MatraSport Forum

Hi, basically I like to have spares for all the lights, especially the ones that are on the outside. I checked my manual but for some reason it just says things as "pear shaped bulb" and nothing useful like h4 which actually enables me to search for them online without having to take each bulb out of the car for closer inspection.
Does anyone have a list with all the relevant light builb types for the Murena?

Also, can I just buy the LED versions or do they have to be incandescent?


On a side note, I was looking at the beautiful Laser concept car and noticed that it has pop up headlights that are much narrower which I really liked the look of. Any chance there's a way to put something similar to that in the Murena?

If you download the hand book from my website technical section, you will see that I added the common three digit bulb numbers alongside the bulbs (Page 61) as well as including a warning note on page 53 about the photo of the fuse board being the wrong way around.


You cannot use LED bulbs in the indicator system unless you also change the flasher unit to an electronic one, because the flash rate is linked to the current draw.

I use an LED rear side lamp and brake lamp bulb in place of the normal one, but since LEDs give off light in one direction you won't get the all around effect from a reflector as the LED is pointing away from it.  So you must chose the type of LED bulb replacement that has not only LEDs facing backward but has a number set around the edge directing their light to the reflector.  So mine has 19 LEDs facing back and 6 LEDs spaced 60 degrees apart radially directing light at the reflector surface.  These LED bulbs are a straight swap for the standard bulb so no modifications are necessary.


It was done some years ago and there are probably photos somewhere.  But if you restrict the height the pods come up, the surface where the lights mount will now be angled downwards, so you would have to modify the pods for any system with a reduced opening.

Roy

Awesome! I knew you would almost certainly have it!  :D


Oh that's good to know! I think that's also why one of the indicators on my trailer doesn't work with all cars. Never realised it was the bulb.


Oh nice, hope I can find the pictures. One day I'll hopefully have room for a donor car but I guess that's still several years ahead if ever.

Thanks again Roy!

I think this should be it. Not 100% sure though, especially the illumination for the heating controls was hard to get a definite match on using Google.

The heater illumination is 24 volt so that it is dimmer than the rest and not too bright or too hot for those controls.  The 508T bulb, usually in a holder, is the 24v truck equivalent of the 12v bulb used in cars and they should both be 1.2w

See:
https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/r508twbr-24v-1.2w-b8.7d-brown-base.html
as one example.

The illumination in the five push switches stacked vertically on the left is also 24v for the same reason - so they are not too bright or too hot.

Roy

Thanks for the confirmation!

I wanted to order in some extra parts and remembered that I couldn't read the coolant level in the tank since the whole thing has turned opaque yellow with age.
I didn't manage to find a part reference in Roy's list. Does anyone have a suggestion? Or perhaps an easy way to make the original tank (is this the header tank?) more transparent again, at least to the point that I can read the fluid level again?

The coolant header tank was never clear or transparent, and they do 'yellow' with age, but the coolant inside should be dark blue from the antifreeze and therefore should be visible through the container.  All our cars are the same age being built in that September 1980 - December 1983 period, so will be similarly opaque, yet I can easily see my coolant level as the dark colour shows against the light header tank material.

There is one likely reason that makes it more difficult to detect where the level of the fluid is, and that is because the inside of the header tank becomes dirty after years of use especially if not cleaned occasionally.  This brown scum, which will often go almost to the top of the container as the fluid reaches up there when it is very hot and expanded, can be cleaned off, as I have done it myself.  First you need to remove the header tank from the car.  You will need a small brush with a flexible wire handle, the type you might use for cleaning out pipes, so you can bend the handle to allow the brush to be rubbed against the inside of the container to loosen the deposits and then thoroughly rinsed out.  Once cleaned off and refitted, and refilled with new coolant with new antifreeze the level should be easy to see.

One important point is that if you are using the wrong antifreeze (OAT) - which is pale red in colour, when diluted in water it is even more pale and that would be difficult to spot inside the header tank, BUT you should not be using that type antifreeze in the Murena anyway.

And finally, if you had a fluid level sensor fitted to your coolant header tank, like I have, and have recommended as one of the cooling system improvements that can be done, you would not have to be able to see the level anyway, as your sensor would give you a dashboard warning of any drop in coolant.

Happy New Year to all.

Roy

Oh that's a relief. I did assume it was white to begin with but I guess it bacame too dirty. I'll just clean it out then 👍

I tried some of these bulbs but the holders were slightly different from the ones in the Murena. The contacts are lined up differently from the locator tabs and the holders were also designed to locate in a thinner circuit board. I was able to use the 24 v bulbs though and with some fiddling managed to swap them into the original bulb holders. I'll try to attach a photo of the two types side by side.
The original is black, the new one brown.