Tail light swap gone wrong!

[Aaron Myers]

Hi everyone, I'm in a jam, I swapped out the stock tail lights on my 95 yj for round LED's. I am convinced I didn't wire it right though because I have no brake lights (only running lights), when left signal is on there is no change and when right signal is on the left light goes out. When I turn on the hazards the left light blinks.
I had three wires from the new lights, on the drivers side it is grounded to the body, and then to the green and white wires of the stock wiring harness. On the passenger side the body ground and a light wire go to the green wire and the white wire is connected. The ground wire is out of play from the light itself. This is the only combination that an all day wire project found any success from, but like I said I only have running lights! I replaced the flasher with an EL12 (which I was told I would need to do) but that did nothing for me.
This is my daily driver and I need to get this figured out quick before I get a ticket or a rice burner to the rear end! Thanks!!

 

[SteelHeadz]

Hook up one side at a time and test it.. Both sides should be wired the same. Also, your likely going to need a load resistor on the turn circuits if the lamp assembly doesn't have one in it.. The load resistor will enable the flashers to work properly to keep it from not working or blinking too fast.

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[Tison78_CJ5]

SteelHead is right on the money.
The blinker won't work without a load on it.
If you have an electronic store in your area, try about a 100 ohm, 5 watt resistor, from the led light power wire to ground.
This will put a .25 amp load to the blinker module.
I suspect the old lamps take 1/4 amp to run.
If that doesn't make it flash right, I can power a bulb on my bench, and measure the current, so we can get the exact resistor value.
Good luck, I have been very tempted to put led's on mine.

 

[Aaron Myers]

Ok, I went to a couple of stores and "peeked" at instructions for LED lights (mine didn't have any, thanks ebay seller) and found out I was way off with the wiring. It is now correct, my running lights work, and my hazards work. Still no brakes or signals. Of course I did all of this before reading your replies. Which were very helpfull! I'll let ya know how the story ends!

 

[Aaron Myers]

Well, I finally gave up. I got a resistor from O'Reilly's (an actual LED resistor kit - pictured) and my blinker worked. No brake lights though. Then when I was snapping the quick splice together I broke the flimsy wire from the resistor. Which was my breaking point. I then went to Walmart with my tail between my legs, and bought 2 round, flush mount lights (identical but not LED) and installed them.
But lo and behold, I still have no blinkers or brake lights! I am beyond frustrated right now, please, someone, how do I fix my lights?!

 

[eric m]

Just throwing this out there but have you checked the fuse/relay for the brake lights? After all the issues it may have popped.

 

[SteelHeadz]

I agree. Check the fuse. The stop and turn wire should be the same from the body harness. Use a test lamp and check the wiring on the harness going to the front while the hazard lamps are on so you can find out if there is a break in the lines. Check your ground as well.

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[Aaron Myers]

I checked the fuse for the turn signal and it was burned. I replaced it and my signals work. BUT, still no brake lights. I am wondering if my switch is bad or dirty. I remember the guy I bought it from said he would just hose it out when he got done playing, which is probably what started my problems.

 

[Aaron Myers]

Moral of the story is; check ALL the fuses, especially the one marked brake lights.

thanks for all the info and help!!

 

[JeepMonkey]

check out Stu's Off-Road page. He's got all kinds of write ups on everything electrical and whatever else you can think of. I followed his write up word for word when I did my swap and it worked perfectly the first time.