Cruise control not working after install of aftermarket tail light assembly?

Is this something other people experience. I purchased these new after market "tail light assembly" from ebay. (china) for my 2001 Tacoma V6 4X4


Wondering if the internal wiring in these things could be wrong tho?

Ever since I installed the new tail light cruise control only works when headlights are off? As soon as you turn on headlights, cruise control STOPS.


Do you think this tail light assembly is the culprit? Should I return and get OEM?

In a post located here, its been mentioned in the past
"Most likely your tail light sockets or bulbs are corroded. Thus the tail lights are trying to ground through the brake light circuit which causes the cruise to see the brakes being applied so it will not engage physical damage to wires."

Could this be the culprit?

Everything seems new and not corroded. Could it be something else or are aftermarket tail lights known to do this?

regards

-prerunnersd

 

Did you try the old ones see if CC works?

 

I wonder if you got a set of taillights designed for the older models. Do you have a picture of the plug for the taillights

 

I had a FORD that did this when the 3rd brake light was out. Did you swap bulbs to LED's? But yes, if it's anything like the same setup it's because the truck is not detecting a bulb (on LED's the voltage is lower). So rather than just put an indicator light in the dash, some genius thought it'd be a great a idea to disable cruise control, lol.

If you didn't upgrade to LED's retry the bulbs and put some dielectric grease in there with them. Make sure to clean off the connections thoroughly before doing so.

 

Good idea, however old one is damaged because of an accident.

Just asking to see if anyone has had this experience before. Seems like these aftermarket tail lights are a big hit online and dozens are sold a day. I would think maybe someone else had this experience.

 

If the lights are designed for an older model it will cause funny problems like the cruise control to not work correctly.

There are two different styles of plugs one with 5 pins and one with 6 pins.

 

Try disconnecting the ground on the battery. Then reconnect it. This happen to me years ago. And for some reason after I did this my cruise started working again. I'm not sure if the ECU was holding a soft code or what the deal was.

 

Does turning on the headlights also cause the brake lights to energize??

The cruise control computer sees the brake light circuit energized and disengages.

It also might be the headlights are grounding back through the brake light circuit causing the same problem

This can happen in the tail light sockets or the evil converter box .

Good luck.

 

I had SOMETHING like this happening on my 01 Tacoma and it was a Ford thread when googling that gave me a troubleshooting path.

ISSUE= Cruise WOULD work but if I turned on my blinker to change lanes (I know, I'm a unicorn) it would shut the CC off.

It was happening to me cause I had just one LED light in the 3rd/cab brake light (I think there are 3 bulb plugs back there). Fix was to mix in some incandescents. Man, it was driving me up a wall and I thought it was my piggyback.

OP I think your new lights are LED and its a "feature" not a bug. You can mess around with the LED resistors they sell to see if that fixes the issue.

 

Although them lights look good and new , its a crap shoot. Ive had problems with them working also . I just ordered another set then i had no more problems. Even buying 2 sets is way cheaper than oem

 

mine did the same thing, it was the bulb itself. Tiny short made the computer think the brake was being applied.

 

Tested the old tail lights and it still does it with that.

Cruise control turns off when I turn on headlights.
Also when head lights are off, pressing the brakes makes the dash light and even the clock lights dim while pressing. (see video)



When I have the headlights on braking does not cause the dimming of the dash or clock lights and everything works normal.

Recently I had a rear ending fender/bender and it caused some damage to my bumper and broke the lens of my left rear tail light. The bumper absorbed most of the accident. I have replaced it with a TYC brand after market tail light. When plugging in my old OEM tail light it still acts this way so I don't think the after market lights are bad. I don't remember if had this problem before the accident.



Also prior to the fender bender I had this mod: done to my truck. Done by a buddy of mine. This does require taking apart the steering column. So maybe a wire was crossed or not put in right? Should I check anything else?

Could the problem be anything in the rear besides the tail light assembly? Since I was hit back there maybe something isn't grounding. However the collision was not severe and original wires seem intact.

 

Sounds like a loose ground somewhere. The circuit that cancels your cruise control is finding a ground through your lights, causing it to activate when your lights get energized. I think I’d check under your dash, iirc a bunch of grounds end up by the drivers foot behind the kick panel.

 

So even though my steering column was taken apart you don't think something could be miswired there? I remember my friend being very methodical though.

 

It seems unlikely, all that kind of stuff connects via a plug, and as long as he didn’t leave something unplugged, it would be hard to miss.

the attached manual might help ya trace it down, I’d start with the brake light switch, or cruise control.

 

Sorry I’m not an electrician I am not experienced with electrical manuals but at this point do you think this is more of a front end problem? could this be part damage because of the accident or is that unlikely? I was only hit in the rear I tested several tail light assemblies and they all function this way now with the cruise control not working with the headlights on.