zibby07

From my understanding the 2006 SC, the first year for LED's, utilizes LED's primarily on the rear of the vehicle, namely tails and license plate lights.

On my SC all of the LED's have failed, failure meaning that both tail lights have to be replace and both LED lights for the license plate have to be replaced.

Is that the norm for others with 2006 SC's?

Pretty bad that a few bulbs worth less than $50 can equate to over a thousand dollars in replacements parts, we need a good thread for a work around for LED replacement.

FLYCT

Wow, haven't heard of that before. That's very unusual and way too coincidental.

Who diagnosed the failure? Perhaps it's some other failure that is causing all the lamps to fail to fire. Could it be a missing common ground?

I've seen techs troubleshoot looking for power and not using ground at the assembly but rather using frame as a ground return when checking. They then are convinced assembly failure when there was a missing ground at the light.

Had it been confirmed that BOTH power AND GROUND are at the lamps and they still don't light up?

Bgw70

Great points from Fly, if you are able, how about applying 12v directly to the light connector by running two wires from the car battery or from a battery charger, if you have one.

Nelexus88

A 9 volt battery (smoke alarm type) can also be used for testing LED lamps. They wont be as bright, but it works for testing purposes.

mandyfig

Could be your alternator has failed, sending high current, just a thought.

StillLine

Haven't heard of many 2006+ LED tail light failures, but the license plate lights were shot on my '06 when I bought it at 40k miles. Learning the cost of replacing the OEM lights, I got creative and here is what I did:

2006 LED License Plate Light Repair
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zibby07

So the license plate lights completely went out, however for the tail lights different LED's in the cluster failed, in one tail light the LEDs for the brake lights went out and in both tail lights a few in the main cluster which lights up when you turn on your headlights stopped lighting up.

So voltage application to the assembly itself from my understanding would not be an issue if some of the LED's are working in a cluster. The fact that you have to replace the entire assembly gets very costly. Fortunately it is covered as an electrical component under warranties rather than a light bulb however it can prove troublesome if you are out of warranty.

zibby07

Yeah StillLine, I recall running into your work around to replace the LED's, unfortunately I couldn't figure out where you attached the extra light bulb, it looks great.

lbintab

iTrader: (1)

Yeah so with the 06+ if the light goes out you'll have to replace the entire light. Same thing with the LS460. With the LS460 The red part of the light is an LED and the turns are bulbs.

bb430

iTrader: (1)

I agree, I had that way back when I had my Celica and it was the alternator/voltage regulator that was bad.

zibby07

Nearly two years later, the car is running great and no issues with the alternator. I'm very surprised that many others haven't faced this problem or maybe they simply haven't noticed that every LED on the tail light is not functioning.

If you are still under warranty I would be sure to double check your tail lights before the coverage expire. LED's are bulbs which are typically not covered but the fact the Lexus made it such that you have to replace the entire tail light even if one small bulb goes out it is considered an electrical component and not a bulb as per warranty limitations. I had to argue the point to have it covered under warranty (CARMAX warranty serviced at a Lexus dealer) and the company quickly agreed after the explanation.

Good luck as its an inevitable costly repair.

zibby07

To follow up from my previous post, it should almost be made a major post/sticky on this forum to have everyone double check before any remaining warranty expires since its nearly a thousand dollar repair depending on your local labor rate!