LED Taillight Issue

[Jeepin' Pete]

I installed the LED taillights from BJ’s a while ago in my ‘90 Wagoneer and am having some issues. I went through this a before and BJ’s said it sounded like a failing turn signal switch, but put a new one in (quality switch from them) and no change.

With headlights off, the taillights work fine. With headlights on, the turn signal doesn’t just blink one side, but both - just like the hazards are on in the rear. The front functions perfectly. The side markers in the rear come on solid with the headlights, but never flash.

I’ve cleaned the ground for the harness near the rear bumper, triple checked my wiring with BJ’s instructions, checked and cleaned the sockets and bulbs for the rear side markers, and ensured the license plate bulb isn’t burned out.
Here is the diagram:



My questions:
Has anyone used these taillights? Any problems with them? I’m not convinced they’re the problem, just curious. And yes, I did put in a new electronic flasher from BJ’s as well.

Should the rear side markers blink when turn signaling?


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[StretchinSD]

I installed the LED taillights from BJ’s a while ago in my ‘90 Wagoneer and am having some issues. I went through this a before and BJ’s said it sounded like a failing turn signal switch, but put a new one in (quality switch from them) and no change.

With headlights off, the taillights work fine. With headlights on, the turn signal doesn’t just blink one side, but both - just like the hazards are on in the rear. The front functions perfectly. The side markers in the rear come on solid with the headlights, but never flash.

I’ve cleaned the ground for the harness near the rear bumper, triple checked my wiring with BJ’s instructions, checked and cleaned the sockets and bulbs for the rear side markers, and ensured the license plate bulb isn’t burned out.
Here is the diagram:



My questions:
Has anyone used these taillights? Any problems with them? I’m not convinced they’re the problem, just curious. And yes, I did put in a new electronic flasher from BJ’s as well.

Should the rear side markers blink when turn signaling?


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Do you have LEDs all the way around or just the taillights?

If just the taillights, try changing them back to normal bulbs and see if the problem persists.

I had a similar issue with my 76 Wagoneer and it ended up being the front sidelight bulb causing the problem. You may want to check your rear sidelight bulbs.

Another thing that helped was also using an electronic flasher that has its own ground wire. I know you said your using an electronic flasher but I'm not familiar with BJs flasher.

I changed all my bulbs to LED and it's been trouble free since.

[Hspencer]

Did you check the online diagram on BJ’s site? I know another member had some issues with the LED’s and at the time their online instructions were different from the ones included with the kit.


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[Jeepin' Pete]

I installed the LED taillights from BJ’s a while ago in my ‘90 Wagoneer and am having some issues. I went through this a before and BJ’s said it sounded like a failing turn signal switch, but put a new one in (quality switch from them) and no change.

With headlights off, the taillights work fine. With headlights on, the turn signal doesn’t just blink one side, but both - just like the hazards are on in the rear. The front functions perfectly. The side markers in the rear come on solid with the headlights, but never flash.

I’ve cleaned the ground for the harness near the rear bumper, triple checked my wiring with BJ’s instructions, checked and cleaned the sockets and bulbs for the rear side markers, and ensured the license plate bulb isn’t burned out.
Here is the diagram:



My questions:
Has anyone used these taillights? Any problems with them? I’m not convinced they’re the problem, just curious. And yes, I did put in a new electronic flasher from BJ’s as well.

Should the rear side markers blink when turn signaling?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you have LEDs all the way around or just the taillights?

If just the taillights, try changing them back to normal bulbs and see if the problem persists.

I had a similar issue with my 76 Wagoneer and it ended up being the front sidelight bulb causing the problem. You may want to check your rear sidelight bulbs.

Another thing that helped was also using an electronic flasher that has its own ground wire. I know you said your using an electronic flasher but I'm not familiar with BJs flasher.

I changed all my bulbs to LED and it's been trouble free since.

Just the taillights are LED, everything else is halogen. I checked the side marker bulbs and cleaned their contacts and the sockets, but they’re so cheap I may go ahead and replace them anyway and see what happens.
I would switch the taillights back, but I made this change quite a while ago so I don’t have the sockets anymore - I’m tempted to find some to wire in and just run LED bulbs to just make it work.

