Exterior Lighting - Multiple Questions

[Bill Koonce]

I'm finally getting around to installing improved exterior lights on my 2007 ST, and could use some help from fellow ST drivers.



First off, I'm putting in replacement LED lights for the 4157 bulbs front and back. The manual shows how to remove the front housing, which is pretty obvious anyway. But there's nothing about the rear housings. Anybody know what I need to do to get at those?



Second, is anybody else running aftermarket LED turn signals? When I did this for my T-Bird and Mustang, the flash rate doubled (like it does if one bulb is burned out) and I like having then this way. The faster flash rate gets more attention. Since many drivers drive as if I'm invisible, the more attention, the better. But in one case I had to buy a special adjustable rate flasher module that's no longer made. Any advice on this?



Finally, I've been watching some very fine cracks develop on the face of my headlight assemblies. At the rate they're growing, I'm not worried enough to replace them, but was thinking about doing something to fill in the cracks or stop them from growing. Any tips for this? I already have a couple of headlight repair kits that come with a sealer that I'm thinking of trying. They aren't cloudy, so there's no need to refinish them, BTW.



I welcome all advice. Thanks!

 

[Mark k 4]

On the rear light housing. You have to drop your tailgate and there are 3 grommits on the inside of where the tailgate would be sitting if it were up and locked. pull those out and There should 7mm or 8mm screws behind them .



I cannot answer your 2nd question



Do your headlights get condesation? If not they are probably still sound. I would either run them as is or look into buying replacements if it bothers you. I was lucky and just picked up some blacked out headlights and corner lights for like $110 shipped off of ebay.

 

[Bill Koonce]

Thanks Mark. I found out about the perils of switching to LED turn signals from another Explorer site. Looks like the computers will make that part fun :-/



Both headlight assemblies are still good; the cracks are only cosmetic right now. I've never seen anything quite like it. There are a bunch of random little cracks about 1mm long. Very tiny and no sign that they'll spread to make larger cracks. They're concentrated on the windward side of the assembly. Just the other day I noticed that they're getting deeper and more concentrated at the center.



I don't think that my white ST would look quite right with black eyes. I was hoping that I might be able to find upgrade units (built-in HID, LED...) but it looks like no dice.



The more I think about it, the more I think that replacing them while I can find new replacements at a good price would be a good idea. IME with my New Edge (1999-2004) Mustang, aftermarket support dries up real fast when new versions come out. What's plentiful and cheap today can be impossible to get tomorrow. If I can get replacements for less than $200 each, I might as well take it while I can. Thanks for helping me decide!