stewartfan

I recently decided that I wanted to replace all of the lights on the exterior of my car with LED lights, so I did the research and bought the lights on eBay. Basically I knew that I needed to get the lights, an electronic flasher relay, and then to solder a resistor onto the cruise control board. I did all but the latter, and experienced no problems, or so I thought.
So, I got off of work at 9pm last night knowing that my lights would be waiting in the mailbox at home, so I got home, installed them, and took my car out for a drive to test whether or not my CC was dead. It was, NBD. I didn't notice anything else, so I just went home. Today, though, I went to work and then this evening, I took one of my friends out to dinner, and noticed a couple weird things:
First off, the 'click' sound that the neutral safety switch makes was going berserk; it just kept clicking back-and-forth rapidly, and when it finally stopped, the switch was stuck disengaged; I could shift out of Park without touching the brake pedal.
Second, I started noticing that the car would hesitate when accelerating from a stop. Though, something wasn't right. I would expect transmission slippage to be a little more abrupt than what was happening now. It was more like a lack of power, then a smoothly abrupt surge of it. A lot like when you stop at a stoplight/sign, and you stop on the painted surface; you accelerate, and the tires slip a little bit, and you get a small amount of torque steer, then you regain traction, and everything's good. The thing is, there was no torque steer in this situation. Doesn't really seem like a slipping transmission, but I didn't know what else it could be, and it freaked me out, I thought for sure my tranny would need to be replaced within the year, if not sooner.
I was convinced that I was screwed. My transmission's dead. So, then I decided to take it out for another drive so as to troubleshoot this issue. I started with the most obvious, I gave it some gas as I was leaning out the window to see if the tires were slipping, no slippage. Then I tried starting out slowly, it actually didn't slip at all. So then I was thinking about what I'd read: the reason for slippage upon acceleration is due to the fact that the transmission hadn't shifted back down to first gear as I came to a stop, so, with the window rolled down, I got up to about 40mph, and then came to a stop, counting the number of downshifts on the way. 3. It was in first. Then what the hell is the problem?! So, I got home and typed a lengthy thread in the 'Mechanical Problems' section (Though not as lengthy as this one's going to be) about the problem, and I got to thinking "What if it's the LEDs?" So without posting the thread, I changed back to the original lights, took it for a drive and all the issues went away, so just to be sure, I changed to the LEDs once again, only to find the issues resurface, then back to the original bulbs. No problems. So, what this unnecessarily lengthy novel boils down to is: Why does this happen?

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

to save ur CC, all u needa do is put a load resistor on each brake light....no need to replace any relay.

and as for the led turn signals...you can get the flasher relay. its a direct plug n play.

in your scenario, there is a user error involved.

stewartfan

I know about that, but I was planning on using the fix where you solder the resistor onto the CC board. That doesn't explain what's happening with the neutral safety switch or the delay in acceleration. From what I've read, soldering that resistor should revive my CC. Also, I already installed the flasher relay; I said that towards the beginning of my post. Basically, I've decided that I'm going to stick with regular bulbs for the brake lights, and LEDs for the turn signals. Those make the best use of LEDs anyway.

rjones7755

If i had to take a shot in the dark, I would say that the led's emit a different electrical signal and makes the car think the brakes are always applied, for example you cant turn on cruise control when the brakes are applied and it automatically turns of when you press them. Same with the shift interlock, the car thinks the brakes are applied so it lets you shift the car without touching the brake. And I cant explain your slippage problem but if it went away after removing the leds and came back upon re installation its obviously related to the leds

stewartfan

I figured as much with the shift interlock (So thAt's what it's called. haha), but I'm also stumped about the slipping. It really doesn't make sense. I went for a cruise today to enjoy my new speaker setup, and Skrillex came on, so I naturally felt the urge to push my car harder than normal; no problems with shifting whatsoever. Makes me love my car more and more every time I drive it and it runs smoothly even with a bit of abuse

scorpionsinz

I"m having the EXACT same issue. I bought another car identical to mine and it had those LED brake lights. As soon as i installed them, i have had the issues listed below. I want to keep the brake lights on them. how do i get the slippage and the cruise, along with the Neutral safety switch issues all fixed? I have not done the relay yet, i don't know which one to get. I also haven't done any resistor install. I'm not sure which size or what to get, nor do i have the knowledge where or how to install one. Any idea's on where i should go from here?

This transmission slippage has to have something to do with the LED's. I just put in a new trans 6 months ago and it actually just started the symptoms below since changing over the Lights.

Anyone that can give us a detailed way or detailed directions on what we should do to fix this, i'm sure we aren't the only ones that need to know. Thank you very much.

danwat12345

The neutral safety switch problem is very weird. I can't see how it has to do with LED brake lights because the car detects whether the brake pedal is being pressed by a push button switch that stops being pushed when you begin pushing on the brake pedal. Nothing to do with lighting. When that push button stops being pushed, the car turns on the brake lights. At least for a 6th gen.

greenbackz

damn i wish i read this thread before ordering LED bulbs for my tail/brake lights on ebay :/

greenbackz

did u ever find a detailed guide on how to do this? i just ordered some LED bulbs on ebay and now I'm kinda iffy about installing them if they are gonna make my transmission act funny.. even if the tranny slipping is fixed by putting the original bulbs back in.. can't be good for it lol

scorpionsinz

Not yet. I haven't had any time to work on any of the suggestions listed here yet. Im planning on trying the 3rd brake light fix first, then the resistor in the cruise box second. If all fails, ill look for another solution.

scorpionsinz

Has anyone else out there found any solutions to this issue? We have been waiting for one but Noone seems to be offering any other possible solutions. I'll be tinkering with this soon as the weather breaks back to normal.

