XLT Taillight Retrofit

[Lukewang01]

The last thread I created for the retrofit had a misleading title, I thought it would be a good idea to create another one to provide some useful information.

 

[Lukewang01]

Original thread here including some of the process.
https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/xlt-tail-lamp-led-upgrade.40409/

 

[Lukewang01]

Can someone shed some light on the red wire in LED module. I can't figure out what function does it have, but it doesn't seem to cause any problem by not connecting it to anything.

 

[Lukewang01]

UPDATE #5 Wiring guide (Works, but incomplete)

To make the plug able to be plugged into the socket, one side of the tabs on top needs to be shaved off. Wires should be cut between sliver plug for harness and the black plug for the module where colored wires are exposed.

Based on previous experiment, each colored wire have the associated functions below. Purple -> Reverse. Blue -> HI state of brake light (both LED band/pack). Yellow -> LO state of brake light (LED band only). Black -> Ground. Red -> ???.

Since the configuration for halogen is different from the LED, some of the wires needed to be rewired. Yellow -> Red (Yellow wire from the black plug to the red wire on the silver plug). Blue -> Yellow. Purple -> Blue. Black remains at the same location across different module.

Proper waterproofing is needed after it's rewired since quite some water can gets in between the body and the light around the wires.

 

[wakeboarder]

Can someone shed some light on the red wire in LED module. I can't figure out what function does it have, but it doesn't seem to cause any problem by not connecting it to anything.

View attachment 36655

I checked the wiring diagram and it shows a "turn outage" as an additional connection to the rear LED housing when compared to the incandescent. It shows the wire color as GN-BU or BU-OG depending on the side of the vehicle.

If I had to guess, the yellow turn signal light shouldn't come on when applying the brakes. Somebody with the stock LED's would need to confirm this.

 

[whizkid]

I’d love to do this on my ‘17 3rd gen too. The owners manual refers to both incandescent and LEDs in the manual but I can’t find anything about item LED assemblies anywhere. . .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lukewang01]

I checked the wiring diagram and it shows a "turn outage" as an additional connection to the rear LED housing when compared to the incandescent. It shows the wire color as GN-BU or BU-OG depending on the side of the vehicle.

If I had to guess, the yellow turn signal light shouldn't come on when applying the brakes. Somebody with the stock LED's would need to confirm this.

Thanks for the input. That's what I'm lacking as well, I never got a chance to take a close look at how it works stock on the LTD/Plat. Would you mind showing me where did you find the wiring diagram for the module? I'm sorry if the video created some confusion. The lighting in the video is quite poor, but there's no yellow light on the LED module, it's all red for both the pack and the band surrounding it. I'll try just connecting the red from module to the red on harness and see if that yields any result. You did remind me of a good point, some countries need to have a separate yellow as turn signals, maybe ford is using the same programming and harness but different tail modules around the world. I need to look into what module do they put on units sold overseas.

 

[wakeboarder]

I purchased a manual from factory-manuals.com. My only complaint is that the wiring diagram portion wasn't text searchable. I used adobe pro and now most of it is readable.

Below are the links to two different available sources.

https://www.helminc.com/helm/product2.asp?class_2=FRD&Sku=FCS2155219&itemtype=N
https://www.helminc.com/helm/product2.asp?class_2=FRD&Sku=FCS2155219&itemtype=N
https://www.factory-manuals.com/expand-2019-ford-expedition-repair-manual-649.html

 

[Lukewang01]

UPDATE #6 Red wire on LED taillight

After hot wiring the red wire to both red and yellow output from the halogen socket, LED taillight didn't light up at all. The function of the red wire is still unknown, as well as the effect it's going to have on the life or stability of the LED module by leaving it out is also unknown. However, based on previous test, I would give the retrofit a green light. I'm planning on doing it if I can locate a pair of taillights cheaper than the dealership.

 

[x96535]

Luke, can you confirm if the clear plastic exterior lens of the LED and halogen taillights are the same? Don’t mean to detract from your thread, but the wife busted the lens backing into a pole. Hoping I can just by a halogen taillight and bake the lens apart and swap. Thanks!

 

[Lukewang01]

Most obvious point I can notice is the outer rims is in different color. And the halogen exterior is two-colored with red and clear while LED is just clear.

 

[Country]

New to the forum. I will get more into details later, but I have completed the led light swap. The red wire that you are wondering about is just a 12v feed back the the bcm( body control module). It is only used for turn signal outage. It doesn’t need to be used on the swap. Only the pins need to be moved around for the corresponding circuits. Ie. brake/ tail/ reverse.

I will try to do a step by step on what I did. I still have to program the bcm to led. Only reason for that is to get the directional arrow on the cluster to slow down. I currently have resistors on the circuits to fix the issue.

 

[Lukewang01]

New to the forum. I will get more into details later, but I have completed the led light swap. The red wire that you are wondering about is just a 12v feed back the the bcm( body control module). It is only used for turn signal outage. It doesn’t need to be used on the swap. Only the pins need to be moved around for the corresponding circuits. Ie. brake/ tail/ reverse.

I will try to do a step by step on what I did. I still have to program the bcm to led. Only reason for that is to get the directional arrow on the cluster to slow down. I currently have resistors on the circuits to fix the issue.

Thanks a lot. Would you mind taking a look at my video on page 1 between 0:14-0:25. Do you think LED modules is kinda dim when only using turn signals without low beam, or is that the same brightness on LTD/Plat?

 

[Country]

In the video it appears dim. Kinda hard to tell at that angle. I have noticed with mine that as soon as the marker lights shut off the directional on the left side will be dim for about 5-10 flashes and then brighten back up. It is normal after that. And normal when the lights are on. I will be reprogramming my bcm to led I’m hoping it will fix the issue. Hopefully will be doing it this week. Other than that they work as they should.

 

[Molaf]

@Ryan B

 

[18XLT]

This is awesome progress

now for those of us who are not so good with wiring - who wants to mass produce an adapter and make them plug-n-play (+ FORScan BCM reprogramming).

 

[Martin Uresti]

Any further updates? Any plans to mass produce adapters?

 

[Lukewang01]

Any further updates? Any plans to mass produce adapters?

Please feel free to PM me if you need instructions on which wire goes where. I'm not planning on doing the retrofit yet as there is still a potential safety hazard that the turn signal appears to be too dim for the first couple of seconds, and I assume it would be something software related. I don't have the ability or plan to mass produce adapters as rewiring is a relatively simple job and demands may not be that high since LED modules are pretty expansive to start with. The best bet is to wait for some aftermarket products that can just simply replace the tail light module without any hassle.

 

[Breaker]

I have contacted most aftermarket manufacturers and no one has plans for the expy yet. Led swap might be the only option we ever have.

 

[Lukewang01]

Let's see who gets aftermarket LEDs first, since Ford and GM both have new generations now.