Got into trouble with some angry police officers here where i live. In EU the side markers need to blink yellow not red. My car is 2000 and is blinking red in the back. I have no options i need to convert to pass the inspection to get the car officially back on road. I see the tail light on the 2004+ has a clear section in the upper corner where the side marker is located. Basically my question is if those are fully compatible with 2000 version. Can i do a direct swap ?
Lincoln LS 2000 and 2004+ tail light compatibility
- Thread starter gips
- Start date
FDR
Dedicated LVC Member
Yes, they are interchangeable for fit and legal function. The only difference is Gen 1 features a 168 bulb tail light in the lower section of the outer tail light in addition to the 3157 tail/brake light combo bulb. There is a minor appearance difference as well since gen 2 does not have the large ribbed surface that gen 1 has. I really don't notice it on mine and trust me, I look a lot. I have gen 2 two-tone tails on my gen 1 as a much cheaper, easier way to get the EU look. I found EU inner two-tones and the EU license surround (reverse lights are in EU inners), but I gave up on EU/Japan outers. I like the bigger brake light area anyway
There is another option of questionable legality and performance. A yellow LED bulb, true yellow and not amber, will shine through the red lens with a yellow-orange color. Amber will come through as red. Yellow is almost impossible to find. If you look at the individual LED chips, yellow won't have any color when off. Amber will have an orange painted appearance. Here's a snippet of 3157s from Diode Dynamics that shows the difference. The left is a true yellow bulb with "COB" LEDs. They just show a metallic plate. The middle XP80 has small square LEDs but you can see the orangey center of the 3 facing us. The right HP24 has 6 orangey amber LEDs with 2 white LEDs in the middle. Amber LEDs are, effectively, super-warm white LEDs and the yellow component of their mixed spectrum does not show through the red lens. However, in addition to being hard to find true yelllow bulbs, finding GOOD true yellow bulbs is even harder - important since the red lens will eat a lot of output. I haven't tried these DD bulbs though since I went the EU route.
There is another option of questionable legality and performance. A yellow LED bulb, true yellow and not amber, will shine through the red lens with a yellow-orange color. Amber will come through as red. Yellow is almost impossible to find. If you look at the individual LED chips, yellow won't have any color when off. Amber will have an orange painted appearance. Here's a snippet of 3157s from Diode Dynamics that shows the difference. The left is a true yellow bulb with "COB" LEDs. They just show a metallic plate. The middle XP80 has small square LEDs but you can see the orangey center of the 3 facing us. The right HP24 has 6 orangey amber LEDs with 2 white LEDs in the middle. Amber LEDs are, effectively, super-warm white LEDs and the yellow component of their mixed spectrum does not show through the red lens. However, in addition to being hard to find true yelllow bulbs, finding GOOD true yellow bulbs is even harder - important since the red lens will eat a lot of output. I haven't tried these DD bulbs though since I went the EU route.