so, I posted here before about having problems with the trunk light staying on no blowing a fuse....Now Lexus tells me it's a "blown diode" in the wiring harness caused by me putting the LED's in! WTF?

Any one one have any ideas?

 

No idea, sorry. I replaced my trunk bulb with an LED unit years back and I haven't had any problems with it. I'd check the fuse and bulb holder again to see if anything could have shorted out.

What do they mean by a diode in the wiring harness? I'd assume it's a straight run from the fuse box to the bulb holder in the trunk.

 

I've been using LEDs in many vehicles over the years and haven't had one bad incident.
I don't buy cheap LEDs off Ebay or Amazon.
I usually from VLEDs.Though, I just tried a few from Diode Dynamics.

 

Once they know or suspect that the problem happened when you tried to replace the LED bulb, the warranty might not cover it. Did they give you estimate how much it cost to fix it?
You are going to have to fix it, you need light in the trunk. If it is expensive at the dealer, try an independent shop see if they can do it for less.

 

They Qouoted me $3,000! I can put a LED in the trunk and it being on 24/7 might not pull much power. I have a call into my old mechanic ( Acura) and he will get back to me


i used precision LED which folks recommended on this site


im sure they are just trying to place the blame on me. I think they did it when they fixed the broken wire. The LED's shouldn't cause any issue

 

most newer cars use a harness with all the wires that go into the car bundled together​​​.

The diodes let power run just in one direction, being blown, the current can run either direction

 

That sucks.
Tight and see where that takes you.
If they won't pay,for $3K,I'd go without a trunk light.I'd buy one of those LED lanterns or something else.

 

$3K, this is crazy, I don't understand why so much. It is a freaking trunk light. what are they exactly replacing. I wouldn't pay 3k for that.

 

I don't know about diodes in the harness but I replaced all the bulbs in my 2013 with LED's from Ebay - 10 for $10.00 - and they've been in now for almost 5 years. I think that dealers will throw BS at you and hope it sticks. Unless you made a mistake inserting the LED's and caused a short circuit somehow I wouldn't blame the LED's. And I certainly wouldn't pay 3 grand for a trunk light. They probably want to replace the harness. You can get a battery operated light for the trunk for probably less than $25.00...

 

That is interesting - you may or may not have blown the diode and rather than fix the problem the dealer wants $3K to replace the entire wire harness, which he will tell you they are required to do, and this too may be correct. For safety related items they have to replace the entire harness but a good mechanic or electrical shop if they still exist could either find and replace the blown diode or simply run a new wire to solve your problem. On the other hand cars didn't have trunk lights for many years - I don't know when they started to have them - so you can probably get by just fine without one. Or as others have said just buy a batter operated light for the trunk. $3,000 never. I used to install a lot of lights in cars and a diode was required - I always used a 1972 Ford Pinto AC part, I don't know why, there surely would have been a cheaper way to get a diode.

Dave Mac

 

The dealer says Lexus IS going in the old. " you altered the vehicle, so we won't pay". The battery light sounds good, but I am also thinking I could put a LED in there and even though it's always on it won't run down the battery

 

Here's an idea: Put in the led WITH AN ON/OFF SWITCH! Or, you can get a switch that activates on/off when the position of the light fixture is raised or lowered. I think its a mercury switch.

GOOD LUCK!

 

thats a great idea!

 

Why would there be a diode in the trunk light circuit? A diode allows current to pass in only 1 direction and doesn't make sense in this application
I just did an LED in the trunk on ours today. May put an LED strip around the trunk trim next.

 

I believe a blown diode would give an open circuit and not pass any current.
If it shorted it would allow a reverse current flow