Flickering tail light

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bigramma0786

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Alright, so I haven't been able to find exactly the information I've been looking for on this. I recently had my right turn signal start flashing rapidly and then dash indicator tell me that my rear brake light was out.

The issue is that the brake light isn't out at all and I see that the bottom two out of five signal rows of lights sometimes but not always flicker intermittently. Now it looks like it's common knowledge here that the LED light assembly needs to be completely replaced and you can't replace just one bulb. My question is, is this a light assembly issue at all or is there something else going on up the chain with the controller because it's very intermittent?

For example, sometimes the signal rate (dash and mirror lamp) goes back to normal, but I still have the "rear brake light out" message on the dash.

I took the fixture out and sprayed the contacts down with contact cleaner, but honestly, everything looked pretty clean and dry anyway. With the assembly unbolted, I wiggled the connectors and the harness around with the indicator flashing and I got it to stop flickering (i.e. got back full functionality) but I couldn't reproduce the flicker and I'm sure it will return.

Obviously, I would rather not have to spend $120+ on a new right-rear assembly or even an aftermarket pair, and I'm not wholly convinced it's not further up the chain now because of the intermittent aspect.

Was wondering if the community here had root-caused the issue?

2014 Ram 1500 Laramie with LED tail-lights.
 
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firepuppet66

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Strange, my reply disappeared before I could send it, oh well, re-typing.
I had to research this for a buddy. It seems the LED's do not draw enough power and so the use resistors to create more draw. If these fail the "bad bulb" warning causes the rapid flash. Apparently you can add resistors outside of the light housing, connecting to the wiring OR replace the OEM flasher relay with an aftermarket one that fixes the issue and is a plug and play solution.
 
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bigramma0786

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Interesting. It may be that one single LED out of a whole array is bad and causing that lack of resistance. If so it's not enough for me to even tell visually.

So maybe I can just add some resistance to the line to spoof a good bulb? Or, do you have a link to something?

A small update: After reading some other posts there were some indications that a bad 3rd brake light might cause some interference. Sure enough, my 3rd (high mount) brake light was in fact blown. I replaced it as I happened to still have 1 bulb on hand, but that, unfortunately, did not clear the issue.
 
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indept

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Are your LED tail lights factory or aftermarket? If they're factory then the load resistor is not the solution as it should be set to read the correct current. If they're aftermarket then the resistor solution should help.
 

ExpressRules

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My left rear brake light has been "out" for quite a while. Since it doesn't affect anything except for having a fast blink I see no reason to pay for a new light because a couple of the individual led bulbs are out.
 
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bigramma0786

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Are your LED tail lights factory or aftermarket? If they're factory then the load resistor is not the solution as it should be set to read the correct current. If they're aftermarket then the resistor solution should help.
They’re factory. I was just thinking if some quantity of LEDs in the array are out, then the entire assembly is giving less resistance, and by artificially adding some back to the line it might trick the system into thinking that it’s all good.
 
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bigramma0786

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My left rear brake light has been "out" for quite a while. Since it doesn't affect anything except for having a fast blink I see no reason to pay for a new light because a couple of the individual led bulbs are out.
Yeah that plus the dash message is annoying though haha
 

Jeepwalker

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I'll throw out some cheap/quick things to check and (hopefully) rule out: Check grounds up front and at the rear. One of the key words in LED is Diode. Because it's a diode it's an electronic component. The electrical path has to be one way and fairly consistant. LED's have a minimal voltage too. You've probably noticed on LED flashlights they flicker and act 'funny' when battery's become low. And sometimes it's micro-oxidation at the battery holder connection. You can bang on the flashlight or spin the batteries to restore operation. Same thing can happen on a vehicle if there's a minor amount of corrosion at voltage feed and return points (grounds).

Check and ensure the grounds at the back of the frame/body are good and there isn't any corrosion happening at the wire inside the plastic jacket, where it's crimped to the connector. Also check your battery connections are real good, and the ground-to-body connection is good also. Why? Because it's possible a weak ground up front could affect the furthest-most electrical component/s (which might be that bulb assembly). There's a major ground on my pickup by the gas tank filler neck (looking "up" to the filler neck, in front of the rear tire). And again, there should be a ground wire-to-frame in the rear. Not sure to what extent this affects taillights though. Still worth a check. Mine was corroded on my truck.

Crossing out grounds off the list, should be easy and cheap to do. It's a simple thing that often fixes problems. If that doesn't do it, check voltage back there ..which might be trickier if it's intermittent. Also, inspect for cracks at the electrical contacts back at the bulb assembly. They could be minor and hard to spot. Ensure the wires going into the connectors aren't corroded at the individual connector pins or under the plastic jacket.

Good luck. Let us know if you find anything.
 
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bigramma0786

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Good idea, yeah I’ll definitely check the grounds. Battery is relatively new and the connects are nice and clean/greased but could be anything else. Already plan to have her up on a lift this week to do oil, ATF, sparks, and rear brake pads. I’ll just add that to the list lol.
 

Jeepwalker

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Are yours like these?
 
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bigramma0786

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Are yours like these?
Basically but without the resistor block shown in the connector in the first image, and chrome trim.

I think these are the official: https://store.mopar.com/oem-parts/mopar-tail-stop-backup-lamp-right-68093078ac
 

Jeepwalker

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Got it.

Check out these videos when you are working on it (if you haven't already). Maybe it'll help you out. I would still take a few minutes to check grounds. A poor ground could spoof a bad taillight ...because if the voltage were a little too low, it's going to cause some LED's to not work. Remember, from an electrical standpoint, led's don't continue to dim with reduced voltage, some will stop working, others can continue to work.


I would probably (ideally) back-probe the connectors with some thin wire. If you pierce the harness with a test lamp, be sure to put a daub of RTV over the hole so you don't introduce future corrosion inside the jacket.
 

Jeepwalker

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Alternate idea: This might not be for you ....but if the LED chips (bulbs) are burned out ....and depending on how DIY you (or other forum members) are. And if you like a challenge ..or don't want to buy el-cheapo import aftermarket housings. Consider taking the housing apart and replacing the burnt-out individual LED chips. ...if some ARE burnt out.

If the bulbs are burnt out, try resoldering them first. If that doesn't fix the problem, replacing a couple non-working LED's (or ) should restore the tail light to 'good' again, hopefully forever. To replace the individual LED chips, a guy can (quickly/easily) 'harvest' individual LED chips off a part's store bulb array like in the link below, and resolder them onto the tail light assembly (replace the burned-out ones). I've done that on dash clusters and other interior lights when the individual LED diode I needed wasn't available. Go to local store, buy an LED bulb (with matching led diodes and appx size), steal off what you need and transfer over. Boom - Yer done! $10 fix. Save the rest of the LED chips if the other tail light assembly goes out :) .

Stealing the chips off one of these (below) should work. But check fit and type before ordering ..IDK for sure what exact diodes your Ram has. So, if your truck has around 10 LED's (3 conductor) in it's array (which I think it does), than the LED chips in the bulbs below should work ..as an example. But if the contacts or LED type are oriented differently you want to buy to match as best you can:

Just an LED resource FWIW. I've bought from them (below) in the past. They have individual LED chips too (2nd link) of various sizes, color temp, etc:
Or this type ...if needed:

If a guy wants to get the tail light fixed the quickest, new housings are probably the way to go. But for anyone who's up for a challenge, doesn't want to go aftermarket, or pay the big bucks for OEM, replacing the LEDs/Bulbs might be an option. Sorry if my explanations above were confusing. Good luck!.... :D

NOTE: Above bulbs are rough examples. Match up what you need based on your application
 
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