BigWalt

I've searched around and seen a couple of other threads like this but never a solution.

Went to start changing out my door courtesy lights to LED's today, changed the first one and it just flickered for a second when I connected it. I thought maybe it wasn't making a good connection so i made sure it was and nothing, flipped the bulb & nothing.

I went to the back door and tried the same and it worked fine with the led.

took the front door courtesy light and swapped it with the trunk one to see if it would work and now the trunk one will not work either. no matter if Im using the normal stock bulb or LED, No power with a test light either. Fuses are ok.

the other 3 doors have power but not the trunk and front pass door, its like the circuit is dead there.

Any ideas or solutions please

CJITTY

Ok..try this. Bend back the metal pieces on the bulb so that they are opposite as they were before..I know it sounds crazy but I saw this on another car. We basically reversed the metal leads and it worked. Flipping the bulb didn't work..flipping the leads did..also check the harness connection to make sure nothing came loose.

BigWalt

No metal pieces to bend back, these are the ones I was putting in.



Test light isnt picking up power at the factory harness on there nor the trunk light after trying that one led, even after swapping back the OG factory bulb.

greg3852

I'm waiting for my LED's to come in now. Hopefully you get this straightened out easily. Making me nervous.

I had a ton of issues figuring out which LED's to use. I know it comes down to personal preference as far as color, power, etc, but I read through every sticky here and couldn't find a simple, straightforward set of answers as to which led's to use and where. There should be a basic set of average led's to use for the average joe who isn't concerned with changing color or crazy brightness. One that the average guy could look at and order the led's and do the swaps. I had an entire sheet of paper with model numbers written down and crossed out on it, because by the time you finish reading a thread you find the OP burned his wiring or the led's lasted a week. Very frustrating.
/rant

CJITTY

I meant to say your oem bulbs as a test

CJITTY

Did you close all doors and trunk and then try again? If you leave the door open for a while, it shuts off the courtesy circuit to save battery..I'm thinking of anything I can come up with

peteybabes

Any blown fuses?

we just did LED replacements in my dad's GS400 and we accidentally shorted the circuit when we got a screw driver in the wrong place,which shut off all the front overhead lights.

There was a spare fuse in the box that got us back up and running. . .

Tee

Sorry to hear it was a struggle, none of my LED's since putting them in every LS i have owned burned out or melted the wiring harness. The LS460 is straight forward when it comes to LED's because the 95% of the bulbs are 194's, last long as the bulbs are 12V you are good.


Front Parking Lights: 194 (Nike Light. If you want brighter go BIG)
Rear Trunk:194
Bottom Doors Lights: 194 (under the 4 doors)
Mirrors Courtesy Lights 194 (under the left and right mirrors)
Front Dome: T10 36 SMD LED (T10 is like 194 wedge style, I recommend two)
Rear dome: Festoon 36 SMD LED or a Festoon with LED chips
Fog lights: 9006 Samsung or Phillps
Foot wells: (These are OEM LED's, remove the orange cover)
Cooler box and Armrest: (These are OEM LED's, remove the orange cover)
Reverse Lights: 194 (If you want brighter go BIG)
License plate lights: These are OEM LED's

Far as just a LED for Joe 6-Pack they can do the entire car with these.

BigWalt

no blown fuses, all the 3 other doors lights are fine. Since they are on the same circuit the fuse is good. its almost as if I received a bad led and its tripped or shorted that section of the circuit.

Gonna try to bend back the metal pieces on the oem bulb tonight if i get off early enough, but my test light didn't find power on the plug so I doubt thats gonna be it.

Had to walk away from the car last night, to frustrated that something so simple had become a nightmare.

peteybabes

You did try to flip the bulb around the other way right?

LED's are polarity sensitive, and sometimes it's as stupidly simple as turning the bulb over and re-inserting it.

peteybabes

Ooops! I see it now where you flipped it.

i'm stumped.

TaninAuto

If the factory bulb doesn't work then the fuse is blown. If the other lights work then check the metal prongs in the socket. Maybe they aren't making contact with the LED.

Measure for voltage at the connector.

Lastly, we have the 168 LED's for sale for $1.99 each on our site along with many others.

greg3852

Can't thank you enough for this. Literally spent hours searching the other night. If you can, I would add this to the led sticky to help others. Thanks again.

CJITTY

Pretty sure this was posted already..I think with links and everything but good summary nonetheless

Tee

No problem, I posted it in the FAQ sticky under Lighting right after I posted it here.