Just installed 06 Tail Lights..have some questions

J

JV65

New member
Last night I installed 06 LED tail lights on my 03 SR5. Purchased from ebay for a low price, listed as OEM. They came in a Toyota box & the lights say Toyota on them with the part #.

Install was straight forward. Only trouble was the connector from the brake bulb holder would not fit with the LED connector on the 06 light. I had to shave two pieces down on the LED connector to fit. I have not read anything where this had to be done. Has anyone encountered this? Is the 03 brake light different than other 4th Gens?

Two concerns with the purchase.

1. Lights did not look to be factory packed in their boxes. For those who bought OEM how was the packing.

2. The LED is not very bright on either light. I thought they would be brighter. For those who have made the change, are your LEDs bright? The rest of the lights are bright...the ones used from the old brake lights.

Thanks for any help!
 
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I did the swap to OEM LED's (purchased from partznet.com) and had no issues what so ever. Everything was plug and play as it should be. You shouldn't have to shave down any connectors, everything should fit.

I have an '05 but that shouldn't be any different from your '03 original tails. I'm also confused when you say they don't look bright. They shouldn't be all that bright until you step on the brake pedal, then it lights up the friggin night.
 
Thanks for the info! What's not bright is when the headlights are on, the tail lights aren't bright. Or atleast how bright I thought they should be. Perhaps this is normal? The brakes do light up very bright.

What I shaved off where two tabs. One on each side of the LED connector. I would think they are there so the connector can only fit one way so not to be reversed when installed. I looked at why it initially would not fit to my harness and the tabs were causing the trouble. Without shaving the tabs down there was no way the connector would fit.

Do you recall the little tabs on your lights? Perhaps for orientation?

These were priced very low so I'm just making sure everything is on the up & up.
 
JV65 said:
Thanks for the info! What's not bright is when the headlights are on, the tail lights aren't bright. Or atleast how bright I thought they should be. Perhaps this is normal? The brakes do light up very bright.

What I shaved off where two tabs. One on each side of the LED connector. I would think they are there so the connector can only fit one way so not to be reversed when installed. I looked at why it initially would not fit to my harness and the tabs were causing the trouble. Without shaving the tabs down there was no way the connector would fit.

Do you recall the little tabs on your lights? Perhaps for orientation?

These were priced very low so I'm just making sure everything is on the up & up.
Click to expand...

Those are called taillights. They do that. The old ones did that when the headlights are on, too. Every car for that.
 
20034RunnerV84x2 said:
Those are called taillights. They do that. The old ones did that when the headlights are on, too. Every car for that.
Click to expand...
I understand what a tail light is & how it and a brake light function. I was just wondering if the LED "tail light" would be brighter. As I stated I was just looking for others experience with this mod.

I see you also have an 03. Have you done this change to your Runner? If so did you have to modify the connector? Thanks.
 
I put the '06 lights on mine and did not have to modify the connector. They aren't as bright as when the brake is pressed but they still seem to be bright.
 
gaterose said:
I put the '06 lights on mine and did not have to modify the connector. They aren't as bright as when the brake is pressed but they still seem to be bright.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

No clue why the connectors didn't fit right. Everything seems to be working good so I'll put it to rest.

Cheers
 
I have an '04 and I installed these a couple of weeks ago and I'm assuming that I got them from the same eBay seller you did. They came in Toyota boxes, but the packing in the boxes didn't seem factory.

Nothing on the lights leads me to believe that they aren't genuine Toyota and they fit perfectly. No modifications were necessary for the install and they are definitely brighter than the old 03-04 tails there were on before.
 
krupnation said:
Cookieroe had a great write up on how to install these. This is the link I used. Mine turned out exactly how his did...

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/64142-oem-led-tail-light-install-w-pics.html
Click to expand...
Thanks! I did check his post when I ran into problems. Great post! Even tried enlarging the photos to see if my connectors were different. I tried so many times to get the connections to fit but no luck. Under inspection I found the tabs I mentioned would not allow them to connect no matter what. Then I broke out my X-ACTO knife.

runner214 said:
I have an '04 and I installed these a couple of weeks ago and I'm assuming that I got them from the same eBay seller you did. They came in Toyota boxes, but the packing in the boxes didn't seem factory.

Nothing on the lights leads me to believe that they aren't genuine Toyota and they fit perfectly. No modifications were necessary for the install and they are definitely brighter than the old 03-04 tails there were on before.
Click to expand...
Probably are the same ones. I was putting off getting these lights but at that price I jumped on it. They do look good
 
I had the same thing with my 03 limited where I had to shave off two pieces on both connectors..My problem is now my reverse lights and tail lights wont work...
 
Re:

When you plug the new lights in, you have to click the entire adapter into place for the circuit to be closed and the tails and reverse lights will work. I did the swap from a 2005 to LED's and I got them from EBAY, came in Toyota Boxes, didn't require any trimming. I didn't lock the adapter into place, and I had the same problem for about 5 minutes. Once it clicked into place I was good to go. I hope that helps.
 
Mr. Banks said:
When you plug the new lights in, you have to click the entire adapter into place for the circuit to be closed and the tails and reverse lights will work. I did the swap from a 2005 to LED's and I got them from EBAY, came in Toyota Boxes, didn't require any trimming. I didn't lock the adapter into place, and I had the same problem for about 5 minutes. Once it clicked into place I was good to go. I hope that helps.
Click to expand...

I will check this out tomorrow..Thank you for the reply.. Good to know I was not the only one.... Hope this is the fix.
Robert
 
well, no luck here with the connections..I tried to tighten them and everything. It was all snug and still a no go on both sides with the turn signal or reverse lights. Now, I put those same bulbs on the old lights just to double check they were working fine and reinstalled the old lights and everything worked perfect. I really wanted to put the LED tails on mine, but maybe they are not for me..I just can't figure out why it wont work..
 
Figures it out... I did a search on the forum and in one of those searches was a link to another forum. In the middle of that forum was the same problem I had..Turns out I am as dumb as a box of rocks. When I hooked up the connector to the new tails the brakes worked instantly, so I thought nothing of it.. Then on the other forum the one member mentioned you still have to screw that light socket in order for them to work, the main one..Once I did this I had full working taillights. It never dawned on me to push the connector in and turn it to lock it in place just like the old lights since the brake lights worked with out doing that.. Once again, dumb as a box of rocks.
 
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