Sunroof Switch Panel Light - Aftermarket LED Replacement

Technical info on the Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix including do-it-yourself info
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chrispbacon
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:44 am

Sunroof Switch Panel Light - Aftermarket LED Replacement

Post by chrispbacon »

I just wanted to post this here as a tip. I purchased an aftermarket LED replacement bulb for the light that is in the overhead sunroof switch panel. This is the kind of bulb on which the connector has two little metal pins sticking out on each side, and you have to press the bulb into the socket and turn for it to lock into place. The problem is that after I installed the LED bulb, it did not function. Also it got quite hot very quickly. The reason this happened is because the polarity is reversed. Unfortunately the bulb only goes in one way so there is nothing you can do with the bulb. However there is an easy fix for this.

If you look at the wiring coming from the bulb housing you'll see that they go into a large wire harness. You specifically are looking for a green wire with red bands, and a grey wire with red bands. All you have to do is switch these wires on the wiring harness. To do this in a few easy steps:
  • 1) Remove the wire harness from its anchoring plastic clip so you can work on it easily.

    2) On the top of the wire harness you'll see a small, wide latched door thingy. Using a small flat head screwdriver open that latch.

    3) Using a very small flat head screwdriver, insert the tip into hole containing the wire you want to release, then press the metal clip down. This should allow you to remove the wire from the harness.

    4) Once both wires are out, simply swap their positions in the wiring harness. Don't forget to close the door latch thingy.

    Once completed your LED bulb will work perfectly fine.

    See attached pictures. Hope this helps anyone with the same issue I had.
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joatmon
Posts: 10018
Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2003 5:19 am
Location: SMC MD

Re: Sunroof Switch Panel Light - Aftermarket LED Replacement

Post by joatmon »

Nice write up. Image

It is weird, to me the factory has it backwards. a light bulb with a center tip should have the center tip positive, the outer ring negative. Just like in a house light fixture, which if it's wired with hot on the ring and neutral on the tip, I can tell you first hand its really easy to get a shock when changing a light bulb. Not really a risk on a 12V system, but still backwards
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