Hello, Today I mounted new Sport race single can exhaust to my 348. When I removed the heat shields and rear lamp covers I found that one bulb melted the rear of the light. (Same bulb on the other side did the same looks like mirrored effect). Bulbs are correct voltage and still original. What can I do? Where can I buy new lamps? Will take some pictures later on. Cheers
LED bulbs will solve your heat-related problems. LINK: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165925&page=2
355, 360,550,575, suffer the same issue with the back up bulbs melting the inner tail light lenses. The solution is an LED back up light bulb, which dramatically reduces the heat. The design of the bulb holder places the standard incandescent bulb too close to the lens. I imagine a similar issue with the 348 could be causing the problem.
Thanx a million guys. Will order those for sure, but my lights are beyond repair. Bulb holders are melted so much that the bulb fell out and the inner paraboll part fell down. Does anyone have some spare lights left from a Challenge grill conversion. Would pay good money for a nice set. Cheers,
I would like to see this as well. Does your car have rear fog lights that may have been left on? I find it hard to believe that anything would melt unless the socket was not properly screwed into the housing, and the glass part of the bulb was actually in contact with the plastic housing.
I would also love to see pics mate. If the bulb holder is melted, you should be able to replace it with a new one. Then, fit those LED bulbs. Or is the light melted where the bulb goes in, which is why you cannot fit the bulb holder back in???
Car was bought new in 1992 by my father for Brake tests and development (We have a brake production factory). www.sinter.si My father newer tested with car, because he felt sorry for. My father had retired 3 years ago and moved to Cuba to enjoy his retirement. I got the car in 2004 and am taking care for it since. Never been abused in any way never sav rain or snow. She has only 30.000km (18.000miles on the clock and was-is taken care of by local F-service). I noticed the problem when mounting new muffler. Now I know why so many F cars burn. Here is some pics. The strangest think is that both are melted the exactly the same way. I am not sure if they are rear lights or fog lights, because the battery is not in at the momment, but could say that they are fog. P.s. Whay do some 348 have battery in front and some in the rear ( what is the catch) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sheesh man, that IS nasty!! If you REALLY wanted too, you could remove those tail lights and get someone to plastic repair them. That or patch it up with some fibreglass. I mean, probably wont be the best repair, but as long as the bulb is in there right, then who cares?? The cover hides it all anyways. Batteries were in the rear in the early 348's. They moved to the front in the later 348's. Something to do with handling.
do you know if the light is possible to take apart or is the plastic welded together. The metal reflective part that sourounds the bulb when fitted also felt into the light and is making terrible rattle when the car is running. In case that they are fog I will leave as it is (not intending to drive in fog anyway) in case they are rear I will have to deal with. Are the fog ones connected with front or is there sepreate switch ( newer checked that). Now it is winter here and I cant drive anyway ( have till end of march to figure this one out) Thanx
I dont understand this "fog" light question sorry mate. Here are two old pics of my Euro 348. Top pic, ALL park lights working on the rear. Bottom pic, you can see park light bulb is blown in the middle on the right side. I am not sure if these lights can be pulled apart mate. I would remove it and take it a plastic repair specialist and get them to have a look at it for you. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looking at your pictures, the bulbs that have melted on both sides are indeed the rear fog lights. These are NOT used on USA market cars, but they ARE used on European market cars (I don't know about Australian cars, Pap). They use 21W bulbs, the same as brake lights and reversing lights and turn signal lights, which ordinarily would not be "on" for extended periods of time. The rear fog lights are operated by the second pushbutton switch from the left, on the center console, and when the switch is "on" it should illuminate the orange warning light just above it. I suspect that rear fog lights were on all the time, and that the heat from the bulbs melted the housing. It seems a bit silly that the housing can't stand up to the heat, but that appears to be the case. You might want to check the bulbs to see if they are rated higher than 21W. In this diagram, light "F" is the rear fog light. Light "E" is the backup light. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Now that you mention that, I have an extra button on my HVAC that doesnt seem to work. I was thinking it was another 'fog light' button for the front lights, but it doesnt work. Tomorrow, I will go out to the garage and check that button out again, but I will look to see if the rear lights up. The button on the far left is for the front fog lights, so the button beside it must be for the rear. I will check it out tomorrow. Image Unavailable, Please Login
In the parts manual (Tav 138, item 10) it shows that the rear fog light switch is "Not for USA and CDN", which apparently means that the rest of the world DID get rear fog lights. Perhaps someone in "the rest of the world" could look in their owners handbook and see if there is a warning that the rear fog lights should only be used for a short time, in case the heat will melt the rear bulb holders.
The problem in my country is that you must have lights on at all times (the law and cars without lights on get 150€ penalty). I dont want to have lights opened during the day, so I use front fog lights instead and had no problems so far. I am not sure, but I will check it tonight. Are front and rear lights triggered with the same switch or I have 2 switches ( will also make some pics for you guys). In case that front and rear use same switch than this is the problem and I will take the bulbs out and continue using only front ones. Cheers, You guys are really friendly thank you
Will check the voltage tonight ( I am 90% sure that the bulbs are still original) Today I was thinking about this a lot and had decided that I will take the lights out and have them replaced or repaird and change all bulbs to led (just in case). Fog bulbs I will take out in case that they are connected to the same button as front othervise I will leave them there ( dont want to mess and moidify Italian electronics, because I think that we all know where it leads ).
Miha, there are two fog light switches on your center console. The one on the far left (with the picture showing the light pointed to the left) is the FRONT fog light switch. The next one on the right (with the picture showing the light pointed to the right) is the REAR fog light switch. You should be able to turn them on independently of each other (I think). If a normal 21W bulb melts the plastic, you could install a bulb with a lower rating that wouldn't put out so much heat, but also wouldn't be as bright.
These are indeed foglights. I have 2 switches on my panel 1 front front and 1 for rear. So I can seperatley turn on front or rear ones. The ones melted are both rear foglights. I think I know the problem. About 2 years back I went to Milano with my FER. On the way back there was terrible fog and rear foglights were on for about 5 hours streight. This had melted them for sure. Now I took them out as well as the holder. and will just not use them anymore. For the other lamps I already ordered led sollution. Thanx for your help
Well mine is a UK 348 and my rear fogs only work when the fronts are on THEN i turn on the rears The rears will not work on there own
Chris, can you possibly answer the question as to whether or not there is a warning in the Owners Handbook (on non-USA cars) that the rear fog lights should not be used for extended periods of time? Glad to hear that you came up with a solution to the problem, Miha.
Hi Jeff, My euro Spider is also the same, it needs the front fogs on first before the rears will work. There is not a warning about using the rear fogs for extended periods in the manual. I also have one of the rear lights with a melted area, the bulb only just fits in the lamp!! I`m not sure which bulb it is now? I always thought there was an opinion that the temperature from the exhaust caused this problem? Regards, Phil.
