03 LED Dome Light Problems

So I realized last night that my old halogen bulb in my interior dome light went out. So then I decided that this would be a good opportunity to get a Sylvania LED replacement (DE3157). I installed it and it immediately was very dim and it began flashing fast like a strobe light. I felt like this must have been just a faulty bulb, so I returned it for another one that was exactly the same. Once again, I installed the bulb and it worked for maybe 5 seconds and before I could put the cover back on it immediately began the dim strobe that the previous bulb began doing. I tried tightening the screws holding the connectors in place and nothing has made a difference. I was wondering if anyone has had this problem or knows of any solution to this problem. I would be very appreciative because the bright white light was nice for the few seconds that I had it.

 

FOLLOW UP:
Okay so after a little more tinkering. I found out that I'm not the only one that has had this problem. I also realized that the bulb indeed is NOT faulty. It works perfectly fine but only when the key is turned on. It Is very strange to me that that is the case and I'm not sure what could be causing it to not work correctly with the key turned off. I'm stumped...
Any ideas???

 

common problem. i believe you need some resistors to make it work properly.. one day i'll rip open the EWD and see why the circuit acts this way..

 

I got a LED dome light bulb from Lasfit Auto Lighting and it was all plug and play, no flashing and super bright. I have their h4 headlamp bulbs and PIAA 194 peanut bulbs in the side markers and so far so good. I am getting ready to switch the rest of the exterior lighting over to LED, I am just waiting for the rest of the bulbs to come in from Lasfit. While I am waiting I repainted the inside of the tail lamp housings silver as the original silver started flaking away after 20 plus years. I removed the flaky paint and roughed up the rest of the surface and masked and repainted the housing and it came out great.
Try Lasfit out, if it still flashes check the grounds to your interior lamp and make sure you have a clean surface.

 

Hey Trevor - I have a '03 as well, and had the same issues. I believe it only effects the 2003 & 2004 models but it may be the 2002 as well.
There is a Tacoma World member by the name of Chris (TW Member csjumper2003) who I purchased mine from. He is also listed in the vendor section.
He solders on the resistors for the dome light, and map lights. I've had mine for about 3 years and no problems.

 

Since you have a bulb in hand, just get a resistor. (Amazon has them by the hundreds, for under $10) I used a 1 ohm, and it has worked for me for the last three years. Others have said that you need a bit more, like 3-4 ohm. BTW, if you do the dome, it will take care of the two overhead map lights as well. LED's in those will work fine as long as the dome is in place.

 

order this and solder each end to each lead
http://talonelectronics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=9574

Years of this modification with no issues.

More discussion here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/led-dome-light-issue.585539/#post-19551860