LED Gremlins

[blarblarjosh]

The other day i installed the Eagle Eye LED tail lights and since then I've been having a bunch of weird issues with my lights. Just because I know LEDs sometime cause issues else where here's a list of everything I have done (that I can remember anyway):

• Dash Lights
• Dome Lights
• Switch Back Halos (part of a 35W morimoto HID retrofit) spliced to the turn signal
• 3rd Brake Light
• Corners
• Reverse Lights (tapped for my back up camera)

When I first installed the tail lights I had the infamous ABS light trigger so I went ahead and replaced the 3rd brake light with a regular halogen bulb. That fixed the problem for the most part, but once in a while it would turn back in. At the same time I also noticed that when in drive and only drive my head unit acts like I have my head lights on and dims itself. I've since found that when pressing the brakes and turning right it caused my clock to flash bright and dim where the dim acts like my head lights are on.

To try and rectify this I went ahead and installed some 25W 6Ohm resistors on both tail lights. Rather than fixing anything though it seemed to have made things worse. Now when I signal right my dash lights and the shifter lights blink with the turn signal as well as the clock. I got out of the car with the right turn signal on to check and see if the switch back was still flashing amber with the turn signal and it was, but I noticed both corners were flash as well. I don't believe this was issue before hand but I could be wrong, didn't want to pull out the resistors yet to verify.

Anyone have any suggestions on where I can start to try and fix this? I don't have my old tail lights anymore and would hate to have to buy new ones to replace these out since they are brand new so any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[jross20]

Subbed layball:

 

[blarblarjosh]

Bump one time to see if anyone has any ideas before I start undoing everything.

 

[phattyduck]

Step 1: Do you have a trailer light converter installed? If so, unplug it for now. Most will be plug-n-play and easy to remove/re-install once the panels in the back are pried open.

Step 2: Return all easy to change bulbs back to halogen

Step 3: Have a helper try all different combination of lights (brakes, turn signals, parking lights, and gear positions) while you watch from outside/rear of truck.

Report back your findings... Oh, and what year/trim is your 4Runner?

Have you noticed any odd behavior of your dash gear indicators?

You may have a problem with your gauge cluster flex circuit board... I had to replace mine a few years back. At the time, I still had all stock exterior bulbs and was getting some similar issues to what you are seeing.

-Charlie

 

[jross20]

Step 1: Do you have a trailer light converter installed? If so, unplug it for now. Most will be plug-n-play and easy to remove/re-install once the panels in the back are pried open.

Step 2: Return all easy to change bulbs back to halogen

Step 3: Have a helper try all different combination of lights (brakes, turn signals, parking lights, and gear positions) while you watch from outside/rear of truck.

Report back your findings... Oh, and what year/trim is your 4Runner?

Have you noticed any odd behavior of your dash gear indicators?

You may have a problem with your gauge cluster flex circuit board... I had to replace mine a few years back. At the time, I still had all stock exterior bulbs and was getting some similar issues to what you are seeing.

-Charlie

Charlie, would this ever cause the rear dome light to very gently flicker when off?

 

[blarblarjosh]

Step 1: Do you have a trailer light converter installed? If so, unplug it for now. Most will be plug-n-play and easy to remove/re-install once the panels in the back are pried open.

Step 2: Return all easy to change bulbs back to halogen

Step 3: Have a helper try all different combination of lights (brakes, turn signals, parking lights, and gear positions) while you watch from outside/rear of truck.

Report back your findings... Oh, and what year/trim is your 4Runner?

Have you noticed any odd behavior of your dash gear indicators?

You may have a problem with your gauge cluster flex circuit board... I had to replace mine a few years back. At the time, I still had all stock exterior bulbs and was getting some similar issues to what you are seeing.

-Charlie

No trailer light. I'll swing by auto zone when I get some time and grab some more halogen bulbs so I can start replacing things back and see how that works out.

This is for a 1999 SR5 3.4L.

No issues with the dash gear indicators.

Thanks Charlie.

Charlie, would this ever cause the rear dome light to very gently flicker when off?

Did you just put in an LED dome light? It may not be seated properly, but if it is you may need a CANBUS LED.

 

[jross20]

No trailer light. I'll swing by auto zone when I get some time and grab some more halogen bulbs so I can start replacing things back and see how that works out.

This is for a 1999 SR5 3.4L.

No issues with the dash gear indicators.

Thanks Charlie.



Did you just put in an LED dome light? It may not be seated properly, but if it is you may need a CANBUS LED.

It's seated as far as I can tell. It was a set that was recommended here I believe. Like an aluminum plate with many LED's. It never flickers when I'm using it, and it only seems to flicker extremely rarely. And when I say flicker I, it's also like barely lighting up so it's hard to notice unless it's dark.

Damn Gremlins

 

[blarblarjosh]

Okay, I swapped out the LED reverse bulbs back to halogen and saw nothing change. I then pulled out the resistors but that didn't do anything either so I'm guessing I just never noticed the lights flashing when turning and that my hazards were being turned on when turning right. All fuses and relays looked good as well, I tried swapping the tail relay with a new one even.

I have a feeling my right tail light was not wired properly or something and will try to unplug that when I get a chance and see if there is any change. At this point though I think I'll have to buy another set of tail lights, so the lesson here is not to throw old parts away..

 

[phattyduck]

Charlie, would this ever cause the rear dome light to very gently flicker when off?

I'd guess you have an issue with the rear door switch, which I think is integrated in the rear door latch. I think Habanero did a write-up on cleaning/fixing it... Most of us have the opposite problem (rear dome light not working at least some of the time due to a sticky switch).

-Charlie