I bought and installed some new LED Altezza ail lights...real easy, one plug wired. So then, I noticed all kinds of issues with the lights... turns out, the wiring with them had some issues right out of the box. They were not wired the same at all. Some of the wires were really messed up. So I then removed them and rewired the faulty tail light to match the other one. These lights use small blocks that convert the 12v to an appropriate power level for the led's that comprise the brake light/tail light portion of the light set. After I fixed them to match each other with their respective wiring, everything worked fine except for the brake lights. They worked as parking lights, but would never get brighter as I hit the brake like they should have....I ran with them that way for a little while, relying on the third brake light above the rear hatch to save me there. A few weeks later, the entire right tail light went out and the only light on it that worked was the reverse light....Parking lights all gone! So I took the assembly out to see if there was a loose connection with it. Seeing nothing odd, I plugged it back together. What do you know?...The light worked again like before. So I thought I would try and troubleshoot the problem with the brake signal not lighting up the tail lights like the original lights did. So I replaced the tail light with the OEM one to see that the brake lights still worked on it...Well, surprise again, now the brake lights did not even work on the OEM lights either. They are supposed to get brighter as you hit the brakes, but they don't. So now, I traced the wire that was supposed to be the brake signal wire and found it never got any voltage when I hit the brakes or not. So I then tried to find the brake signal wire that was for the trailer wiring output at the bumper. As a test, once I did, I ran a splice of that wire to the harness where the tail lights were connected to so that I could see if the brake would light them. It did, but then when I would put on a turn signal, both of the tail lights would flash at the same time instead of individually as they should have...I then tried to put that test brake lead to the other 12v wires in the harness from the tail lamp and found nothing to make any positive difference. But, here's the next clue - Now, with everything back to exactly the way it was before I even tested anything, when you hit the brakes, the dashlights dim...and, when you turn on the left turn signal, it flashes fine, but the dashlights alternately get dim and bright. When you turn on the right turn signal, it flashes fast as if there is a light bulb out somewhere...but as if you hit the brake while it is flashing fast, it goes to a normal flash instead. It resumes back to fast flashing if you let off of the brake though. Lastly, when you are ready to exit the vehichle and the keys are out of it, if you hit the brake, the car's interior lights dim again while it is down and the warning chime sounds as if you are exiting the car with the light swtch turned on. As soon as you let off the brake, that all stops though.........I know this is a lot to calculate, but can anyone out there help me figure this one out? I am so confused on what to do with this and can not afford to get the dealer to fix it right now.
Aug 27, 2010 at 7:16 PM