I’ll look into those flashers with the separate ground wire, thanks!


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[Jeepin' Pete]

Did you check the online diagram on BJ’s site? I know another member had some issues with the LED’s and at the time their online instructions were different from the ones included with the kit.


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I believe that member you’re thinking of was me - I’ve been messing with this for a while now. After reading the instructions over and over, I think they do agree, and I changed my wiring to not do the RapidFire blinks, and the issue is the same.


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[StretchinSD]

I installed the LED taillights from BJ’s a while ago in my ‘90 Wagoneer and am having some issues. I went through this a before and BJ’s said it sounded like a failing turn signal switch, but put a new one in (quality switch from them) and no change.

With headlights off, the taillights work fine. With headlights on, the turn signal doesn’t just blink one side, but both - just like the hazards are on in the rear. The front functions perfectly. The side markers in the rear come on solid with the headlights, but never flash.

I’ve cleaned the ground for the harness near the rear bumper, triple checked my wiring with BJ’s instructions, checked and cleaned the sockets and bulbs for the rear side markers, and ensured the license plate bulb isn’t burned out.
Here is the diagram:



My questions:
Has anyone used these taillights? Any problems with them? I’m not convinced they’re the problem, just curious. And yes, I did put in a new electronic flasher from BJ’s as well.

Should the rear side markers blink when turn signaling?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you have LEDs all the way around or just the taillights?

If just the taillights, try changing them back to normal bulbs and see if the problem persists.

I had a similar issue with my 76 Wagoneer and it ended up being the front sidelight bulb causing the problem. You may want to check your rear sidelight bulbs.

Another thing that helped was also using an electronic flasher that has its own ground wire. I know you said your using an electronic flasher but I'm not familiar with BJs flasher.

I changed all my bulbs to LED and it's been trouble free since.

Just the taillights are LED, everything else is halogen. I checked the side marker bulbs and cleaned their contacts and the sockets, but they’re so cheap I may go ahead and replace them anyway and see what happens.
I would switch the taillights back, but I made this change quite a while ago so I don’t have the sockets anymore - I’m tempted to find some to wire in and just run LED bulbs to just make it work.

I’ll look into those flashers with the separate ground wire, thanks!


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Are these the taillights you have?

http://www.bjsoffroad.com/LED-Taillight ... p_953.html

That seems like a very odd way to update to LEDs.

I used these LEDs with good results and color matched the bulb to the lens color.

https://www.amazon.com/AMAZENAR-2-Pack- ... 157&sr=8-4


One of my sidelight 194 bulbs was "working" but when I changed it to a LED bulb it fixed my issue.

[Jeepin' Pete]

Do you have LEDs all the way around or just the taillights?

If just the taillights, try changing them back to normal bulbs and see if the problem persists.

I had a similar issue with my 76 Wagoneer and it ended up being the front sidelight bulb causing the problem. You may want to check your rear sidelight bulbs.

Another thing that helped was also using an electronic flasher that has its own ground wire. I know you said your using an electronic flasher but I'm not familiar with BJs flasher.

I changed all my bulbs to LED and it's been trouble free since.

Just the taillights are LED, everything else is halogen. I checked the side marker bulbs and cleaned their contacts and the sockets, but they’re so cheap I may go ahead and replace them anyway and see what happens.
I would switch the taillights back, but I made this change quite a while ago so I don’t have the sockets anymore - I’m tempted to find some to wire in and just run LED bulbs to just make it work.

I’ll look into those flashers with the separate ground wire, thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Are these the taillights you have?

http://www.bjsoffroad.com/LED-Taillight ... p_953.html

That seems like a very odd way to update to LEDs.

I used these LEDs with good results and color matched the bulb to the lens color.

https://www.amazon.com/AMAZENAR-2-Pack- ... 157&sr=8-4


One of my sidelight 194 bulbs was "working" but when I changed it to a LED bulb it fixed my issue.

