LED tail/stop bulbs illuminating side markers (2 Viewers)

[baldilocks]

I recently noticed that my rear side marker lights illuminate about half brightness when I depress the brake pedal. When I installed just one regular 1157 bulb, or both sides, the side markers don’t come on with the brake lights. I don’t know the brand of the LED bulbs because they came with a set of tail lights I bought from a Mud member a couple years ago.

Does anyone have experience in dealing with this issue?

 

[ToyotaMatt]

U have a " Digital Feedback" issue / issues

and should buy updated LED bulbs from SUPERBRIGHTLED.com

they should stop it , if not ask for the TECH dept , they will have your resisters solution all mapped out

 

[Haspin FJ]

Try the ground wire where it taps into the socket for the two way brake / tail lamp. It's almost like a press fit in around the socket and mine was doing similar crazy stuff when in had an issue. Just tapped a small flathead screwdriver to drive it in and it make good contact again. I'm sure it could is some soldering and expect it to act up again at some point.

 

[mingles]

Two suggestions...

1) It does sound possibly like a poor ground issue. Check the ground listed above as well as clean the 10mm ground bolt in the center of the rear floor cross-brace (under the truck, above the rearmost side of the stock spare tire position.

2) Do you happen to have an old trailer tail light converter installed? In my case, that was the root of all my LED lighting gremlins. Incandescent bulbs in - all lights worked normally, LED bulbs in - I got cross feedback between brake, tail, and turn signal lights. Pulled out the trailer converter and returned wiring to stock and all was fixed. I have since installed a new trailer converter and all LEDs work as expected 3 years running.

It may not be your issue, but the marker light signal also passes through the trailer converter so its worth exploring.

 

[baldilocks]

Good tips, thanks. My grounds have all been checked out before. The truck spent its life in the high desert of Oregon up until 2016 so the wire connections are all in great shape.

I had considered the trailer wiring but dismaissed it when I found that regular bulbs worked correctly. Will investigate the trailer wiring tomorrow.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

I had a similar issue in my 100. I stepped on the brakes and my front side marker lights illuminated. I ended up putting regular bulbs back in when new LEDs did not solve the problem. Now I note that the turn signal indicators on the dash illuminate dimly when I step on the brakes. I will check my trailer harness.

 

[PDoyle]

I recently noticed that my rear side marker lights illuminate about half brightness when I depress the brake pedal. When I installed just one regular 1157 bulb, or both sides, the side markers don’t come on with the brake lights. I don’t know the brand of the LED bulbs because they came with a set of tail lights I bought from a Mud member a couple years ago.

Does anyone have experience in dealing with this issue?

Did you have to buy a new set of LED's for your brake lights to fix this?

 

[baldilocks]

Did you have to buy a new set of LED's for your brake lights to fix this?

I just happened to have an unopened package of 1157’s in my cabinet so I tossed them in and problem solved. Once I took a minute to actually compare tail/brake performance between the two types of bulbs, it was obvious that our housings were designed to reflect the light of the incandescent bulbs. The LED was bright but only at the center and didn’t fill the entire red rectangular area with light like incandescents do. I smiled and called it win - win.

 

[PDoyle]

Ok thanks, so nothing has really changed in the LED bulb market to accommodate that lens type.. Wondering if there is a better/brighter incandescent 1157. I see Hella has bulbs, but they look like a Wagner.

 

[rghouse]

do license plate and reverse require resistors? Or just turn/brake/markers?

 

[lumbee1]

I posted this in another thread but I installed red JDM Astar in my brake light housings. I wanted something similar to the light output of incandescent but without the energy and heat. The JDM Astar were overly bright. It looks as though I was driving around with my brakes on all the time.

I went to Walmart and picked up some 1157's in incandescent and LED. The incandescent was installed on the passenger side and the LED on the driver's side. I was surprised to see the LED's were more uniform and ever so slightly brighter. The same was true when the brakes were pressed. The LED lights were $15 and they run cool to the touch. I haven't seen issues with any other lights but I'm definitely interested in replacing the corner lights as well with LED.


Running lights: JDM Astar on the left, incandescent on the right.

Braking lights.

 

[PDoyle]

Those LEDs look great.
I bought a package of these LEDs for the corners from Amazon. I need to be replace every 3 -4 years
The item is currently unavailable....
JDM ASTAR 10pcs Super Bright 194 168 175 2825 W5W 158 161 T10 5630 SMD LED Bulbs, Xenon White (Only used for interior light )

 

[baldilocks]

Ok thanks, so nothing has really changed in the LED bulb market to accommodate that lens type.. Wondering if there is a better/brighter incandescent 1157. I see Hella has bulbs, but they look like a Wagner.

Incandescent bulbs were good enough for decades and they are still good enough. As for me, LED are gee wiz and if they work so be it.

LED/whatever they come up with next won’t fix the growing distracted driver problem we have these days. Recently, I have noticed cars with third rear brake lights that flash/flicker a few times before going solid red. This won’t help when the driver behind me is looking at their phone while driving.

As for the heat and power draw debate, once again, it’s moot unless you have a mega stereo, way more extra lights than anyone needs and every other power sapping gadget that can be added to a car. What’s next, tail and stop lights enveloping the entire rear end of cars? Yep, that will fix the problem of assholes driving distracted.