I installed the new LED taillights tonight and now I have an ABS light that stays on. The install is a simple plug 'n play so any thoughts? Are the LEDs confusing the system to trip the ABS light?

 

does the abs light come on if you have a burned out brake light?

i know the 95 accord i just sold had a warning light if a brake light was burned out. just wondering if that maybe the case.

try putting your old bulbs back in, and then taking one out and see if the abs light comes on.

 

As sophisticated as your OBDII computer system is it is really easy to pull the ABS codes, you don't even need an OBDII scanner, just a paper clip. Find the "Diagnosis" port on the driver side of your engine compartment, open it up, remove the small metal short clip (bottom left of diagnosos port), take a paper clip and connect one end into the E1 port and the other end into the TC port. turn on the key and count how mant times the ABS light flashes at you. My guess is that the ABS fuse is blown.

 

I did some testing as suggested. It's not the fuse. That was an easy one since it's a under the hood and you can visually see if it was blown. I installed my old (OEM) bulbs and restarted. The ABS light was out. I then pulled the drivers side bulb and the ABS light didn't come on. I put it back in and then removed the passenger side bulb and then the ABS light came on. I put the bulb back in and restarted. The ABS light was off again. Once I plugged the new LED taillights back in....the ABS light came back on. I'm thinking the system thinks there is a bulb out. Any thoughts on a fix since I'm sure since I'm one of the 1st with a pre '01 that this is going to come up for discussion??

Thanks,
Paul

 

I'm sure you did this Paul, but just to be certain.

For the 2000 and below years, you need to install the harness that came with the lights. It's not as plug n play as it is with the 2001 and 2002 lights. In order to do this, you need to unscrew and lift up the interior panels behind the left and right rear quarter panels - the ones that are located directly behind the lights. Unbolt the stock harness, unsrew the ground, reinstall LED harness, and reinstall the LED ground. A person on this forum who upgraded to the 01-02 lights had trouble initially because he skipped the ground. If you don't install the LED ground, they will not work properly.

For those of you that have the 2001-2002 lights, this is a simple plug n play. The harness is the same if I'm not mistaken.

You should pm the individual that posted pics of his lights installed in the original thread. He might have his abs light on as well.

 

That was going to be my next step. I knew it wasn't that easy. I was going by what is posted on Jasons site. It states all you have to do is cut and split the new reverse bulb into your old harness. So what would be the difference with the harnesses? Isn't wire...wire? They both have the same amount and color of wires on them.

Paul

 

Before you start lifting up panels, I would send motapsycho a pm and see what he did with his install. If his abs isn't coming on, that tells us something.

I am concerned about this as I have a 2000 as well. I swapped my tails for the 2002 and did the harness swap with no problems with the abs.

 

It looks like motapsycho has an '01 or '02 by the pics he posted with his lights installed so he might not be able to help with this. I'm on-shift at the fire station today so tomorrow when I get home, I think I'll do the harness swap and go from there.

 

I sent an email over to Chris @ autolumination.com since they deal in LEDs about the ABS light issue and also if I add LEDs as turn signals. I'm interested to see if others have this same issues once they install theirs in the next couple of weeks. Here is his response:

Hello Paul-

To clear the ABS light, use one 6 ohm on each led brake light.


With many flashers, leds will cause the turns signals to flash rapidly, or not
flash at all.

If using leds for turn signal applications, you may need to add load
equalizers.

For led turn signals, you can change the flasher out using one of our new
patented combination led/oem bulb flasher.

Use two 6 ohm equalizers for two front, or two rear led turn signal bulbs.

If you have led turn signal bulbs in the front and rear (4 led turn signal bubs
total), use two 3 ohm.

Place one load equalizer on each side.

More details on load equalizers can be found at:

http://autolumination.com/installation.html

 

Hi PFDaxe,
When I installed my led lights.. I didnt' get any abs lights on.. I remember when I didn't gound the led wire.. and when I did the signal, the brake would dim while the signal was lit.. after I ground it.. it was fine. I didn't get any ABS lights on. Not sure if it'll help.. but what I did first was install the right passenger side first.. and then test it out.. after it works, I then install the driver side.. it seems the driver side has some other ground wire as well in the same placement as the tail light ground wire.

If you have any questions let me know

 

I'm using my stock OEM harness so everything should be grounded. I'm ordering the load equalizer tonight and see what that does.

 

Woo Hoo... I installed 6ohm load equalizers on both tails and the ABS light went out

 

That's good to hear!!

 

You don't need the 6 ohm resistor. I installed the harness that came with my set and have no problems with the ABS light.

Link to comparison pics and writeup:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/n...-tails-129462/

 

I guess I need to get some 6 ohm load equilizers. I have a 2000 and hooked everything up just like the stock harness, grounded and everything. ABS light on! The load equalizers a pain to install? LED tails are awesome though!

 

They are easy. They come with wire taps so they only take a couple mins to install. For some reason, some models need them and others don't.

 

Did you place the resistor on the inside part of the wiring harness or the outside. I'm concerned about it heating up and melting plastic... what wires did you tap? thanks

Josh

 

They will come with an instruction sheet with a diagram for which wire. Not sure what you mean by inside or outside of harness, but I used a screw and attached to just to the side of where the rubber grommet go into the truck. I made sure all of the wires were not in contact with the load equalizer.

 

Mine didn't come with any wiring instructions. I just ordered the load balancers, didn't talk to anyone there

To clarify I was talking about inside the vehicle before the grommet that seals the wiring going to the outside.

 

More info for anyone having to do this in the future:

According to the 2000 FSM the power wire for the brake lights are the Green/White wire. The ground is the White/Black wire. So resistor connection between Green/White and White/Black FTW!

will try this tonight and report back. I need ABS function back!

EDIT: It worked!