LED Brake Light $350 repair

Vertex, my 2004 prius has lost the driver's side brake light LED/very,very dim. The dealer wants $300.00 to relace "LED light assembly." Do I pay them or should I buy a part and replace myself? The lights were intermittent at one point, now too dim to see. 80,000 miles.

 

Hello all,

I'm having the same problem in my 2004 with 157k. Both outside brake LED sets are very dim, to the point where they appear to be off. The center strip is working fine.

Vertex, please share your fix with the group, it sounds like this may start happening with more of these older models.

Thanks,
Shawn

 

Shawn:
After reading this post, I now know that you have one or more bad LEDs. The way the unit works, the other ones will rapidly fail, since the current will increase in the working ones. The way to fix it is to disassemble the light by removing the lens, find the bad LEDs and replace them. I have two working assemblies here with broken lenses. The problem is it is problematic to remove the lens without breaking it. There are no replacement lenses for sale. Your cheapest solution is to look for used ones on EBay or from an auto wrecker. Changing the assembly is not difficult, if you can use a wrench. I have not perfected a method to reliably remove the lens withouth breaking it. No one makes a aftermarket rear light for this car that is cheaper then the OEM. You can buy that for about $150 for your car for each lamp. If you want to try, take a light off and see if you can remove the lens. If you can, I can sell you a replacement LED assembly. If you break it, you need to buy a new one anyway.

 

Thanks so much for the reply, I'll give the disassembly a try, and let
you know how it goes.

 

I have the problem now, I see the 04,05 lights are different than the 06-09 lights, but $142 for 04-05, and $89 for the 06-09. My question is has anyone put the $89 dollar set on a 4 or an 05? seems $180 dollars for two would be the way to go.

 

Apparently, the only difference between the '04/'05 tail light assemblies
is the plastic around the brake light LEDs at the top of the assembly.

The '04-'05 assemblies have black plastic around the brake light LEDs
-- allegedly the chemical make-up of the plastic was changed between
'04 and '05 as there had been cases of the black plastic melting in
very hot locations. The '06-'09 assemblies have chromed plastic like
the rest of the lights in the assembly.

Just to be different, I have installed '05 tail lights in my '08. They fit
perfectly. (There's no accounting for another person's taste is there?)

I have every reason then to believe that '06-'09 tail light assemblies
will fit fine in '04-'05 cars.

Here's a Prius-specific salvage yard/rebuilder where I got my lights
and has a good rep here for low price and speedy delivery:

04 and newer Prius Parts Cars

As to how open a tail light assembly to give better access to parts,
the secret is to soften the glue/mastic that secures the clear lens to
the rest of the assembly. Posters have reported success in doing this
with headlights by baking the assembly in the oven or
using a paint stripper/hot air gun. It sounds radical, but a Google
search shows that this litle trick is used by a lot of modders.

Every reference I have seen to this trick is for disassembling
headlights. I can't think of a good reason why it wouldn't work
on tail light assemblies as well.

Hope this helps.

 

I have the 05 lights on my 06. They were cheaper at the time I bought them. All are interchangeable, 04-09.

 

thanks for the info, got to get my lights fix before I get pulled over

 

I had the same problem with my 04 Prius, I just bought a new brake tail Lamp brand new in the box OEM from Toyota.. I paid $180.00, It's very easy to change! There are two nuts behind the light, it pops right out and a plug for the wires.. If anyone needs this part I can get it for them... Just e-mail me..:rockon:

 

What are you doing to get 60mpg's & 84mpg's. I am getting 43mpg's in the city and 50mpg's on the highway. I am gently on the gas pedal and braking to a stop. I also use the cruise control when on the highway. Are you using synthetic oil (0W-20) or regular oil?

Frank
[email protected]

 

From the number of resisitors, my guess is all the LEDs are connected in parallel with its own current limiting resistor. So the voltage drop across one resistors will not affect the other LEDs.

It is highly possible that only one of the LED gone bad. If only one of the LED failed (short) and sink a lots of current, the current may be too big for the polarity reversal protection diode to handle and the diode, in some case, may become resistive.

The result is a large voltage drop across the diode will lower the voltage supply to all the LEDs and make them all look dim.

You can remove the LED one at a time to find out which one causes the short.

It is just my guess since I don't have the circuit schematic of the LED module and the voltage on each circuit node.

 

so the conclusion for the LED brake light replacement is that part is expensive but replacing it is easy? how come the dealer charged 140 for labor then in the original post of this thread? Can someone elaborate please?

mine are dim on the driver side but still seeable... but the thought of having more current to the other lights is not comforting...

 

I'd be very interested to find out how you fix a brake light on a 2004 Prius. Thanks, Chris

 

You replace the whole light unit itself. The LED's are not supposed to fail, but if they do, then they are not meant to be serviceable. If you are skilled with electronics and you don't mind sawing (literally) open the housing, you might be able to replace just the bad components.

I'd recommend you just find a new assembly from a junkyard and install it.

If you have had both of them go out, then I suggest you have your 12v battery checked, it's probably on it's way out. I'm aware of at least one car with an intermittent short in it's 12v battery. It caused high voltage pulses to enter the electrical system as the DC/DC converter tried to compensate for the intermittent short and damaged both sides. Normally they last longer than the car which is why they aren't serviceable.

 

I did this replacement today on my '04 Prius -- the brake lights on the driver's side were very dim. The cost of the tail light assembly was $190 or so...which is damn steep. I realize that the LEDs are supposed to never fail; but still it is quite a hit in the wallet.

The two nuts that secure the taillight assembly to the car are on very long bolts, and you need a very deep 10mm socket to get them off. Except for that, the procedure was about as easy as you can hope for. Having the new part available, so that you can see where the bolts should be, was very helpful.

 

IF you did a replacement with LEds, be warned about the 12 volt in a car going to it.. u need to make sure its not over powered, otherwise they will go out or kill the life in the bulb. You will have to use a diod between the wiring and the bulb

 

I've seen an 04 tail light with cracked lens, water got into the LED PCB board and it all got fried....the PCB was at the bottom of the tail light...I wonder if Toyota designed the light that way to trap water

The good news is there are NEW aftermarket tail light assemblies for around $100 on Ebay. Easy to install. Just make sure you get the correct ones for your car (04-05 look different than 06-09)

Lots of good used ones out there too...

 

Do you have any information regarding removal of the assembly. I tried to locate mounting screws and wiring harness on the right rear but was unable to locate by feel. Do I have to remove the rear panel?

Pete

 

2005 Prius

Do you have any information regarding removal of the assembly. I tried to locate the mounting screws and wiring harness on the right rear but was unable to locate by feel. Do I have to remove the rear panel?

Pete

 

While I agree with you about most of the design problems with the light, being an LED I agree with. LEDs respond about 200 milliseconds before incandescents. That is 0.2 seconds. No big deal right? But at 65 mph that is 19 feet. You are adding 19 feet to the stopping distance of the car behind you.

I replaced the tail lights in mine with LEDs. Piece of cake, fits right in the standard bulb socket. That is what the brake lights should be (IMHO).