LED Tail light swap

Yes, I know. But I was just relating it to wax because it will leave the same white residue that wax will on porous surfaces

 

Funny how tastes change. In the 90s and early part of the millennium people loved the LED meatball look and now they hate it. I hated it then but now I love my OEM meatballs.

 

The first time I saw one I assumed it was some eBay after market crap... Then I saw more. Now I have them and they will be gone by the weekend.

 

i used TrimKote on the black plastic.Looks better than new and supposed to last 200 washes.

 

Thanks. I think another member on another forum recommended that too

 

okay guys, do any of yall know where to buy the harness with the sockets that fit on the factory led tail lights??

 

this bulb socket wont fit on the factory led's tail lights pictured up there^ it's like the grooves are too small to fit the socket because i twist and turn it and it just doesnt fit. but they fit on the all red base model tail light (thats what my truck came with) and i had bought these factory led's ones bc i like them better but it didnt come with the sockets or harness on them because i thought i could reuse mine..

 

I was under the impression that they were identical. Are the replacements OEM?

 

thats what i had thought as well! but yes, factory. i bought them off a guy who had them on his truck but he got upgraded ones... but he just gave me the tail light without the harness/sockets.

 

I can't really answer these questions.

If both the LED and incandescent tails have all their sockets in them then it's just a matter of unplugging a single connection and swapping them out.

That's all I know

 

the led's taillights dont have the sockets.... when i got them from a guy it was just the tail light itself. no sockets or bulb came with them.. the incadescent tail lights are the ones that were already on my truck so yeah those have the sockets. but those sockets dont seem to fit on to the holes on the new led tail.

 

I guess they're different between the 2 tails. I was dealing with 2 complete sets. So 2 bolts and 1 connection was all that was required for me to exchange them.

Sorry....beyond that, I'm no help

 

I know this thread is 9 months old, but to make sure there is an answer ...

I was looking into this for my own conversion. I noticed that some aftermarket tails mention "not compatible with factory equipped LED tail lights".
That seems weird.
I pull off my factory 2015 LED tails. The sockets look the same as my old 2006 tails that I converted to aftermarket LED tails. But to be sure I'll do some more investigating.
I come across this thread. While there was no definitive answer, it got me looking in a different way...

I found on a Toyota dealership parts website...

Socket & wire for tail lights without LED: 81555-04150
Socket & wire for tail lights with LED: 81555-04160​

So there are two different wiring harnesses for these.

Now what I'm not sure of... What are the differences? Will these both plug into all 2Gen Tacoma harnesses leading back into the truck? And if they do plug in, will the systems behind everything function correctly?
That I will have to test with a friend with a 2006 without LEDs stock, before I order my tail lights. We can swap one tail & harness and test.
I'll update this post if they work or not, but it may be a few weeks.

Given I installed aftermarket LED tails on a 2006 without LEDs stock, I can confirm aftermarket LED tails would work without a harness change.
It's the LED OEM tails that have different sockets/harnesses is what the trouble is.

But hopefully you're already found a solution.

 

Any update on this? I have factory equipped LED taillights on my 15 and want to go aftermarket, but I have also noticed the disclaimer about not being compatible.
I’m wondering, will they work if I order the non-LED socket and wire from Toyota? A little stumped on this one.

 

Add me to the list of curious people who want to dump the stock '15 LED lights but hesitant because all the aftermarket parts say they won't work properly.

 

I did it, plug and play swap. But the LED ones I got were factory for sure. Think from a 13. My truck is an 07

 

If I messed it, my apologies. But it seems like there should be 3 gray plugs, one for reach for each lamp on the led lamps to plug into the existing harness.

Take that one gray plug on the led and take zoomed in pictures so you can see any writing/numbers on it to reference.

There are numbers on the face of the trucks lamp sockets. Take pics of them too. You'll probably need them in your search.

 

I finally made it over to my friend's place yesterday.

I have a 2015 with Toyota LED tails.
He has a 2006 with Eagle Eye aftermarket LEDs.

We pulled a taillight from each, swapped the taillights, and left the harnesses attached to the trucks.
The harnesses appeared to only be different in that the 2006 clipped to something on the body and the 2015 harness clipped to the taillight itself.
Plugging in the sockets, you might have to twist them to get the correct orientation, but all three went in and locked in place as you'd expect.
The parking/brake LED, you do want to make sure is in the right orientation, but they lit up just fine.

This is no guarantee by any means, but I really don't understand what the warning is about now. ‍

 

Just put these on. Had the LED factory ones on 2013 and it was simple swap of harness. Fit great with no issues.

 

I just got these same tail lights (red lens though but should be same electronics inside). My '15 harness didn't fit which is kinda expected. @Ramp021996 are you saying you bought the 81555-04150 non-LED harness to make yours work?

I found on my '15 that all the light functions work but the top light socket (amber/turn signal) doesn't fit into the new housing as the shapes are different. If all I need to do is buy the 04150 harness I'm going that route. Here's the connector that doesn't fit to show the shape:



Hole on the aftermarket lights - notice they are smaller and different offset than OEM:



OEM light housing:



Some other reference photos if anyone is interested: