Front indicator bulb holders

Nick3 · Postby **Nick3** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 6:08 pm

Greetings.

On both my NA MX5's, the front indicator bulb holders (sockets) have damaged/missing retaining lugs, which are supposed to secure the bulb holders to the front indicator/parklight assemblies. The result is a lousy seal, and water enters the indicator/parklight assembly.

Does anyone know if these individual bulb holders (sockets) can be replaced, or will I have to purchase the (expensive) sub-loom that powers both bulbs, on each indicator/parklight assembly ?

Thanks for reading. Hope someone can assist.

Regards,

Nick

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 6:22 pm

The looms are less than $30 each:
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/front-indicat ... p-867.html

Nick3 · Postby **Nick3** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 6:58 pm

Thanks for the info, smy0003. I'll keep it in mind.

I'm hoping to be able to buy 4 of the correct bulb holders. They should be a lot cheaper than the price of 4 new looms ($101 + international postage).

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 7:01 pm

Fair shout, I think 70% of them are broken so if you find the bulb holder let us all know.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

Nick3 · Postby **Nick3** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 7:05 pm

So I'm finding out. Hopefully, I'll find new sockets, and I'll definitely let you know.

Nick3 · Postby **Nick3** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 7:40 pm

CORRECTION : The offender is NOT the front indicator bulb holder, which is the larger of the two bulb holders, per side, and which has beefy lugs. The repeat offender is the front parklight bulb holder, the smaller one, with piddly little lugs, almost destined to fail. Sorry about that.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Sun Sep 04, 2016 12:15 am

I don't think this would have been a serviced item and makers tended to have their own designs for bulb holders.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:43 am

Ihad a quick look for them and they're not a common design.

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Sun Sep 04, 2016 4:39 pm

As Bruce says they're probably not common, but somewhere like this might be able to offer a steer: http://www.bmotorsports.com/shop/index.php/cPath/109

Alex 2550 · Postby **Alex 2550** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:46 am

when i polished mine i removed the lights and both side were broken but the previous owner had fixed it with a heap of blue tac around each one.
i looked and no water or dust in there and was holding them in position so i left it till i fnd some new ones.
not ideal but a dodgy fix and easier than cleaning the lenses out if they get crap in there.

Nick3 · Postby **Nick3** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:11 pm

Thank You to all who've had input thus far.

Was wondering how to waterproof the whole assembly, so I'll try the Blue-Tac trick.

If anyone else has any ideas, or knows where to get new individual bulb holders, I'm all ears.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 5:04 pm

I am surprised that blue tac works. You might try a silastic or a butyl or a seam sealer? . Nothing to lose by doing that. As I mentioned earlier its almost certain that the bublholder used by Mazda was never a service item. It would have been designed to fit the turn signal housing by Mazda supplier and the loom would have been made also by one of their suppliers who assembly the loom. The MX5Parts cost looks half reasonable- maybe buy one then remove the old and use the old one to take around swap meets or wreckers etc to compare.

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 6:13 pm

Nick, have you tried:
https://www.amayama.com/en
You'll need the part # for it from here first:
http://www.jimellismazdaparts.com/
or
http://www.onlinemazdaparts.com/Mazda__.html
Check Rolley's posts for feedback on them:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=72200&p=884934#p884934
viewtopic.php?t=65358

Nick3 · Postby **Nick3** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:03 pm

Goodday, Paul.

Tried those parts sites you mentioned, and others on MX5cartalk, but they are all USA derived, so they show the parklights fitted into what are our side reflectors, and not into the combined indicator/parklight assembly on our cars. Who said life wasn't meant to be easy ?

Despite being fitted in different locations, I'm wondering if the USA bulb holders are the same as the Oz market cars. Amayama have the USA market type for $US 9 each. Best lead so far.

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 12:18 pm

Nick3 wrote:Despite being fitted in different locations, I'm wondering if the USA bulb holders are the same as the Oz market cars.

Hey Nick, not sure if USDM bulb holders are the same as ADM bulb holders, but you could try looking on US ebay for pics of the overall part (new or used) that might show the bulb holders for comparison.