Freelander 1 hazard lights button bulb

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britishwardog

Active Member
Posts
394
Location
Cranleigh, Surrey
Hi guys, I've taken out the tiny bulb set into the hazards button but can't seem to find a local supplier with a bulb that small, any ideas or should I go to a LR dealer?
 
I got mine ordered in by a local motor factor. They charged me £8.50 I think from memory and that's was with money off!
Almost cheaper to buy a whole new switch
 
I have the facelift hazard switch is which without illumination, but I have never been able to establish if it should light up or not! Certainly doesn't look as though it comes apart so probably needs a new switch.

I am pretty sure this is the bulb for the pre-facelift models as posted by somebody before....

R509TJBR 60MA T3 Panel Bulb 14V 1.2W Brown Base
 
This is a whole long saga I had a while back with a land rover main dealer. Long story short sorry sir, it's not a serviceable part, yes it is, it's a removable bulb, no it's not, yes it is, and so on. In then end it was buy a new switch or nothing, however, in a fit of inspiration, took it to a motorcycle dealer who had one. (Bulb that is - think it was Kawasaki or Yamaha)
 
Hey Folks, I thought I would just add an update to this old thread.

I have recently come across the same problem and being one of those people who takes everything apart I have found the following.

I can confirm that the bulbs in the older switches can be replaced and also the leds in the newer facelift models can also be replaced very easily. There is no soldering involved it is plug and play.

There is two ways to get to the led in the newer units and remove it. You can either attempt to lift the 4 plastic lugs on the hazard button (which I find break too easily) or you can dismantle the whole switch in one go by lifting the 4 plastic lugs on the sides of the black part of the switch and separating the whole thing into 3 main pieces. **Beware that inside there is a spring and a small white plastic piece that may come out.**

Once opened you should have the upper and lower black parts and the switch button, then also the spring and white piece. You’ll now see/find the little blue looking led, you can just withdraw this off the switch now as it’s pushed on. Now the two wires that come out the led are simply wrapped around the little grey rubber boot. You can gently unwrap the wires and you should get them out in one piece. Beware the small blue rubber boot that’s on the little white led is there to adapt the light level as the led is actually too bright for purpose. If you wreck the blue boot some paint or marker pen would do the job fine to “readapt light levels” so your switch isn’t 10 x brighter than its companions on the dash. Or don’t break the boot lol.

I have ordered new white 3mm 12v leds from eBay. When they arrive I will see if those particular ones fit and if so I’ll advise on here of the seller etc, think I’m getting 20 leds for £5 odd.

Reassembling the switch is a bit of a **** so my only advise there is as follows, I managed to keep the switch button attached to the black switch part, so I first made sure the little white piece had it grooves pointing up toward me, then I had to slide the upper half of the black switch part with the spring attached into the lower half which contains the white piece at around 45 degree angle. On the underside of the upper half of the black switch part you’ll notice a tiny metal pin pointing down, this has to go into the grooves in the little white plastic piece. The upper black switch part has to go into the lower black piece at around a 45 degree angle for the spring and metal pin to go into place, then basically push the upper part into the lower part and if all is aligned it’ll click together and the push switch will work normally. I’m quite good at these things and it took me about 6 attempts to reassemble the first time.

You may find it easier to just remove the switch button itself via its 4 lugs and pull the push part of the switch straight out the end, at which point the little led is just in there and long nose pliers would probably pull it out easy.

Anyways up to you folks how you attack it. Easy way is more likely to need new switch button due to broken lugs but harder way doesn’t have that problem.

Hope that novel makes sense.

Thanks, ross
 
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20 for a fiver.:eek:
Wow that's expensive. You can buy LEDs by the hundred for about the same cost. ;)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352163012233

In all honesty I’m quite happy paying 25p per led/per fix instead of buying a new switch or even a used one. Even the seller I’ve just used offers better deals for buying greater numbers but until I know they will fit or if anyone else wants one then why would I need 100 lol? It’s bad enough I have 75 litres of screenwash in the shed! ‍♂️. My intention is if the led fits to then offer the remaining ones on here so folks can fix their own if they want to. Also will be willing to share the sellers info once I know the part fits as I don’t wanna get ahead of myself or have you guys buying stuff that won’t work. Will update on this soon. I’ve purchased the led’s and also 4 hazard switches of which the led doesn’t work. So will repair a few to test the led’s.

Thanks
 
Hey folks, ok so an update on this, the led’s arrived today and as it’s raining so I got into it.

Firstly upon inspecting the original that came out I discovered it isn’t an led but actually a tiny bulb to which I can only see the filament when I hold it up to the light or window.

