Found unused Courtesy Lamp Sockets for kickpanel lights and I have Questions

I was looking under the dash tonight on my 88 2 door, and found a plug on the drivers side that wasnt being used. There was a piece of white tape apparently from the factory and it said "Courtesy Lamp" I plugged a 194 bulb into the socket, and supprisingly it lit up! I went to the passenger side and found and did the same thing. I am very happy, since i thought i didnt have the options for this. But i have a few questions.

The 194 bulbs that i put in are VERY dim. I opened my glovebox, and realized that it is also a 194 bulb. But the bulb from the glovebox is VERY bright. I swapped the bulb from the passenger side footwell, and the glovebox, and the bulb under the passenger side dash is nice and bright. Just about as bright as the domelight on the headliner!!!! I tried similar 194 bulbs from my old gauge cluster i had laying around and they aren't as bright as the glovebox one.

-How can i find one as bright for the DRIVERS side footwell now??? Do they sell different "watt" 194 bulbs?????

-And for anybody with these courtesy lights in an old Renix XJ, where do yours mount? Mine just hang, and cant find a place to mount them? not really worried, just want to know.

If anybody wants to add these, and think you dont have them, you do! Just look up under the dash, and find the plug that has white, black, and pink wires, (i think) with tape that says "courtesy light" and just simply add the bulb! And for the questions i asked, if anyone knows, let me know. Thanks!

i think i have them. atho the bulbs are burt out. and the wattages. i would immagine there are different ones. or just get a bulb that fits the socket thats briter. if i can remember i will check where there mounted. mines a 90 2dr

Thanks for your help. I dont understand though how two of the same bulb are different brightnesses. Ill check the store tomorrow if they have different watt 194 bulbs...

that is very strange. but if they have different bulbs with the same base that have higher wattages than try them. and did the package say courtesy and dome or instrument gadge?

I didnt buy them. The brighter bulb is stock from the glovebox. The other one (dimmer) is a spare i used from my dummy gauge instrument cluster.

o that might be why the dash lights are dimmer.

it's been a while so i might have the number wrong. but 194 and 168 use the same socket. 168's are usually used for lighting up guages. 194's are much easier to find.

there are even led assemblies available with 194/168 base.

on my 89 limited the little yellow bulb holder has a slotted hole inthe bottom of the lower dash panel. push them in from behind the panel turn them 90 deg and bang you just upgraded to the limited. ;-)

88XJSport said:

I was looking under the dash tonight on my 88 2 door, and found a plug on the drivers side that wasnt being used. There was a piece of white tape apparently from the factory and it said "Courtesy Lamp" I plugged a 194 bulb into the socket, and supprisingly it lit up! I went to the passenger side and found and did the same thing. I am very happy, since i thought i didnt have the options for this. But i have a few questions.

If anybody wants to add these, and think you dont have them, you do! Just look up under the dash, and find the plug that has white, black, and pink wires, (i think) with tape that says "courtesy light" and just simply add the bulb! And for the questions i asked, if anyone knows, let me know. Thanks!

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When I got my '88 about 2 years ago, my bulb sockets were hanging by the wires,and I just thought the PO had taken the dash apart and forgot to re-mount them. I'll have to check later (I'm at work now), but I think I somehow screwed them in place with screws already in the bottom of the dash.

I went to autozoo and found some bigger turn signal bulbs with the same size socket. Put them in and it is much much brighter now! Thanks for all the help.

When I added the footwell lamps to my 95 SE, there were connectors but no bulb sockets. I picked up the sockets and two cheesy metal brackets from the junkyard for a couple of bucks. The brackets mount with one screw for each side.

try a 921 bulb. it has a bigger bulb, but the same connector

any one ahve a picture of where i can find these sockets?

jneary said:

try a 921 bulb. it has a bigger bulb, but the same connector

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Yup thats the exact same bulb i used too. It says on the box it is a stop/turn signal bulb, so you can just imagine how bright these are at night.

What color are the wires that the two footwell courtesy lights are attached to? I just did a quick search and didn't see anything, but I can find colored wires better than just looking for an unused socket. Thanks!

pink and 2 black wires on a 3 hole plug, your local junkyard will have the wire sockets that plug into it along with the little dash brackets, or just cheat and take the whole lower dash and you can get the jensen tweeters mounted in the lower dash as well, seeing how the wiring for those is also in the dash, along with wiring for a center console something or other, my 2wd cherokee has the wiring for the 4x4 indicator and the rest of the 4x4 stuff as well, and its a 90, but the wiring for the 91+ center console on the roof is there too, go figure, must have been cheaper to just use the same wiring in every model, easier mabye????

XJ Beater said:

pink and 2 black wires on a 3 hole plug, your local junkyard will have the wire sockets that plug into it along with the little dash brackets, or just cheat and take the whole lower dash and you can get the jensen tweeters mounted in the lower dash as well, seeing how the wiring for those is also in the dash, along with wiring for a center console something or other, my 2wd cherokee has the wiring for the 4x4 indicator and the rest of the 4x4 stuff as well, and its a 90, but the wiring for the 91+ center console on the roof is there too, go figure, must have been cheaper to just use the same wiring in every model, easier mabye????

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Thanks a lot! I have a light in my glovebox now... and I'll be getting courtesy lights in shortly... I definitely don't have enough light in there when I need it.

I use 194's for gauges, and its very nice!

UPDATE.....

So I finally went to the junkyard and found a maroon 88 laredo and the roof was crushed to the door handles, and a comanche on top of it, anyways, i did get the pigtails that plugs in under the dash, and at the end is the bulb connector which is round and yellow. They look nice with 921 bulbs in there, versus the recommended 194, and they are nice and bright especially at night. I also got a dash clock out of that same 1/2 crushed xj and is plug-and-play, looks good.