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2003 wagon tailgate lights: why did Saab use this oddball bulb?

733 views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Jeremy R. 
#1 · (Edited)
A few weeks ago, I noticed that the taillight bulbs in the tailgate of my 2003 wagon were a bit dimmer than the taillight bulbs in the corners.

The bulbs in the tailgate, though they are two filament, have a different base, with the pins at noon and five o'clock instead of noon and six.

So I looked through my collection of new and used bulbs, and I had only a few bulbs that would fit, and they were all 21W/4W, which explains why the tail lights (at 4W) are dimmer (under the right conditions--it's not blatant) than the stop/tail 21W/5W.

Doing a bit more investigation, it seems that that the bulbs are BAZ15d, and they are all 21W/4W? This would mean that Saab deliberately designed things so that the wagon tailgate tail lights would be 4W.

I wonder why? Like I said, under the right conditions, the difference in brightness is noticeable. The only reason I can think of, is that the outer brake/stop light bulbs would get dimmed sooner, because of the 21W filament being on so often. At which point, the outer tails would be dimmer, thus matching the inners, where usually it's only the dim filament running--unless the rear fogs are used in excess.

Here's a diagram of bulb bases (credit goes to a Volvo site....Saab wasn't the only Scandinavian car maker with confusing bulbs. In fact, I would recommend checking out the page on bulbs--lots of good info there.



I got to go look for some Sylvania 7225 bulbs. They come from Osram, so they will be ECE bulbs made in the EU.








P.S. Neither the Owner's Manual nor WIS makes any mention of the BAZ bulb! But it's the original fitment on the car. Go figure. EPC does show that there are four different bulbs between the inner and outer taillights on the wagon, which would be correct.
 
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#4 ·
Since I'm bored and the weather is not improving for my proposed outdoor hike, I checked the usage of this particular bulb in EPC.


Some various 9000 models between 1985 and 1994. And 2002-2005 9-5 wagons. That's it! :roll:
 
#6 ·
Walmart's website says "not sold in store" for this bulb. I went to my local Walmart and sure enough, down low, there was a whole stick of 7552 bulb packs. I got two pair. Still enough packs left there for all the 2002-2005 9-5 wagon owners in SW Toronto/SE Mississauga. :p
 
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