The bulb has a round, omnidirectional shape just like the original tungsten bulbs so it should use the existing reflectors efficiently.

I'll try and get hold of a pair myself.

Click to expand...

They may only be an LED replacement - i.e. not necessarily any brighter.

The ones I fitted have numerous LED cells as well as a magnifier on the top mounted one, making them the equivalent of 15w each.

Click to expand...

Sure, but these appear to radiate all their light from the same "point" as the regular bulbs, thus should work with the original reflectors more efficiently. Sometimes this is more important then raw power but scattered light.

Does anyone here know how to get DRL controllers with headlight-on DRL-dimming working on the PHEV?

The PHEV we get in Australia has no DRL option from the factory - just foglights (there's no existing DRL power wiring or relay), so I bought some Angel Eyes, which came with a DRL switch that will turn off the DRLs when the headlights go on as per the local laws.

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1MATfKFXXXXbIXXXXq6xXFXXXu/Only-For-Russian-LED-Daytime-Running-light-LED-DRL-LED-Daylight-For-Mitsubishi-Outlander-2013-2014.jpg_220x220.jpg

However, these switches all work the same way - they have a wire that you join to a headlight circuit, and the switch waits for 13v or more to appear on that wire, as an event to dim the DRL.

The problem is that the PHEV headlight voltage does not go over 13v, according to my multimeter - I have successfully identified the correct wiring from the fusebox that goes from 0v to 12.8v when you power-on the lights, but it won't go over 13v, as I suspect that this is due to no alternator always charging the 12v battery.

So, in my case, the DRLs stay on all the time - the cops may pull me over if they have nothing else to do. Other than a manual switch, has anyone come across a better DRL switch (adjustable voltage sensor perhaps), or another way to deal with this?

I ordered and have just fitted these LED lamps bought from an ebay seller, item number 222420444146. They require no modification to the light unit, fitted in less than 5 minutes, are nice and bright, and not too expensive and no canbus errors. As I have only just put them in I cannot comment on reliability. but if I have any problems I will post again.

Julian