Looking for Subaru W5W and Rear Light Bulbs? Here’s What You Need to Know. Plus How to Change Your Own Subaru LED Brake Light!

Is there a conspiracy among vehicle bulb manufacturers to hide which of their bulbs is the equivalent of the W5W bulb used by Subaru?? How about why your owner’s manual says to “consult your Subaru dealer for replacement” of the rear, white sideways U light? Here is the information that you are looking for about both.

First, don’t get me wrong, I love my Subaru Forester. It’s a 2017 Subaru Forester, and not only that, it’s a Turbo Forester, with paddle shifters! This thing hauls! But omg, could the automobile lightbulb market be any more confusing? (Channeling the late, great Chandler Bing here.) Read on for the bulbs you need that are the equivalent to the W5W bulbs.

So here’s what I don’t love: the frustration when needing to change a burned out bulb, such as a rear bulb, directional bulb, side running bulb, tulip bulb, whatever bulb, and trying to wade through the vast and confusing ocean of light bulbs when you need to purchase said bulb to replace a W5W bulb in your Subaru.

You see, in the owner’s manual, you will see the W5W bulb listed as being used for a lot, and I do mean a lot of the bulbs throughout your car, including the regular rear bulbs (we’ll get to the LED bulbs that illuminate that white sideways U in a moment, but trust me, you’re not going to like it). ‘W5W’ means that the bulb is 5 watts and has a wedge-type base. Get it? Wedge 5 Watts – W5W.

To further confuse and complicate things, every single ‘how to’ video on YouTube about how to change your Subaru bulbs uses a different brand of bulb, with different numbers! And not a one of them (at least that I’ve found) mentions other brand bulbs or bulb numbers that you can use. So if you watched a video saying you want a 7443 bulb, or a 921 bulb, or a 3.1415 bulb, you’d be forgiven for not realizing that they are all a version of and equivalent to the W5W bulb, as each brand uses its own number, and few of them say “W5W bulb equivalent”, let alone “Fits the Subaru {your model}” It’s a conspiracy, I tell ya! (Not really.)

So my job here is to make your job much easier. I’m going to provide you with links on Amazon (and they are not affiliate links!) to bulbs that are actually the equivalent of (i.e. the same as) W5W bulbs, both incandescent and LED versions.

Incandescent W5W Bulbs for Your Subaru

The Philips 12961LLB2 LongerLife Miniature Bulb is a W5W incandescent bulb. In addition to the product description saying that “these are W5W miniature bulbs, also known as 12961LLB2 bulbs”, two different reviews confirm it, one saying that the bulb “will fit all T10 bulb base socket like 194,168,2825 or W5W,” and the other saying that it is “Just a different part number for W5W. Philips quality and Amazon pricing. New and bright. I try to replace lamps before they go.Then I carry the old one in the trunk as a spare. Spare lamps are the law in the EU all though not in the USA.”

Again, here is the link:

Philips 12961LLB2 LongerLife Miniature Bulb

LED W5W Bulbs for your Subaru

If you’re wanting to replace your original W5W bulbs with LED bulbs, then the Canbus 152 168 194 921 T10 LED Bulb will fit the bill. While none of the reviews mention it being W5W specifically, it is mentioned several times in the product description, and hey, it’s right in the product title. And, it has to be said, the reviews are superlative. I especially like this one: “Harness the Power of the Sun… Wow these are bright. These replaced my old LED’s installed into my map light. Those were about 4 years old. These are most definitely way brighter than previous. To be perfectly honest I could probably get away with using just one as it lights up the entire cabin. I’m probably understating this but without an instrument to measure I’m pretty confident the light output is double that of the previous LEDs it replaced. I whole heartedly recommend.”

Again, that link is: Canbus 152 168 194 921 T10 LED Bulb

(Reminder, these are NOT affiliate links. I do not use affiliate links because I want you to know that if I am recommending something it’s because I really use it myself and recommend it, and not for financial gain.)

