LED taillight upgrades?

Waterfowler41 · June 5, 2017

Thanks for the write up. I will be doing this hopefully soon. Waiting on the side of the road for a tow.....hopefully its something minor and I can get my truck back soon so I can do this install. Will order parts later. How do the LED bulbs look with lights on and flashers or turn signal on?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

slightly brighter, I used the Philip's leds which are indirect fixtures meaning they shine backwards into the housing not directly out the lens. Some of the other Ieds out there are direct in that they point straight out, IMO this causes hot spots of light and looks "aftermaket." They look brighter but they don't light the housing equal which looks meh....

The philips leds provide a tasteful and safe amount of light. Slightly more output than stock.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

sk · June 5, 2017

Anzo makes a couple nice plug-and-play taillight housings:

http://www.anzousa.com/azcatalogsearch/result/index/?cat=4&make=4&model=6&year=2014

(they also have headlights too)

Waterfowler41 · June 6, 2017

Finished up the drivers side. Took 15 minutes, left a lot of slack in the wires so the tails could be moved without unplugging lamps.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SuperSierra · June 10, 2017

Finished up the drivers side. Took 15 minutes, left a lot of slack in the wires so the tails could be moved without unplugging lamps.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What 2 of the 4 wires are the positive and negative

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Waterfowler41 · June 11, 2017

What 2 of the 4 wires are the positive and negative

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Connect the green and black wires with the resistors for each socket.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SuperSierra · June 11, 2017

Connect the green and black wires with the resistors for each socket.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I got one led working, but need to do the top light.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

njs2247 · July 16, 2017

Need some help guys. So I replaced all 4 rear bulbs and both rear side marker bulbs with LEDs on my truck the other day. Everything works fine except for when my parking lights are on at night or if it's raining and parking lights come on. When I use my right turn signal, I get 3 regular blinks and then I get error message "right side turn failure." Sometimes the left will do the same, but only after the right side does it first. For example, if my parking lights are on and I want to turn left, I don't get error message. However, if parking lights are on and I turn right I get the error message and if I immediately use left signal I will sometimes get the error message.

I am wondering if changing the rear marker lights to LED has something to do with it since they come on when parking lights are on. But I can't figure out why that would cause only the right side to give me an error message all the time and only the left sometimes.

Again, this only happens when parking lights are on and doesn't happen during the daytime at all.

SuperSierra · July 16, 2017

Need some help guys. So I replaced all 4 rear bulbs and both rear side marker bulbs with LEDs on my truck the other day. Everything works fine except for when my parking lights are on at night or if it's raining and parking lights come on. When I use my right turn signal, I get 3 regular blinks and then I get error message "right side turn failure." Sometimes the left will do the same, but only after the right side does it first. For example, if my parking lights are on and I want to turn left, I don't get error message. However, if parking lights are on and I turn right I get the error message and if I immediately use left signal I will sometimes get the error message.

I am wondering if changing the rear marker lights to LED has something to do with it since they come on when parking lights are on. But I can't figure out why that would cause only the right side to give me an error message all the time and only the left sometimes.

Again, this only happens when parking lights are on and doesn't happen during the daytime at all.

Did you use resistors?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

njs2247 · July 16, 2017

Yep. I'm using 1 resistor for each turn signal bulb. So 4 total.

TheBlackPearl · July 16, 2017

Why does everyone use resistors instead of using a new "led compatible" flasher unit?

Do the "led compatible" flasher units not work well in these trucks or something?

I was planning on swapping out all of my incandescent running/brake/turn light bulbs for leds bulbs and adding a led flasher unit, but if I HAVE TO use resistors, no way.

SuperSierra · July 16, 2017

Yep. I'm using 1 resistor for each turn signal bulb. So 4 total.

Can you take a video of what happens? This seems super strange.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Slugworth · July 16, 2017

I put LED reverse lights in my truck. I didn't use any resistors, should I have???

They work fine.

SuperSierra · July 16, 2017

I put LED reverse lights in my truck. I didn't use any resistors, should I have???

They work fine.

No need for reverse lights just lights that blink.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Waterfowler41 · July 16, 2017

Why does everyone use resistors instead of using a new "led compatible" flasher unit?

Do the "led compatible" flasher units not work well in these trucks or something?

I was planning on swapping out all of my incandescent running/brake/turn light bulbs for leds bulbs and adding a led flasher unit, but if I HAVE TO use resistors, no way.

I'm pretty sure that only works on older non CANBUS cars. These trucks require resistors on each flashing lamp to "fool" the BCM so no errors are sensed by the computer.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk