Parking and brake lights

[Deano]

I bought Sylvania Zevo LEDs for the LeBaron, remembering that the incandescent brake lights are kinda tough to see at certain times of the day. I got home and pulled the old lights out and put the new ones in. Expecting to see a drastic change, I turned the headlights on and went back to see what the parking lights looked like. Nothing. So, I hit the turn signals. Both sides worked fine. No fast blink or anything. I have no brake or parking lights and before, I did. I put the incandescents back in and they still didn't work. Is there an addition I need to make before everything works the way they should?

 

[Aspen500]

In some cases you need an electronic flasher to make the signals work. In other cases, the LED bulbs have the load simulators built in. They simulate the resistance of an incandescent bulb so the flasher functions correctly.

Since nothing works even with the old bulbs but did before trying the LED's, my first thought is check the fuses. I had problems when I converted my dash lights to LED. The bulbs I used at first would blow the fuse instantly, for whatever reason. It was the one I put in the headlight switch panel that did it. Tried a different style and all was well.

Keep in mind also, LED bulbs are polarity sensitive. They will only work if installed one way. With certain styles, backwards is impossible but other style bases (dome light for example) can go in either way but only work one way.

 

[Deano]

Fuse #2 is the culprit. Just like you said Aspen, it blew the fuse within 2-3 seconds. I was using a 20 amp fuse, but no matter what amp I used, it blew instantly. I know that the parking lights in the rear are also the brake lights. 1157 bulbs will only install one way. The outside two are park/brake lights and the one on the inside is parking only.

 

[Deano]

I just went out and put the old bulbs back in, replaced the fuse, and now everything is fine. I'd still like to keep the LEDs if I can figure out what to do to keep it from happening again.

 

[Aspen500]

Never put a larger fuse in than what's called for. It is possible one of the LED bulbs is shorted to ground internally, especially if they say "Made in China" on the box.

 

[Deano]

I bought the wrong ones for the parking lights so I left them out. That's what was blowing the fuses all along. I was thinking that I needed 1156s for the parking lights. I needed 1157s for both the park and brake lights. Figured the brake lights out, too. When I was trying to hide the wiring, I accidentally unplugged one of the wires from the switch. It was after I had taken the bracket and the switch out from underneath the dash. It only took about two hours and a few new cuss words to get it all together. All I needed to do was look at the switch and see that a wire had been disconnected and look in my electrical book and see what color wire it was. It would've taken 20-30 minutes, tops. But instead, I had to learn a lesson in taking my time and thinking about it for a while and then tackling it. Now I know.