Thanks for the quick response!
Those are the ones I used. It was one of the first things I bought for the Wagoneer, kind of an impulse “upgrade”. I definitely would go with LED bulbs now, not sure what advantage the circuit board style has, if any.

I’ll try some new side marker bulbs and see what happens.


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[Hspencer]

The rear marker lights don’t flash just illuminate with lights on. Do your brake/running lights work properly with the headlights on?


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[Jeepin' Pete]

The rear marker lights don’t flash just illuminate with lights on. Do your brake/running lights work properly with the headlights on?


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Oh... I did not realize that! Since the front side markers flashed with the turn signals, I figured the rear ones would too. They do illuminate with the headlights on, so I guess the side markers are working normally.
The brake/turn lights alone don’t work correctly with the headlights on. Both sides flash instead of just one side when either turn signal is on.


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[Hspencer]

What about the brake lights with lights on?


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[Jeepin' Pete]

What about the brake lights with lights on?


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The brake lights act normal with headlights on and off. I thought it was some resistance issue with the side markers, but since they’re not supposed to flash, I’m thinking maybe a flasher relay issue?


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[Hspencer]

Something seems crossed up, try pulling the hazard relay or maybe try disconnecting one taillight assembly and see if the other still flashes when signaling left and right


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[dbx11]

I had a bad flasher relay once and the symptoms were weird, also there is an electronic relay for leds did you get that when you installed the conversion?

[Jeepin' Pete]

Well, I tried 2 new electronic flasher relays (1 for the hazard relay and 1 for the turn signal relay) and no change - the opposite turn signal is still flickering during the flashing.
Back to the drawing board!


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[Renodemona]

I looked on the old youtubes and some of the bulbs have a fly-back issue where voltage leaks back through the 1157 bulb's opposite lug and causes some weirdness. If you add a diode to the low side it should prevent the fly-back (which is probably causing the hazard circuit to charge) and the other blinker form going on. Hope that helps!

[Jeepin' Pete]

I looked on the old youtubes and some of the bulbs have a fly-back issue where voltage leaks back through the 1157 bulb's opposite lug and causes some weirdness. If you add a diode to the low side it should prevent the fly-back (which is probably causing the hazard circuit to charge) and the other blinker form going on. Hope that helps!

Would this apply to the circuit board type of LED setup that BJ’s uses?
It definitely sounds like it could be something like that, but where would I put the diode?


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[Renodemona]

I'm not sure if it would or wouldn't, I think it has something to do with how the board is wired, if it includes a diode or not, or uses separate LED banks for each side of the high/low. I ordered the bulbs linked above in the thread and they do the same thing. I ordered a couple different brands to test out. The LED 194 bulbs worked awesome though.

[Jeepin' Pete]

I reached out to Ryan at BJ's, and he got in contact with the manufacturer of the LED taillight kit, who replied that a diode will not work with the circuit board setup.
I cleaned all the connectors in the rear of the harness with sandpaper, a small rotary wire brush, and contact cleaner, ground the paint off of the body ground location near the taillights to ensure a good ground, and swapped out the LED reverse bulbs for standard incandescent. Still the same flickering as before.
My reverse gear went out recently as well (<100 miles after a rebuild) and only one back up light comes on when in reverse. If there is a problem with the neutral safety switch (I doubt there is but...) would that mess with the turn signals?
Any other ideas to try?

[Renodemona]

I guess this is a common issue with the electrical systems of older vehicles. The flasher uses a grounding for the blinker and this lets voltage leak from one side of the LED board to the other making all the circuits energize. You can put in an aftermarket resistor from what the youtubes says, but what's the point? Then you have all the current draw of an incandescent bulb anyway.

[pyro]

I swapped in some red sylvania LEDs for my STT bulbs and had a similar issue. They seemed to be just sensitive enough to pick up on the voltage changes from the wiring. I went ahead and added a load resistor to each side and no more issues. I couldn't get the fast flashing signals to stop even with a pair of resistors at the front as well, so I ended up changing the fronts back to incandescent bulbs.