Guide to assist you in removal, modification and reinstallation of your dome lamp.

At this time, I do not have the non-map light dome assembly, but I do not believe the process is that much different. Also, this is in alpha form because I'm in a hurry AND if I don't spit out what comes to mind right now, it'll take me 10x longer to do it all over again, later. Plus, I will need to proofread it for clarity and awkwardness.

BEWARE: Each thumbnail generates a LARGE pic!

Step 1: Observe the dome light.

Step 2: Look for the notch in the lamp assembly. Use an appropriate item to wedge in here and pop out the lamp assembly.
In this example, I use a house key.

Step 3: With little effort, the lamp should pop out. At this point, you can use your hand or whatever aid to pull the assembly out, starting on the notched side

Step 4: The light is now out and is suspended by its wires. FYI, the bigger connector is (-) and the smaller is (+). When removing these plugs, take some care in how you do so. On rare occasions, you might accidentally allow the (+) connector to touch something either on the car's ceiling (rarest) or on one of the many areas on the lamp assembly that carries the (-) polarity (most common). I know it's trivial, but if I can blow a fuse that way, others will, too.

Step 5: Take a moment to observe the dome light, top and bottom, side to side.

Step 6: Locate the plastic tabs that hold the clear lens onto the reflector housing of the assembly. Gently pull these outward so that you can free the backside of the reflector from the lens.

Step 7: Locate the tabs on the opposite side of the lamp and repeat the process. This should be a little bit easier, but for the first time the lamp will feel like it doesn't want to come apart. It's kind of like learning how to properly crack open a crab to eat it, when you've never had to do that before.

Once these tabs are separated, the best way to separate the pieces is to firmly hold the clear lens at the bottom and pull straight up on the reflector assembly. If you have map lights, sometimes those plastic folding things may pop off.

Step 8: Observe the two pieces: reflector assembly up top, lens at bottom. Notice how I put a (+) sign on the leftmost contact? That's important for later, as one must wire LEDs according to the polarity.

Step 9: Remove the festoon bulb and observe its little cradle:

Step 10: Slide in your LED board, underneath the cradle for the festoon bulb. NOTE: your LED module will have two wires. The SILVER one is the (-) and the COPPER one is the (+). Be sure that the SILVER wire stays on the RIGHT side and the COPPER wire stays on the left side - as seen in this picture:

Step 11: Take the solder tipped wires and either FIRST fold them in half (recommended) or, take them like I did and push them as far back into the cradle as you can get. If necessary, use some needle nose pliers to scrunch down the cradle a little more. The pliers probably won't be needed if you just fold the wire first and place it in there, so there is more tension. Note, these wires ARE tinned, so more advanced individuals can decide to solder these wires to the appropriate connectors on the cradle. I chose to leave the wiring so that users could easily reverse this mod.

Step 12: This next pic is kind of backwards - if you run the wires in the opposite direction, the excess is easier to fold between the bulb cradles. Nonetheless, at this point, try to get the excess wire gathered above the dome lamp module, between the cradle. Then begin to align the top and bottom of the lamp assembly. Note that it can only be assembled one way. The reflector assembly has two copper contacts which fit into retaining areas on the clear lens portion, where the map switches are. Of course, if you don't have map bulbs, this can be ignored. And, yes, the folding map bulb sections of the lens can get annoying at first. Basically, I recommend keeping them open maybe 45 degrees, then sliding the assembly together underneath.

Step 13: Push the two pieces together until the tabs lock themselves into place.

Step 14: Now, take the lamp assembly back to the car and reinstall it! Turn it on to verify functionality.