Alright, so I switched every interior light (minus CE, PO deleted that lol) to LEDs, and the only one with an issue was the ABS light. It works as it should with an incandescent bulb, but LED bulbs cause it to dimly light up. Are there any solutions besides go back to the old bulb? I would really like everything LED. Thanks for any input.

 

That would be either cheap LED bulbs that are too sensitive to miliamps on the circuit or there is a small short to power on the circuit that incandescent didn’t show because it was so small.

I would buy a nicer LED bulb and try

 

Thanks Aurora, you’re right, these are cheap bulbs from Amazon. I’ll try a different bulb tomorrow. It’s a shame Sylvania doesn’t sell them in large quantities so we can buy quality bulbs for the dash.

 

A friend of mine did his dash with super-cheap LEDs. They looked okay at first, but then one by one the little *******s started flickering. Made his dash look like it was illuminated by the fluorescent lights in a horror movie. We swapped it back to 194s in the end.

Some LEDs are marketed as "error free." They're supposed to draw enough current that newer/fussier cars don't think your bulbs are all blown. Same idea as the resistors people run in parallel with LED turn signals to keep their flasher units happy AFAIK. Might give one of those a go.

 

these trucks don’t have the error bulb out system (canbus systems often have these systems) but the electrical circuit isn’t completely dead when not powered. As in, power from nearby power circuits especially on a printed circuit. Surface conducting buildup that the smallest of amps of current trickle in through that never is enough to even noticeably heat a bulb let alone light one is enough to barely light up those chips and the cheaper the bulb the less put into things like resistors or using chips that are higher quality. Those ghost illuminations on cheap ones will kill em but not very quickly but it’s the idea of using a insufficient power supply for a laptop. Can maybe do it a while but it is gonna probably kill the battery.


Also, headlamp switch has a lot of circuits near eachother for the switch to operate. Basically. Over time debris, dust, wear, will make a slightly conductive coating that the power can slowly bleed over time. Noticeably it doesn’t do much for most concerns. So minor.

definitely worth a shot getting higher quality bulbs. I had good luck with jdm astar with interior use. Exterior they have died on me even when stated weather proof. Just, match the color of your warning light(technically, match the color of the color filter on the thing over it) and you won’t have weird colors. It’s hard to perfectly replicate warm light bulbs in led so you use an led that is the color of the filter over it for the best 1) color 2) brightness 3) dispersion. Color filters are just that and LEDs can be made to be pretty damn weak looking if the color filter is only letting it barely shine on our end to our eyes lol

 

One thing that I have learned is, the circuits the show trouble lights do function better with the incandescent bulbs. The module likes seeing a ground thru the incandescent bulb and thats how Ford designed the module. I've had false KORO codes caused by installing a LED in the MIL location. swapped back to incandescent and no more issues. Some users have even reported issues with the alternator charging when using a LED where the Battery Charge issue lamp is. Just thought I would share my experience.

 

that’d because a lot of alternators rely on a resistor(bulb ) to excite them to start charging. My park avenue the computer provides the resisted loop snd the ip just had a malfunction indicator with a test at key on. So it could be bad and still charge.

the one solution to this problem is to use a led where the light is and have s resistor or extra bulb hidden away added before the led to give the modules the resistance they expect while also having a led. A 194 could possibly be a large resistor so it shouldn’t be too hot. Especially when bulb test and malfunctions ideally are quick and handled lol

 

The ABS light will need a resistor placed to keep it functioning like a incandescent bulb.

I encountered the same problem with it dimly lit and just swapped it back to a 194 and did the same for the battery light as well.

With new LEDs and 2 incandescent bulbs, it will be years before I have to swap another bad bulb. The ABS light only briefly comes on so if the originals lasted 20+ years, I should be ok.

 

Wow, I'm betting Auoragirl has an extensive electrical background. Impressive asset for sure.

 

why thank you but it’s actually not that robust just self learning YouTube personal car experiences, reading, and some natural curiosity