LED Taillights on AE101 Wagon

[BZ Touring]

Lads.

I've replaced my factory tail/brake bulbs with LED replacements (available from Dick Smith). All good, except when I switch on my headlights/tail lights the ABS warning light comes up on the dash and doesn't go away until the car is switched off. I stuck the old bulbs back in and the error goes away. Problem is that I quite like the idea of the LED replacements.

A couple of questions:

1. Is the error anything to worry about (a part from the fact that I'll never know when an actually ABS error occurs cause the dash light is always on)?

2. Will the presence of the error mess with the engine management system?

3. Is there anyway to solve this problem (apart from giving up on the LED replacements)?

Car is an AE101 Corolla BZ Touring, 1996.

Cheers.

[aesc]

So the ABS light comes on?? Are you sure its not the light which indicates your tail light bulb(s) are faulty?

If it is the taillight then the problem is that LEDs consume a very low amount of current, so the car thinks something is wrong and illuminates that light because as far as the car knows the bulb is blown.

Im fairly sure there is some device which you can install for solving the problem, have a search on trademe or ask a LED light dealer on trademe, theyll know about it

[BZ Touring]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the ABS warning light. I'm not sure that there is a "bulb is faulty" light in my car. Sounds a bit high tech for 96

[Mr Revhead]

not at all

does it say ABS?

the lamp warning one show what looks like little line coming out of thebak of the car

[matt dunn]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the ABS warning light. I'm not sure that there is a "bulb is faulty" light in my car. Sounds a bit high tech for 96

lol, toyota had them in japan before 1980.

Does the light say the letters ABS. or is it a symbol?

[BZ Touring]

Yep, it says "ABS", it's orange and it's below the speedo.

[Mr Revhead]

so yeah itll be the ABS light then

[BZ Touring]

Anyway...as noted above, is there anything wrong with running the car with this warning light going or is it merely an inconvenience that'll stop me from detecting an actual fault with the ABS. I was thinking that the engine management system might do something in response to this error occuring.

[bluemaumau]

off sombject but can you post some pics, this sounds p. cool

[BZ Touring]

http://www.dse.co.nz

[bluemaumau]

thats the dse homepage man. im assuming you made yours?

[Rick]

off sombject but can you post some pics, this sounds p. cool

[BZ Touring]

Eh? You mean made the LEDs?

[AceSniper]

hmm im runing led park/brake lights I just had the blowen bulb light come on.. So I wished that bulb would blow |I riped it out|
if you must you can run load risistors but they get hot an are a pain, there also used to stop hyper fast signals

[Rick]

You can buy them from jaycar aswell



http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=ZD0316&CATID=&keywords=led+tail+lights&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=

[BZ Touring]

Thems the buggers.

[AceSniper]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listin ... ber=159505

hes got everything

[aesc]

If you ABS light is on then its very likely if you slam on the brakes your ABS will not work.

Seems strange that LED bulbs would cause ABS problems though

[Dirtbag]

and ripped straight from car bible sight:

You might have seen websites and automotive shops stocking LED replacement bulbs for cars and motorbikes. Basically its a cluster of 19 or 24 LEDS (light emitting diodes) in a housing with a regular push-fit or bayonet plug on the back. The idea is that if you want brighter lights, you can replace your tail or turn lights with these LED replacements. There is a gotcha though that the manufacturers often hide in the smallest of small print. A lot of cars nowadays have onboard diagnostics which include a light check. Some of these use resistance to figure out if a bulb has blown. LED clusters have a radically different resistance to a filament bulb and its possible that when you replace your bulbs with LED versions, your car will continuously tell you that one or more bulbs is burned out. Getting one step more severe, if you use LED turn bulbs, your indicators could flash quicker or slower than you're used to. And the worst case scenario - some motorbikes have very tightly regulated voltages in their ABS systems and taking the filament bulb out of the brake light to replace it with an LED bulb can cause ABS errors and theoretically, an ABS shutdown. Granted thats worst-case scenario, but it is a possibility. So now you know.

http://www.carbibles.com/brake_bible.html

the thing about the bike abs could easily apply to car brakes...

[catchafox]

you will have a problem at wof time if the abs light comes on its a fail, sorry I carnt be more helpfull.