Review on Dorman 645-550: High-Quality Marker Lamp Socket for Enhanced Visibility by Reggie Higdem

I bought a 2014 "new to me" F-150 in 2019 from 2014. I have a liking for Ford and while I think it's a great truck, there are so many little issues with it that Ford needs to clean up behind the woodshed. Not long ago, I accidentally ran behind my truck with my headlights on and noticed that my left license plate was burned out. Usually such things are quite simple, ie. You twist the cartridge to remove it from the case, change the bulb, and put it back into the case. Removing the bolt from the case is not that difficult. However, Ford in his infinite wisdom chose to house what I like to call a pedestal within a pedestal. The harness comes from the main wiring and this connector goes into this harness where this check was done. The lamp is inserted into this part and reinstalled into the housing. From a fundamental and simple point of view it seems nonsensical to have two different electrical connections. The bulb itself was quite difficult to remove from this socket, but the real joy was pulling the cartridge out of the harness. It's pretty hard to explain, but there are two arrow-shaped pieces that fit into that slot near the front, and you'll need to roll to remove them. Well, it's going to be a bear, and if you do it for 20 minutes you'll tend to break the dishes. And that's exactly what I did. So now I have to buy a wire harness, hook it up to the wiring and put everything back together as it sits now, this connector won't snap and I had Jerry fix it with a zip tie. Bottom line, the problem isn't with that outlet, it's with Ford's incompetence and creating a simple outlet. Mainly because of the license plate light. And you could see a lot of people complaining about the longevity of the system and the problems it causes. All I can say is buy a bunch of these along with the braids. you will need them.