About the White Rear Sideways U Lights on Your Subaru – They Are Your LED Brake Lights

UPDATE! While Subaru insists that you must replace the entire housing when your Subaru LED brake lights go out, you can actually replace just the LED bulb yourself! Here is the update!:

How to Change Your Own Damned Subaru LED Brake Light (And No You Don’t Need to Replace the Entire Light Assembly!)

What I’d written before discovering how to replace just the LED bulb instead of the entire light housing assembly – leaving it in for the sake of completeness.

In the owner’s manual those white rear sideways U lights are designated not by a number, like most of the other lights, but by a letter, F. As we all know, F stands for F*cked. In this case, you’re effed if you want to change the burned out bulbs in that sideways U. There’s a reason that your owner’s manual says, about those white, sideways U rear lights, to “consult your Subaru dealer for replacement.” Because those lights can’t be changed. Can’t. Be. Changed. At all. Yes, you have to change the entire rear light assembly. And of course they want you to do it at the dealership or, as one post I saw called it, “the stealership”. Where you will be charged at least two limbs.

But guess what! You can get that whole assembly on Amazon, and by all accounts it is very easy to swap that assembly out!

I’m going to give you the link to the search on Amazon, rather than a particular listing, because there is a difference in the assemblies if you have a 2017/2018 Subaru versus a 2014-2016 or 2019-2021 Subaru. There are assemblies for all of them, you just have to be careful to make sure to get the right one. They run between $115 and $150, generally speaking.

Here’s the search link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=subaru+rear+passenger+light+assembly

That is for the passenger side. If you need it for the driver’s side, of course just switch the search term.

I hope that this has been helpful!

The Actual Fix for the Roomba “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”

So your Roomba is toddling along merrily, and suddenly it stops and says “Error 2 please clear debris extractors.” So once you figure out just what are the debris extractors (they are those two rollers on the bottom that sweep stuff into your Roomba) you do what you think you should need to do to “clear the debris extractors”. Then you start your Roomba again, and it starts toddling along again, so you think “Yay, that fixed it!” And then your Roomba says “Psych! Error 2! Please clear the debris extractors.” So you lather, rinse, repeat, each time your Roomba goes a couple of minutes, lulling you into a false sense of security, and then screams at you “I SAID ERROR 2, YOU MORON! CLEAR THE F*CKING DEBRIS EXTRACTORS”, and gee, it doesn’t even say “please” this time, how rude!

By now you’ve tried everything that the intertubes tells you to. These likely include:

– Removing the debris extractors and repositioning them and putting them back in

– Removing the debris extractors and inspecting for and brushing away any loose dirt, hair, etc. from behind the debris extractors

– Removing the debris extractors and taking a swab to both ends of both debris extractors, and to the indentations in the body of the Roomba into which both debris extractors fit

– Removing the “cleaning head module” (wait, the what??*) to see if anything is trapped in/behind/under there. *For our purposes, the cleaning head module can be thought of as the cavity in which the two debris extractor rollers sit, although it is of course much more

– Removing the battery for at least 5 minutes to have the Roomba re-set itself

But I’m going to bet that there’s one thing that you haven’t done, and I blame the many “how to” sites that don’t make this very clear (which is why I’m writing it up for you, so that you can find it easily!)

This thing is removing the yellow end of the debris extractors and removing all of the hair and other stuff that has accumulated in the body of the extractor.

This is what needs to be removed

Note that the endcaps don’t always pop off as easily as in the video, you may need to really fiddle with them, and really twist them and pull on them (but gently, you don’t want to break anything).

Once you get those endcaps off you will be astonished/shocked/grossed out at just how much stuff has accumulated back there. This stuff is what is causing the error, primarily because it is keeping the debris extractors from turning freely.

Ewwwww

You need to very carefully remove it all; I found that a pair of tweezers was useful for this. You will be amazed at the amount of stuff you will extract.

This is what was removed from just one of the two debris extractors

Then be sure to take a swab and carefully clean the underside of each yellow cap.

Reassemble your Roomba, and revel in the lack of it telling you “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”!

Of course my hope is that you found this post well before you went through all of the other steps, thus saving you from the maddening experience of trying everything else first only to hear your Roomba continue to taunt you.