There has to be some item to buy and install to fix this issue. If not, need to make one to make lots of money!

Poorside80

O.k.i'm gonna say next in my lnowledge!:
L.E.D. Lights (or Lighting emitting Diode) are Brighter than Regular Light Bulbs, also Uses Less Energy to Powered Them! I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM ON MY '91 ACCORD LX, THE INFO DISPLAY IN THE CLUSTER LET ME KNOW WHEN A STOP LIGHT IS OUT, EXCEPT BY USING L.E.D'S BULBS, ALWAYS SAID BRAKE LIGHT BURNT OR OUT MESSAGE, WHY? BECAUSE IT'S LOW AMPERE DRAW/CONSUMPTION SEND THE SIGNAL TO VEHICLES COMPUTER THAT BULB IS OUT!

SOLUTION: YOU NEED TO INSTALL A LOAD RESISTOR ON EVERY LIGHTBULB SOCKET WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO INSTALL L.E.D. BULB, FOR BRAKE LIGHT OR TURN SIGNAL LIGHT. IF NOT, YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO HAVE ALWAYS THE SAME ISSUE, THE TURN SIGNAL BLINKS FAST TOO!
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO INSTALL LOAD RESISTORS, YOU CAN GET/BUY ERROR FREE L.E.D. BULBS, THIS ONES SUPPOSED TO HAVE A BUILT IN LOAD RESISTOR, THEY ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE L.E.D. BULBS THAT ARE NOT ERROR FREE!
YOU CAN CHECK PRICES ON AMAZON, I BOUGH SOME OF THEM CHEAPER THAN ON ANY AUTOPARTS STORE. IF YOU GUYS ASK, NO, I HAVEN'T TRY THE ERROR FREE ONES, I JUST TOOK THEM OF MY BRAKE LIGHTS SOCKETS, I USE L.E.D. LIGHT ON MY LICENSE PLATES BACKUP LIGHTS & INTERIOR LIGHTS, ON ALL MY VEHICLES, I THINK L.E.D. LIGHTS WORTH IT'S PRICE!
I HOPE THIS CAN HELP ANY ONE OF YOU!!!

Poorside80

[b]i'm ashamed about the letter size, look for more info, so you guys go for the sure thing!!!

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

Alright.. I'm gonna go ahead and resize that for you. Just because I can't read the entire message while surfing on my computer. The uber large font is a bit of an overkill.

Bolding the crap out of a slightly larger font would also have gotten your message across adequately.

edit: Alright. resized for you, still accentuates what you wanted to express. Furthermore, I don't fully agree with your statement. You can pull off LED turn signals/brake lights without the side effects, even without load resistors or having to search out error-free LED bulbs.

For turn signals, you can replace or modify the factory blinker relay. Modding it would involve the installation of a variable resistor so you can manually adjust the speed of the blinker. Replacing the factory blinker relay with say, a Tridon EP34 relay will free you from the "bulb is out" hyperblinker woes. However, it should be noted that the blinker rate of the Tridon Ep34 is slightly faster than that of stock (80 flashes per minute vs. OEM 60 flashes per minute). That's the setup I'm running at the moment (tridon ep34), and I have all LED bulbs, save for my high/low beams. I am, however, running a load resistor across my third brake light (swapped an 8thgen EX LED assembly into my 2002 ex coupe), which alleviates cruise control problems.

Poorside80

1.- xRiceboyx. Thanks for Resize!
2.- That's why i said: "I TELL WHAT'S ON MY KNOWLEDGE!"
3.- i heard before about a Digital/Electronic Blinker, about this, what about if there's installed 1 of of those Blinkers, would work properly with Regular bulbs? (just a question, i'm not gonna do it!) also i got Regular Blinker and Bulbs, Right Signal, Work Fine on Normal Speed, but Left Signal Works Fast but Both Bulbs Works! Any Idea Why???

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

1) No problem. That's what I'm here for..
2) Fair enough.
3a) The "aftermarket" blinker relay should work on standard incandescent bulbs. In essence, the aftermarket relay does 2 things differently than the OEM one: 1) the flash rate is different, just by how it's designed and 2) it removes the "bulb out = hyperblink" mechanism. Downside to using the aftermarket blinker relay is that you wouldn't know if you have a bulb out without someone telling you or you doing periodic checks.
3b) I haven't the slightest clue. Only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that something has to be wrong within the relay; something that makes it seem as if a bulb is out. If you have a dual filament bulb, physically look at the bulb and see if both filaments are in tact. I can't think of any other logical reason, other than the relay itself.

Shay_G