I just installed a set of LED tail lights in my '99 C2 that look great but the drivers side tail light won't light up. I pulled the plug for the tailight and put a standard bulb in and it still won't light. Also, my front side marker doesn't light either. Any idea what could be causing this. Brake lights, directionals and back up lights all work fine.

 

Well this could be any mired of problems. First off, are you sure the lites are not defective? Were they supposed to be "plug and play?" Do you have the wiring connected properly? Not to be on the downside, but most "to LED conversions" are suspect at best. Your cars electrical system was designed around incandescent bulbs not LED, so ensure your new lites wiring and specs will conform.

 

Check the fuses

 

They are plug and play and I think I just got to the bottom of it. The fuse was blown on the front side marker. I replaced it and it blew right away. So next step will be to pull the leds on the back replace the bulb and see what happens. If it doesn't blow then I have to assume the led tail light was bad. Now this is assuming that somehow the tail light and the side marker are tied together which I would doubt but I'm not a German engineer.

 

I'm no expert but I've heard that you may need a load equalizer when using LED's. Could be why you're fuses are blowing.

 

Which LED lights did you buy? If the Ebay/Amazon ones, you may have one of the connectors hooked up wrong. Someone wrote this up not too long ago. Do a search here and on Rennlist. The short wire for the outer LEDs is polarized and if you insert it wrong you'll blow the fuse. I'll see if I can find the post and will update this with the link.

If you bought the German-made Dectanes, then you may just have a bad fixture because I haven't read about any wiring problems with those.

 

Thanks wyovino. I searched everywhere and couldn't find anything on it but I'll try to flip the wire on the outer LED. If you can find the post that would be great. Tonight I'm going to tear into it again and get rid of some other variables.

 

This always happens to me. Now I can't find the post, but the deal is that the outermost connection (skinny wire) can physically go in either way, but will blow the fuse if the polarity is wrong. I think the poster said that there is a small white dot on one of the wires, indicating which way it should be connects. White to white, I guess.

I'll keep searching.

 

Well I'll stock up on some fuses and try some things tonight. If the polarity thing is true I'd be surprised because in doing all of this I took the passenger's side one off like 10 times and re hooked it up and never blew a fuse. So either I was lucky or it doesn't matter. I'll find out for sure tonight.

 

wyovino you are awesome. I pulled the light tonight, flipped the plug, put a new fuse in and everything works. Amazing. Thank you so much.

 

I have have the same lights. There's a connection on there that you DO NOT hook up,can't remember. I have had these for 5 years and have had no problems. Use the search on here,find a post from around then and you will see detailed instructions on how to hook them up.

 

Glad to hear that it worked out for you. It still kills me that I can't find that post. Whoever made that post was the first one to discover the secret. Many (nearly all) of the people who've installed these lights have wound up leaving the outer LEDs disconnected after blowing several fuses.

 

I was told there's a thread where you can sign up for LED tail lights for a wide body "S" car if and when they manufacture them. Can some one direct me to that thread so I can sign up?

I've done the search thing w/o results...

Thanks,

 

Creekman search the Porsche turbo 996 section i think the thread was started there.

 

Savino, with your help I found the sign up sheet... The mounting tabs on my lights are either broken or cracked, plus I have some stress cracks on the lens so this might be the best and cheapest way out, I hope...

Thanks,