Tail light bodge

[Oli.g]

Hi everyone, my bumper lights f***ed up for the last time yesterday so ended up making the fake lights light up.
Ive just connected the bottom bumper wires to my bodge job and used some push fit 501 bulb holders for my indicators..

So now my indicators flash as if i have a bulb out but everything works as it should haha is there anything i can do to slow them to the right speed without having to fit different bulb holders?

 

[Jacob100]

I had to Google what that bumper sticker meant.

 

[Shayne]

A few of us got the upper lights working by tapping into wiring behind the the left hand side paneling just inside the rear door . Personally i bought aftermarket lights which came with bulb holders but others converted the existing lights .

The forums search feature isn't the best but if you google "landcruiserclub.net upper tail lights" you should get some useful results and then if you hit google images its likely to refine your search some more .

As long as they flash are they are legal so who cares , though it might be handy to know the upper lights are duds because legislation changed which said they were unsuitable because the spare wheel hides a light when the rear door is open . The bumper lights were Toyota's own bodge solution .

 

[AdventureWagon]

You need to add load to the circuit, either by way of a resistor or maybe another bulb either can be hidden but either will get hot.

Resistor will be best as you can customise the flash rate better by choosing an appropriate value. If you know the current consumption in milliamps of you old bulb and new light we can work out the difference and calculate the resistor you'll need.

 

[Oli.g]

Thank you! I will try find out, a resistor sounds nice and easy haha

They flash double what they normally do, basically like when one bulb pops amd they flash really quick.
If there legal to flash fast i might leave them be lol

I know theyre not legal but even the mot man said its stupid to be in the bumper filling with mud an water. He said he can turn a blind eye as long as theres lights fitted and working then thats all he needs to test .. feels safer now and i was fed up being pulled over and asked why my lights didnt work and that im "invisible" on unlit motorways! They didnt beleive me that the lights are just for show and fog and reverse haha

 

[AdventureWagon]

If you just want to approximate a 21 watt bulb (at 13.8 volts system voltage) then it will be cheaper to use a 21 watt bulb, however if you don't want the waste light, a 10 ohm resistor at a rating of 25 watts will be needed. This will dissipate as much heat as a bulb so you'll have to think about mounting etc.

You could probably get away with 10 watts as the indicators are only on half the time and not for long at once but just to be fail-safe 25 watts will be needed. Worse case scenario with too lower a wattage is the thing will overheat and burn (and possibly ignite) anything near it.

Yeah I don't like the separated bumper cluster - Australia domestic market Prado's have the same rear bumper lights but hardly any cars have fog lights here (they are not mandatory) so Toyota give us an extra brake light where I'm guessing your fog light is. That's good but I'd like to make the unused clear upper lights into additional indicators as it's easy to miss these.

Update - looks like people actually sell such a resistor as a drop-in solution (this is an Australian site but I'm sure there's similar in the UK)
https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p...or---led-12v-21w/287170.html?cgid=SCA01041204