TLPLEXUS

After fixing a fuel pump issue last month, i had to replace a halogen light bulb in the front (expected as routine maintenance). No big deal there. H11 bulb replaced and took me 10 minutes to do (most time was spent on the removal of the engine cover).

However, I am a little surprised to see that my tail lights (LED) might also be going bad. Attached is the picture that i took with my lights switched on. It appears that my left trunk's entire LEDs are gone. The right trunk one only has a few working LEDs left. The reverse lights work fine (not pictured). The dealer replaced the right tail light modules a couple of years ago so i am a little frustrated to see it go bad so fast.

First off, is there a way to fix it? Second, do any of you have this issue?

Magellan55

That's wild - mine too! Thanks for pointing this out - I would have never noticed otherwise. Though the passenger side is out, and only 3 on the driver side. Makes me think there's only supposed to be 3 lit per side though, with the remainder just reflectors. I'm getting serviced next week, so I'll ask them to look at it, and what it's supposed to look like. Who knows, maybe the unlit side is set up for rear fog light accessory. but that's really odd that it's on one side for your car, and the other on mine. I tried flashers and brakes too, but those are only the outer lights.

Maybe everyone should check their tail lights...

TheAirman

I never really looked until you guys brought it up.

Mine seem to be working fully, and after taking a closer look, that section of tail light on the trunk lid looks kind of weird to me.

If you lift the trunk lid a little, in the right ambient light, or using a flashlight, you can see that it has 6 LED's that should be lighted. So... it kind of skips a row at the edge of the trunk lid, then the 6 LED's are next.

What the 10 or 12 empty light sockets around the back-up light are use for, I don't know. Maybe in the Japanese market they use them. They aren't reflectors, so somewhere Lexus had a use for them. .....I guess.....

And looking at the unused section, I think it would look really good with all the tail light filled with LED's.

Magellan55

Just got back from the dealer - bad assembly. $260 + $60 labor! And they have to order it. I'm thinking of ignoring it, since it should still pass state inspection, or maybe trying to replace it myself. so far I've only found used assemblies on eBay for ~$80, but haven't spent much time looking yet. I'm very wary of buying electrical parts used, and the source I found has no returns. I might even try to open it up and see if I can replace just the led's some rainy day when the kids don't have me otherwise occupied.

TheAirman

Or........ if you're good with a soldering gun, and playing around with electrics, and since its broken anyways, why not try fixing yourself?

I pretty much guaranty that the LED bulbs themselves are not burnt out. It's most likely a bad resistor or broken solder joint from closing the trunk lid. It most likely will be something on the circuit board.

Most LED's run on 3 volts dc power. Different color LED's run at different voltages. Most need a resistor to operate, because if you put 12 volts to it, it would burn out in a second.

Before I spent $260 on a plastic tail light from Japan, with Chinese LED's in it, I am going to try to fix it myself. I figure what do I have to lose except my time.

TLPLEXUS

So do you also have it go bad on one side? I had mine replaced before too but i am not sure if it is on the same side. The part is pretty pricey from what i got online.

TLPLEXUS

Airman, based on your observation that only 6 LEDs would lit up which means my passenger side is working properly (i don't have a point of reference any more since i never bother to look before).

Would you mind sending me a picture of your tail light (with the light on)?

The replacement cost is very high compared to the light bulb counter part. I might try your recommendation of fixing this if i have more time.

Magellan55

Actually both of mine are bad - one side has only one row of 3 lit, the other side has no lights at all. Almost makes me suspect the wiring harness or connector. It's not a big deal to me so I haven't bothered to remove them and tear them down, but I'll do that at some point, maybe this winter when it's too cold outside to do anything more useful.

The trunk lid is one of the only flimsy things on this car, and maybe having to slam it closed all the time jarred something loose, as Dave suggests. IMO it's cheaper feeling than my son's 2002 Civic trunk lid.

TheAirman

Sorry for the delay, just now checking in.

I'll post up a picture real soon.

TheAirman

Here's two tail light pictures taken in different light showing the 6 LED's. I took another look with a flashlight, and 6 LED's per side is all the trunk lid light has in it. All the other slots are empty.

TLPLEXUS

Thanks Airman. That confirms that the working ones in the trunk only have 6 lit. So my driver side is confirmed to be burnt out.

virotek

Hey, someone finally posted about this. I've got the same issue on our 2010 HS. It first started with one row go out on the inner passenger side lights. Now both rows stopped working on the inner passenger taillight. Before both went out, I'd notice they would occasionally flicker.

Haven't bothered taking it apart to troubleshoot.

Magellan55

Seems a lot of failures. I've seen other HS250's on the road that had these lights out too, now that I'm aware of it. Seems like a recall-worthy issue, as LED's are supposed to last a long time, and aren't cheap to replace. Maybe it's a faulty connector. How does one go about getting an investigation started - contact the NHTSA?

Clutchless

You can file a complaint with NHTSA online. However, it takes a lot of complaints about a more serious issue to develop into an investigation, then the investigation has to find something that warrants a recall. It is more likely with this issue of some brake light bulbs burning out prematurely on a car with low sales volume) that a lot of complaints (to both NHTSA and Lexus/Toyota) may generate a Technical Service Bulletin in which case Lexus may be more likely to repair it for free. It is a lot cheaper for Lexus and easier for the government to handle. Recalls are usually done for more serious issues and take a lot of arm twisting to get the manufacturers to do.

TheAirman

It's just got to be an easy fix. That's my guess.

I took another look at mine tonight, and also found out those lights do not even function as brake lights. They're just tail lights and simple LED's, most probably all mounted on a circuit board.

I pulled the little cover in the trunk lid off and took a look at the connector. It's underneath the cover nearer to the license plate. It's a simple 3 wire connector, with one ground wire and one green and yellow wire. One goes to the back-up light, and one goes to the LED light assembly. I seriously doubt it's the connector.

The whole light assembly itself looks like it come off the trunk lid real easy. I saw just a few 10mm nuts holding it on. And right there was a little phillips screw holding on a cover plate right over the LED lights themselves.

Now all we need is someone to pull it off and take a look inside.