Weird lighting problem after switching to LEDs

I've recently switched all of my lighting over to LED(with the exception of headlights). I have the LED flasher relay so hyper flashing isn't the problem. My problem is when I hit my brakes(no lights on) the dash and front parking lights light up a little. With my parking/headlights on, the turn signal indicators on my dash light up, maybe 50% power, they flash dark and full power when I hit my turn signals/hazards. I also have "switch back" LEDs in the front, the way they are supposed to work is: they are white as a parking/marker light, hit the turn signal and they flash amber, then switch back to white when the turn signal turn off. They don't do that. Most of the time they stay amber, unless I just have my parking lights on, then they are white. But most of the time, once I switch my headlights or fog lights on, they switch to amber. Driving around at night, sometimes they do switch back to white, so I have one white, one amber, driving down the road, and eventually they seem to switch to amber. So, basically the switch back bulbs work the way they are supposed to about 50% of the time.

I've tried regular LED bulbs in the front, but the low/high function was very minimal, and almost not visible, at least with the switch back bulbs it flashes on/off.

Any suggestions as to fixes? I tried the load equalizers before, it just made the stock flasher buzz if I had the parking lights on.

I don't have any answers, but I have one of your problems. Running my rear LEDs through a TowReady converter box everything was working fine. Then I replaced my front turn signals with LEDs (under the headlight only, not the side markers--still incan in those) and now I have the green turn signal indicators on full time with the headlights/parking lights. They will flash brighter when the turn signals are on, but besides that they are on if the headlight switch is on.

I was thinking about trying to add resistors (are those what you are calling "load equalizers"?) to see if the issue was the system thinking I had bulbs out due to insufficient load on the switch. If you have already gone that route that may indicate I would be wasting my time.

I need to take a look at the wiring schematic and see if I can figure out the logic that turns those indicators on full time.

For what it is worth, mine is a '96, and what I added for LEDs are not just drop in bulbs but rather oval LED marker lights such as you would find on a trailer.

I would like to find a solution.

Picture or link to the bulbs you're using in the front?

Anak said:

I don't have any answers, but I have one of your problems. Running my rear LEDs through a TowReady converter box everything was working fine. Then I replaced my front turn signals with LEDs (under the headlight only, not the side markers--still incan in those) and now I have the green turn signal indicators on full time with the headlights/parking lights. They will flash brighter when the turn signals are on, but besides that they are on if the headlight switch is on.

I was thinking about trying to add resistors (are those what you are calling "load equalizers"?) to see if the issue was the system thinking I had bulbs out due to insufficient load on the switch. If you have already gone that route that may indicate I would be wasting my time.

I need to take a look at the wiring schematic and see if I can figure out the logic that turns those indicators on full time.

For what it is worth, mine is a '96, and what I added for LEDs are not just drop in bulbs but rather oval LED marker lights such as you would find on a trailer.

I would like to find a solution.

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When I switched my gauges to LED, the residual current caused the turn signals to come on like you're talking about. I had to go back to regular bulbs in the indicators, but I left everything else LED.

I have LED bulbs in the front markers, side markers and all the rear lights. They all work like they're supposed to with an electronic flasher.

hot_rod_hooligans said:

I've recently switched all of my lighting over to LED(with the exception of headlights). I have the LED flasher relay so hyper flashing isn't the problem. My problem is when I hit my brakes(no lights on) the dash and front parking lights light up a little. With my parking/headlights on, the turn signal indicators on my dash light up, maybe 50% power, they flash dark and full power when I hit my turn signals/hazards. I also have "switch back" LEDs in the front, the way they are supposed to work is: they are white as a parking/marker light, hit the turn signal and they flash amber, then switch back to white when the turn signal turn off. They don't do that. Most of the time they stay amber, unless I just have my parking lights on, then they are white. But most of the time, once I switch my headlights or fog lights on, they switch to amber. Driving around at night, sometimes they do switch back to white, so I have one white, one amber, driving down the road, and eventually they seem to switch to amber. So, basically the switch back bulbs work the way they are supposed to about 50% of the time.

I've tried regular LED bulbs in the front, but the low/high function was very minimal, and almost not visible, at least with the switch back bulbs it flashes on/off.

Any suggestions as to fixes? I tried the load equalizers before, it just made the stock flasher buzz if I had the parking lights on.

Click to expand...

Do you have a early body style or a late one?

If you have 96 and down, you should be running amber bulbs in your front markers in both parking and turn mode. Those lenses are white and white parking lights are illegal (and annoying).

If you have a 97+, you've probably got some weird late model stuff going on. The bulbs I bought on amazon work well as turn signals and dim as front markers. Maybe you need to take a look at a different brand/type of bulb.

RedHeep said:

When I switched my gauges to LED, the residual current caused the turn signals to come on like you're talking about. I had to go back to regular bulbs in the indicators, but I left everything else LED.

I have LED bulbs in the front markers, side markers and all the rear lights. They all work like they're supposed to with an electronic flasher.

Click to expand...

Interesting.

I don't know what I have in the instrument cluster. I have assumed incandescent, and in fact, now that I think about it I expect that it is indeed incandescent because the indicator lights ramp up and down like an incan rather than the immediate on and off of an LED.