Speaking of how many times your Roomba will tell you “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”, I finally realized why my dog Lily gets so excited when the Roomba starts up – I’m pretty sure, having heard the Roomba talk so much, that she thinks that there’s a little tiny person inside there! Seriously, she wags her tail so hard when the Roomba comes a’toddling!

How to Perform Maintenance On and Lubricate a Vibration Plate or Platform

Welcome! If you’ve ended up here it’s almost certainly because you’ve been going crazy trying to find lubrication instructions and to figure out how to lubricate your vibration platform or vibration plate (or whatever you choose to call your vibration machine). You are probably mystified as to why how to oil or lube your vibration platform wasn’t covered in the user manual that came with your vibration plate or platform. (Please note that we are using the terms “vibration platform” and “vibration plate” interchangeably, even though there may be minor differences between the two and from manufacturer to manufacturer.) You may even have already tried to figure it out for yourself, turning your vibration plate over and over looking for where to oil it.

But just in case you aren’t familiar with these machines, which can be found both in gyms and homes, vibration platforms perform whole body vibration. According to Healthline, “Vibration machines, also called shaking machines or shaking platforms, use whole-body vibrations to force your muscles to contract reflexively. They’re available in some gyms and are sold for home use. Generally, people perform exercises like squats, pushups, or crunches on these machines while they’re vibrating. Supporters of vibration machines say these vibrations make your muscles work harder and can help you lose fat, build muscle, and get stronger.” And the Mayo Clinic, always a respected resource, says that research shows that whole-body vibration, when performed correctly and under medical supervision when needed, can reduce back pain, improve strength and balance in older adults, and even reduce bone loss.

In terms of fitness and exercise benefits, online fitness site FitDay has a great, in-depth article on The Benefits of a Vibration Plate.

Vibration plates are sold in many places, and at many price points, all the way from vibration plates for home use, such as this highly rated one on Amazon and this other highly rated one on Amazon, both of which are under $200, all the way up to commercial vibration platforms for gym use that sell for $10,000 (such as this one) up to $15,000 or more!

However they all do essentially the same thing: they vibrate the bejeezus out of you. And the actual platform (plate) part does pretty much the same thing on all of them (that’d be the “vibrating the bejeezus out of you” thing). Obviously the higher-end ones, made for use in a commercial gym, are more solidly and sturdily built, but they still do roughly the same thing.

And they all, every single last one of them, have the same lubricating instructions.

How to Lubricate Your Vibration Plate or Platform

You don’t.

That’s right, that’s what we said. The reason that you can’t find instructions anywhere for lubricating your vibration plate is because they are not made to be lubricated. They are a closed system, with no access for lubrication.

But don’t take our word for it, take the words of all of the experts that we ourselves contacted because, well, our home vibration platform developed a squeak, so we were trying to figure out how to lubricate the damned thing to shut it up! First we contacted the manufacturer of our model, who said “you don’t lubricate it, you can’t.”

That made us think that we had gotten a bum deal, and maybe should have gone with a different model which would allow us lubrication access.

Then we discovered that there are no such models.

So then we called our trusty home and commercial gym equipment repair company (don’t ask) and they, having never heard of lubricating a vibration plate, called their suppliers, and all the way up that supply chain the word came back down: you don’t lubricate a vibration platform.

Finally, we called a gym that has vibration platforms for their members’ use. Surely they would either say “that’s crazy, of course you have to lubricate them” or they would confirm that, even in the high-use environment of a commercial gym, vibration platforms don’t get lubricated.

Guess what. The nice people at this large commercial gym, that has been around for 40 years, said that yes, it’s true, you don’t lubricate vibration plates (vibration platforms, vibration machines, etc.). You don’t, and you can’t.

And what this means for you if you have a home vibration platform and it develops a squeak, is, well a) don’t worry about it, and b) you have to live with it.

Our home vibration platform
How to Perform Maintenance On and Lubricate Your Vibration Platform or Plate

Searches that led to this article: https://www mangemerde com/how-to-perform-maintenance-on-and-lubricate-a-vibration-plate-or-platform/,

Mange Merde

…if you'll pardon my French

Category: Net & Tech Tools