Door lighting issue...
 

Hi All,

Hoping that someone can "shed some light" on an issue I am having with my door lights, I have followed a guide on the site to replace the inner door light globes with a bright led globe, this was easy enough however I have had to take them out due to the light now staying on permanently. :mad0259:

I close the doors lock the car but the light stays on.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance...

Normally this is a result of a short and the biu or bui? has been fried. If this is the case then it needs to be replaced.
I recommend putting the stock bulbs in and try to make a claim under warranty that something is wrong with the door lights. Play dumb and don't mention the led swap.

make sure you correctly connected the wires to the door open detectors. it grounds it should that when the door is closed it turns off

did you disconnect the battery when doing this?
the BCU (body control unit) if shorted here by something like a screw driver will malfunction.

can you post the link to the guide you used? may be helpful in figuring out what could have gone wrong.

You fried the BIU... Like others have said put your stock bulbs back in. Go to the dealership and play dumb lol otherwise you'll probably be stuck paying for the replacement which I think some have said cost around $400ish.

Below is a link to a thread a while back. I had a post on there (post 13) with two other threads with the same issue.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66721

Hopefully you can get it taken care of!

Erg that's not good !

Thanks all, I used this http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1738567
but should have read it all , I will try see if I can get it done by Toyota.

Thanks again for the help !

Good luck man. Like I said, don't mention the led caused the issu because they will likely use that as an excuse not to cover it. Heard it's pretty expensive to replace.

definitely see if the dealership will take care of it. if not then there is a solution. it isn't pretty, but it should be a lot cheaper than getting a whole new ecu/biu from them. let us know what happens.

Think I'm gonna have to make a better write up to do this so people stop frying this thing. But quick run down:
- Disconnect battery OR have the door switch depressed so power is cut to the light
- Use a plastic pry tool and not anything metal (so as not to short or to damage the door panel)
- Disconnect the light assembly at the connector
- Change bulbs
- Reverse order


Also, it's still really fucking stupid these lights aren't fused. It's in a door that can get wet quite easily...

I think the guide should also mention to make sure the pins on the led base are straight and before connecting the power to check the pins haven't crossed over. I think that's also where the short occurs.

Yeah, doesn't help that they don't actually use a socket but a huge bracket on either side that's one piece with the pins. Anything metal will short it, and some of the good LEDs have aluminum heatsinks on them which could touch.


This is why I went for the full replacement assemblies...

Completely agree! Poor design and no fuse just leads to these problems. I only deal with the full LED lamp units because the bulbs are just too risky on this area of the car.

Who makes/sells full replacement assemblies?

I have the same issue, my passenger door lamp is always on after doing an LED swap...and I remember accidentally shorting the two pins when removing the old bulb with a flat-head screw driver so I know when and why it occurred.

My car is a 2013 and I'm at 50k miles so I am out of warranty as far as I know. At a cost of ~$400 for a new unit, I am going to remove the bulb on both sides and live without both door lights.

Actually, when I have some time I may re-wire them. The switch in the door jam can be used as a switch to turn the light on and off, eliminating the BIU. I'm pretty sure when the door opens, that door switch creates a ground. I wonder if there are any side affects associated with this issue, or if it is limited to only the light being on all the time.

Honestly, there's probably some safety specification for stuff like this that says it's required to be fused. Years down the road this could be a recall...



http://www.fteightysix.com/appearanc.../#.VIAb_It0yUk



I've heard that it's possible to repair the module, but I don't know the details. It would require soldering, but I bet it's quite easy once the issue is found.

wow, it sucks that a simple LED can short out such an expensive unit lol. luckily I didn't run into this problem when I swapped in my LED's. dodged a bullet there

I think it's a result of shorting from touching the +/- contacts when removing the old bulb. I don't see how a bulb change to led would do this.

If anyone has any info on how to repair the module please share. I'll make a DIY out of it.

Does anyone know exactly which module it is under the dash? Maybe it's just a blown diode or something simple.