LED Bulb Broke

S

squeaky

Member
:
2014 CX-5 Touring
So I bought the LED bulb from this post:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...lled-Headlight-LED-DRLs&p=6040375#post6040375

After only a few months the left light stopped working
I went to replace the bulb and it fell off (pissed)
IMG_20130913_084130.jpg


Now I need to figure out how to get this out

Anyone have any suggestions?
 
One of my DRL LED bulb was flickering (a couple of the LEDs was going dead), It was hell to unplug it, it was stuck somehow and I nearly broke it off trying to pull it out. The other side was fine though.
Sorry, no idea how I'd get that out.
 
Pick up one of these at an auto parts store or harbor freight. It'll be your best bet for getting that out.

9435.JPG
 
I have also gotten broken bulbs out by attaching a small diameter hose to the end of a vacuum and suctioning them out.
 
Still got my factory bulbs working fine :D 28k miles on one and 8k on the other but they are incandescent.
 
That really sucks SQUEAKY, one of my iJDM LED DRL's failed in under a month, I sent it back and they told me it worked fine and that it was a problem with my car.
If you are looking for replacement, I switched over to these CREE's back in July and they are still working great, a lot brighter than the regular LED DRL's as well.

Hopefully you'll be able to get it out of your headlight without doing any damage.
 
Thanks for all the responses
Next weekend I might try the grabber tool from Harbor Freight.
What has me concerned is the bulb went in a little tight (rubbed on the edges) so I am worried that I will be able to pick up the bulb but not get it out of the whole

Will let everyone know how it goes
 
OK, first, be REALLY CAREFUL! The interior 'chroming' on light reflectors is usually VERY VERY fragile and can scratch extremely easily. Chasing a bulb around with a metal tool is very likely to accomplish that.

Here's my idea. Now it IS just an idea, but probably what I'd do. BUT, I take no responsibility for you mucking up your headlamp by doing this!

  1. Get a wire coathanger and cut/straighten an 8" or so length of the wire.
  2. With needle nose pliers, form a 1/4" diameter loop/ring at one end, bent at right angles to the main straight length.
  3. Use this (gently!) to orient the broken-off bulb to point toward the hole (if not already like that) pretty much like it is in the photo you posted.
  4. NOTE: You may want to practice the next couple of steps a few times with spare pieces of wire outside of the car, before you risk going after the bulb.
  5. Mix a little bit of 5-minute (i.e. fast-setting) epoxy glue and put a blob in the loop you formed in the wire in step 2. You want as much as you can get in there without risking it dripping out (you REALLY don't want blobs of glue inside your headlamp!).
  6. Gently and CAREFULLY insert the wire through the headlamp hole, and just touch the end of the loose bulb (not the outside edges) with the loop & glue and HOLD it steady against the bulb while it sets. Once it's got to the tacky stage and will hold the end of the wire without help, go have a 30 minute coffee break while the glue hardens.
  7. Once the wire is glued firmly to the end of the bulb assembly, lift it away from the chroming and extract carefully through the hole. If it's too tight a fit and you feel it might pull the glue away, glue a second piece of wire more firmly to the bulb while you're holding it with the first.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Reading REDBARON's post made me go into McGuyver mode.

I was wondering if using a straw or rubber tube attached to the end of a vacuum cleaner hose would provide enough suction to attach to the broken off end of the bulb.
 
Removing the bumper, which allows you to unscrew and remove the light housing if you can't get it out otherwise. The reflective coating in there is VERY thin, I found this out when removing the cap from my fog light. Fortunately I myself have had no issues with any of the LED bulbs I have (all my bulbs on my car are LED, except for headlights (HID) and Brake lights (not sure if an LED will get brighter when brake is pushed). If you decide to remove the light I can give some insight as needed.
 