So the led’s arrived with wires attached and also a resistor in line on live side. So I removed the excess cable and also the shrink wrap. Then fitted the led into the grey rubber boot. I put the blue boot/cap from the old bulb on to the new led. But as the end cap part of the blue boot was still stuck to the old bulb I tried different materials on the led to get the correct light level out the front of the switch. I found tippex to be the easiest way to adapt the light level but I am going to get little rubber or plastic boots as I’m sure I’ve seen them before I’m screwfix or somewhere.

But I guess overall the result is that it’s rather easy to change the bulb to an led which will probably last a lot longer.

One last update would be that I found a much easier way to open the switch. After much fiddling with it I discovered that the taking the push button off the end of the switch is actually easiest and a lot easier than dismantling the whole thing.

So the how too; basically you’ll see looking under the edge of the switch button that there are two plastic lugs on top side and two on bottom side. You want to start at the top of the switch. Using a small flat blade screw driver maybe 3mm across. Lift the first lug from the middle of the switch, hold it up a little with your thumb, then lift the other lug with the screw driver. The button will now rotate downward and come away from the switch. It usually clicks at that point. I can now pop mine open and shut in seconds.

I’ll update about rubber boots for the led shortly to finish it off and I’ll add the eBay seller info for anyone who wants it.

Cheers
 
What year is your FL?

I tried several years ago to get into my hazard button to replace the bulb and couldn't for fear of damaging it.
Armed with your info, I will have another look as it annoys me that it doesn't light up when in use.
 
What year is your FL?

I tried several years ago to get into my hazard button to replace the bulb and couldn't for fear of damaging it.
Armed with your info, I will have another look as it annoys me that it doesn't light up when in use.


Hi there, this one is an 04’ plate which is the facelifted model. Although I believe the earlier models also have a bulb which I believe is easier to change. From memory that type of bulb is in a little holder and is the push in and twist (rotate) to lock type although I’m sure someone here can confirm or deny this.

There are a lot of landys in the breakers near here and I have collected a lot of spare switches in the last while so if anyone needs switches, led’s or bulbs let me know. Not looking to make money from this it’s more a problem solving project with the aspect of helping fellow landy owners.

At that breakers they scrap a lot regularly so stuff isn’t there long so it’s a case of strip em while you can. It’s also cheap so every time I’m in I buy a wee bag of bits and they give them to me cheap as chips.

If I could figure out how to post little videos and pics I’d happily make a how to for it. Would put that stupid go pro I bought to use Lol.

Cheers
 
I have the switch end off. Thank you for your instructions.

Now, how do I remove the small bulb? I am very heavy-handed and often break things so don't want that to happen on this occasion. :D

****EDIT*****

It just pulls out. Used a tweezers.
 
I have the switch end off. Thank you for your instructions.

Now, how do I remove the small bulb? I am very heavy-handed and often break things so don't want that to happen on this occasion. :D

****EDIT*****

It just pulls out. Used a tweezers.


Ideal matey no worries. If you need an led or anything let me know as I’ve got a bunch of them and switches etc.
 
Also to further on this thread. I have now opened 4 hazard switches, of the 4 I managed to get the full blue rubber boot off the bulb and onto the new led with no problem, it’s actually just the first one I did that tore. So on that info I’d say the average person has at least 60% likelihood of getting the boot off and being able to reuse it. So far I can’t find the perfect size little boots at screwfix etc but if I do I’ll update. For now the odds are in your favour of getting the boot off the bulb and onto the new led or bulb whichever way you decide to go.

So I’ve repaired 3 and they work perfectly. I’ve taken note of which pins do what for the bulb/led. One thing I must note is that if you use and led as replacement it’ll likely come with a resistor in line on live wire, I guess that’s to keep it blowing with voltage spikes or something. Anyway the point being you must install an led with resistor on the correct polarity or it won’t work. If you put yours in and nothing happens, pull it out, rotate 180 and put back in with polarity reversed. Should work now.

The messy pic below will show polarity for you folks.

Thanks folks
 

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Ok so this may just finish this project off. I think I’ve found the perfect replacement for the blue rubber boot for those who burst it like I did my first. So the solution comes in the form of blue hammerite smoot, it mimicks the boot about perfectly and given it’s now an led and not a bulb should be just fine.

And btw in the pic below where the led is lit, the light in then pic is at least 10 times brighter than reality, the camera really changes it a lot.

Cheers
 

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So the solution comes in the form of blue hammerite smoot, it mimicks the boot about perfectly and given it’s now an led and not a bulb should be just fine.

Good work, and that's an interesting solution to the colour.

I can't help thinking it would be easier to use an LED which lights up in a colour that is close to the original. LEDs are available in a wide spectrum of colours now, so there's bound to be one out there that's close.

A blue silicone boot won't make an incandescent bulb shine pure blue anyway, as there's too much red content in incandescent light, so finding a correctly coloured LED would produce a better colour than original.;)
 
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