SSR Cargo Lamp Upgrade with Fuse

There have been many SSR Cargo Bay Light circuit failures where the cable connected to the lamp circuit board or the lamp circuit board have burned up and the fuse in the fuse box did not blow!  The cause for the burned up wiring and circuit board has been tracked back to the factory supplied fuse for this light.  It is significantly oversized for the very small (22) gauge wire used.  (15 amp for the 03 & 04 SSR’s and 10 amp for the 05 & 06 SSR’s)  Many thanks to Ed Borland for all his work on this.

The new 2 amp fuse will be replacing fuse #40 in the rear fuse box (see photos).  The circuit that is being protected by fuse #40 is the “Inadvertent Courtesy Lamp” circuit.  It provides power through the Body Control Module to the Glove Box lamp, Lighting in the Rear View Mirror, the lamps in both Vanity Mirrors and the Cargo Compartment lamp.

The Cargo Lamp Upgrade contains one bright white LED lamp and two 2 amp fuses (1 fuse to use and 1 spare fuse).  Please note that the LED lamp is polarity sensitive.  If it doesn’t work for you, simply flip it around and put it in the other way.  There is a photo in the gallery on opening the light fixture.

I HIGHLY recommend that all SSR owners inspect their small circular electrical connector on the forward left corner of the cargo cover annually.  Unscrew the connector and check for traces of copper corrosion.  If you have some turquoise residue on the connectors, remove it with an acid brush and some alcohol.  You can spritz a little bit of silicone contact lube (CRC 2-26) on the connector faces to inhibit further corrosion.  The actual root cause of the burned up electrical connectors has now been traced to the conductive nature of copper oxide (turquoise residue) and the presence of condensation under the lid of the cargo compartment.