I was able to get the bulb out but had to calm down for a day before I could write up what I did!
It ended up taking me many hours of trial and error and a combination of suggestions

The biggest obstacle was the size of the opening for these reasons:
1) The opening for the bulb is very small so getting a tool in there was difficult and really limited what I could use
2) Once I got a hold of the bulb getting it out was difficult since the bulb rubbed against the opening when coming out. This basically meant any tool used could wrap around it and pull it out.

I ended up using the following:
IMG_20131008_211745.jpg


I used the pliers to line it up straight then used a wood dowel with some washers attached to the end.
I used super glue to lock the washers in place and glue them to the end of the bulb.
Once that set I was able to pull the bulb up to the opening where it once again got stuck
Fortunately I was able to pull just far enough into the opening I was then able to use as screw driver and pry it out

As RedBaron did mention
The interior 'chroming' on light reflectors is usually VERY VERY fragile and can scratch extremely easily.

I did get a few scratches but luckily they are only noticable if you really look in the headlight. I am sure 99% of the other people out there will never notice it

Again thank you for all the suggestions
 
One of my LED DRL was not working (I also purchased them from jdmtoy.com) and the end came off in my hand but the led portion stayed in the head light housing. I wiggled the other one and the same thing happened. Fortunately they did not fall into the housing. You are very lucky to get the piece out because they are a very tight fit. The problem is the heat causes the adhesive holding the connector to the led array to fail. The solder joints on mine also were very loose. This product is junk and could probably ruin the headlight housing. I emailed the company to see if they will stand behind their product but since it has been 9 months I doubt it. I should mention the have only been in use for 3K miles so these units do fail early on and it was not just one, both of them did the same thing. I urge anyone who purchased these from jdmtoy.com to check the condition ASAP. I have seen other units that look identical from other vendors and I bet they all came from the same Chinese source. I am willing to bet that most people who attempt to remove them will have a problem so be careful.
 
I've got all my LED lights from ebay/superbrightleds/VLEDS not one has even one blown diode after almost a year.
 
Chris_Top_Her said:
I've got all my LED lights from ebay/superbrightleds/VLEDS not one has even one blown diode after almost a year.
Click to expand...

I have purchased LED's for the home from them. They have decent stuff. The ones I would not ever trust again are the ones that have 68 emitters and are sold by jdtoy.com and others. When I purchased mine there not as many options as there are today. If jdtoy stands behind this product I will be pleasantly surprised otherwise I would stay away from them.
 
Chris_Top_Her said:
I've got all my LED lights from ebay/superbrightleds/VLEDS not one has even one blown diode after almost a year.
Click to expand...

I have purchased LED's for the home from them. They have decent stuff. The ones I would not ever trust again are the ones that have 68 emitters and are sold by jdtoy.com and others. When I purchased mine there not as many options as there are today. If jdtoy stands behind this product I will be pleasantly surprised.
 
JDtoy.com are scumbags. Their solution to their inferior product when it fails is to remove the headlight assembly and shake the faulty part out. Too bad the hole is too small not to mention the endless hours of labor. If anyone purchases a product from them after reading this thread they are a fool.
 
jtl said:
JDtoy.com are scumbags. Their solution to their inferior product when it fails is to remove the headlight assembly and shake the faulty part out. Too bad the hole is too small not to mention the endless hours of labor. If anyone purchases a product from them after reading this thread they are a fool.
Click to expand...


Well, if you want it out remove th e bumper (unhook the plugs first) and then unscrew the headli gg t assembly
 
Chris_Top_Her said:
Well, if you want it out remove th e bumper (unhook the plugs first) and then unscrew the headli gg t assembly
Click to expand...

Easier and less damaging to stay far away from jdtoy products. There are too many good vendors to put up with their inferior junk and crappy CS.
 
I just got a pair of http://bit.ly/1jVJKKm these from eBay, and now I got scared!
Anyone else using these? Is it the same manufacturer?

If I dare to use them, what do you think of reinforcing them with some glue at the bottom (where they broke)?
If they stop working, fine, but I do not want to fish for half of it inside my housing!
 
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