$10 a bulb?!

Just a quick gripe.
Noticed on our LW200 Wagon 5 of 6 of the bulbs for the third brake lamp
were out. The single bulb lighting was virtually worthless in daylight.

I didn't have time to look for alternate sources so went to Saturn.
$9 per bulb and the parts guy had his greasy hands all over them - no
plastic protection at all.

I cleaned them all with windex before installing.
Thank goodness it only cost me $60. Wonder if they would have charged me an
hour's labor to install them.

Steph > wrote:

>
> I cleaned them all with windex before installing.

WINDEX ?! You may have ruined them already .... You should have
used rubbing alcohol.

The upper brake light lamps go out so often, I'm considering making a change
to high output LEDs. Definitely not a drop-in but may pay off in the long
run. The stock lamps are somewhat hard to find and a bit pricey.
Oppie '01 LW300

btw- does anybody else get letters from Saturn saying that they need to buy
back my car...? Do they want to phase out the L-series support after they
get a substantial number of them back, want to ship them off to the 3rd
world or just get me to start making payments again...now that my car is
paid off



"Steph" > wrote in message
...
> Just a quick gripe.
> Noticed on our LW200 Wagon 5 of 6 of the bulbs for the third brake lamp
> were out. The single bulb lighting was virtually worthless in daylight.
>
> I didn't have time to look for alternate sources so went to Saturn.
> $9 per bulb and the parts guy had his greasy hands all over them - no
> plastic protection at all.
>
> I cleaned them all with windex before installing.
> Thank goodness it only cost me $60. Wonder if they would have charged me
> an
> hour's labor to install them.
>

"Steph" > wrote in message
...
> Just a quick gripe.
> Noticed on our LW200 Wagon 5 of 6 of the bulbs for the third brake lamp
> were out. The single bulb lighting was virtually worthless in daylight.
>
> I didn't have time to look for alternate sources so went to Saturn.
> $9 per bulb and the parts guy had his greasy hands all over them - no
> plastic protection at all.
>
> I cleaned them all with windex before installing.
> Thank goodness it only cost me $60. Wonder if they would have charged me
an
> hour's labor to install them.

We have a 2000 LS2, which had the over-priced top mounted brake light
consisting of four bulbs.
We took out the defective bulbs, and, low and behold, the bulbs in the
assembly are generic #168 12 volt lamps.
we extracted the burned out bulbs and replaced them with generic #168 lamps
which we purchased fro ab out $1.00 each.

Worth a try, if you are handy.

Good luck,
David

"David" > wrote in
:

>
> "Steph" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Just a quick gripe.
>> Noticed on our LW200 Wagon 5 of 6 of the bulbs for the third brake
>> lamp were out. The single bulb lighting was virtually worthless in
>> daylight.
>>
>> I didn't have time to look for alternate sources so went to Saturn.
>> $9 per bulb and the parts guy had his greasy hands all over them - no
>> plastic protection at all.
>>
>> I cleaned them all with windex before installing.
>> Thank goodness it only cost me $60. Wonder if they would have charged
>> me
> an
>> hour's labor to install them.
>
> We have a 2000 LS2, which had the over-priced top mounted brake light
> consisting of four bulbs.
> We took out the defective bulbs, and, low and behold, the bulbs in the
> assembly are generic #168 12 volt lamps.
> we extracted the burned out bulbs and replaced them with generic #168
> lamps which we purchased fro ab out $1.00 each.
>
> Worth a try, if you are handy.
>
> Good luck,
> David

Thanks, I just didn't have time to go locate them elsewhere.
But yes, you are right, they are generic #168 lamps and I know I griping
for no reason as it was a choice to buy fromthe dealer -- I just didn't
expect the Saturn parts markup to be so high.

I have owned a '94 SL2, '95 SL2, '97 SW2, and now the '01 LW200.

I get em at NAPA for little over half of Saturns price. 168's sound better
- I'll try that next time.