Lancer LED Tail Light & Load Resistor Installation

[bluelancergts]

This post is to help clarify the procedure for installing LED tail lights on 08+ Lancers. There isn't much information on the net about installing them yet, so I thought I'd throw this out there as there may be a lot of inquiry to come.

I just recently bought the new LED tail lights that have been released for 08+ Lancer's. They look really great. I recommend them to anyone who's looking to spruce up their Lancer's a little bit. You can buy them pretty much anywhere on the net or ebay, just do some searching. They cost around $300 roughly.

The installation is fairly simple, but there are a few tricky parts for us amateurs out there. I have a photo below for some reference, you can check it to see if it helps you out anywhere, however, it's mostly for the Load Resistor (To be discussed later). First of all, you should have these parts come with your kit:

- 4 tail light components (2 for each side)
- 2 yellow bulbs
- 2 load resistors with 4 connectors

For the tail lights on the trunk, first you have to take off the upholstery cover, do this by just clicking out the snaps and the whole cover will come off. Next, pull the cable connector from the bottom of the bolt (this is just to secure the cable in place), then take the two bolts off of the light housing, the tail lights should now be loose. Disconnect the 2 sockets from the housing by just twisting them off. You should now be able to swap with the new LED tail light. Take the night time running light bulb out (it just pulls out), but keep the reverse light bulb in the socket. Connect the LED connector into the vacant socket, then twist both sockets back into their corresponding holes. Resecure the tail light the same way you took it off, and do the other side.

For the tail lights on the body, unscrew the two screws that are hidden by the trunk. Next, you have to jiggle the tail light off as it has arrowhead fasteners on it. Pull and jiggle at the same time, but not too too hard or it'll jolt out on you. Untwist the 3 sockets from the housing, the tail light should now be free to remove and swap with the new LED tail light. Remove all of the bulbs from the sockets (they just pull out). The yellow coloured socket is the tail light, put one of your yellow bulbs in this socket. Connect the 2 LED light connectors into the other 2 vacant sockets (they're two different sizes). Twist them back into their corresponding holes in the new LED housing. If you don't have cruise control equipped on your Lancer (see below), then you should be good to go, just resecure the tail light the same way you took it off, and do the other side. Make sure you test all of your lights to make sure everything works (Night time running lights, brake lights, turn signal and reverse lights). If one of the LED lights doesn't light up, double check the connector, there are little metal wires on them that have to be in a proper position to work.

***For Lancers equipped with cruise control***

The next part is very important, but only really applies to Lancer's equipped with cruise control. Your cruise control will more than likely not work after the installation above (The cruise control light will turn on and off in the dash, but you will not be able to set a speed at all). This is because of a voltage issue with the LED technology, your brake light and the cruise control system. In order to correct this problem, you'll need to install 2 Load Resistors, 1 for each side.

First, connect two connectors on both ends of the Load Resistor (Stick it in one of the connector holes until it passes the metal piece). Next, you have to connect each end onto your bright brake light and grounding wires. The bright break light wire is on the middle socket of the tail light housing (The body tail light, not the trunk tail light), and it's the solid green one (not the one with the white stripe, that's your dim light). The grounding wire is on the same socket, and it's the black wire (there will be 3 wires connected to this socket in total, only worry about the two mentioned). Take the Load Resistor and connect one end (already with the connector attached to the Load Resistor wire) and connect it to the black wire (Slide it onto the wire in the second hole of the connector). It doesn't matter which end of the Load Resistor you use, colour doesn't matter here. Then connect the other end to the solid green wire. Connect this in a way that the Load Resistor itself is away from all wires (It will heat up and you don't want it to melt any of your wires), also you can use electrical tape to secure it down to the metal body. Lastly, take a pair of pliers and press down on the 2 Load Resistor connectors so that the pertruding metal piece is sunken into the wires (This will make a tight and solid connection for current to flow through). Resecure the tail light the same way you took it a part, and do the other side.

You should now be able to enjoy your new LED tail lights without anything else being disfunctional. Make sure you test all of your lights to make sure everything works (Night time running lights, brake lights, turn signal and reverse lights). If one of the LED lights doesn't light up, double check the connector, there are little metal wires on them that have to be in a proper position to work. After I did this, everything has been working fine so far.

If anyone has any questions, anything to add or any suggestions to make, let me know. If anything else comes up, I'll update. Here are some photos:


Reference Diagram:



Complete 1



Complete 2

[limmerZ]

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