I have not done LED side markers either. I think my problem revolves around the LED driving lights/turn signals. Everything was fine until I changed those.

When we did the led in sisters rig we had to put inline resisters in. Her turn indicators were constantly lit and would blink super rapid. Inline resistors sorted it out.

RedHeep said:

Do you have a early body style or a late one?

If you have 96 and down, you should be running amber bulbs in your front markers in both parking and turn mode. Those lenses are white and white parking lights are illegal (and annoying).

If you have a 97+, you've probably got some weird late model stuff going on. The bulbs I bought on amazon work well as turn signals and dim as front markers. Maybe you need to take a look at a different brand/type of bulb.

Click to expand...

White parking lights are illegal? So how is Jeep, Audi, and countless other new cars able to get away with it? Your turn signal is supposed to be amber.......
Besides, it was the only way I've been able to get a definitive on-off turn signal with me headlights on, up until recently at least.

It is a 96, and I had assumed that there was a possibility that cheap eBay brake lights may be bleeding through to the rest of the system, so I went with a higher quality LED, I've since decided the rear is not the problem. The day after changing them over, when I switch the headlights on, the front turn signals don't flash at all, the side markers do, but not the turn signal. Someone suggested the in-line load equalizers, so I pulled the tail light wiring harnesses to wire in them in. With both harnesses pulled I checked the lights and it made no changes. So I swapped in a couple older regular amber led bulbs, still no change.

So now I'm left looking for where the wiring for the brake lights, and the parking lights intersect. I replaced the flasher and that didn't change anything, so I'm guessing brake light switch? Turn signal switch? Another relay?

So I've went through the rear wiring, and all of the connections are solid, but I'm starting to question the brake lights themselves. Because I did the reverse lights in the hatch, and I'm using Wagoneer lenses, I moved the turn signal lights to the clear lense that was the reverse light, I added a second brake light bulb to take the place of the empty spot that was the turn signal. I had been running three brake lights, but I started having problems with one of the bulbs on each side, they would all light up with the running lights, but one of them wouldn't light up when I hit the brakes? So I clipped the third pigtail and shrugged it off.

Front turn signals still don't flash when the parking lights are on, but the flash-back LEDs are working the way they are supposed to? It stays white with the parking lights, and turns amber when I hit the turn signal(doesn't flash though), turn signal turns off, and it switches back to white. I didn't actually do anything to it, it just kinda started working since I've been back from Vegas. I don't know if it's connected to the flash-backs working all of a sudden, or if it's because I cleaned up the ground connection on the fender tonight, but the front turn signals do flash with the hazards now.

I'm guessing that the front turn signals, and the dash lights coming on when I hit the brakes aren't entirely connected. Maybe the turn signal switch is causing the problem in the front?

I had some similar issues after switching to LEDs. After pulling the fog light relay in the fuse box under the hood everything went back to functioning properly. Takes less than 5 mins, so I suggest giving it a try

Hopkins said:

I had some similar issues after switching to LEDs. After pulling the fog light relay in the fuse box under the hood everything went back to functioning properly. Takes less than 5 mins, so I suggest giving it a try

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Without diving into the wire schematic, can you explain why the fog light relay helped? What led you to that relay?
I have the exact same issue as Anak but on a 2000. Everything works but the left signal in the instrument cluster is solid when the headlight are on. Working though it I assumed I need a LED flasher.
My understanding of why I don't have a fast flash is only die to the LED bulbs I'm using are high wattage (for LEDs) giving the circuit high enough load to be OK with the flasher but low enough to trigger the "bulb out" indication.

Having this same issue on my 01, any input would be appreciated.
I did full led blinkers and side markers, none of the bulbs light up or do the hype flash like I expected. When I do hit my turn indicator it will flash my dash lights too.

I have LED side markers and decided I wanted to go full LEDs all the way around. I found there is a major polarity issue with LEDs. Some say it could be something to do with the trailer wiring harness if you have one wired in or the fog lights causing the polarity to be off in the circuitry of the jeep. Also that when the turn signals on the dash a dimly light as stated by a few of you on here. That usually means there is a polarity issue.

Fog light relay FTW. I don't understand it, but it cured my symptoms. Polarity issue?

U need to put a diode on the wiring for the marker lights. They will back feed the cluster. Had that problem on a tj

Hopkins said:

Fog light relay FTW. I don't understand it, but it cured my symptoms. Polarity issue?

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Wow, reading over what Bstew just posted it makes sense.

You can't have a polarity issue if the circuit is incomplete, so pulling the fog relay would be a (type of) fix if you didn't have the fog light circuit complete.

cwyman6 said:

U need to put a diode on the wiring for the marker lights. They will back feed the cluster. Had that problem on a tj

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This is what I determined, its a ground feedback but I can't seem to trace it.

Catch22 said:

Wow, reading over what Bstew just posted it makes sense.



You can't have a polarity issue if the circuit is incomplete, so pulling the fog relay would be a (type of) fix if you didn't have the fog light circuit complete.

Click to expand...

Let me know what you figure out. I keep breaking other things witch takes up most of my free time