How to repair LED car lights

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OVERALL DIFFICULTY INDEX: 4/10
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These works have been carried out on a Peugeot 208 but the method remains valid for any car due to the similarities between the tail lights electrics.

Why automakers shifted to LED:

LED have been slowly but surely introduced in the automotive industry for several reasons:

LEDs are supposed to last some 50,000 hours that is the lifetime of a vehicle
LEDS are smaller than incandescent bulbs
LEDs can be directly embedded in plastics, which pushes creativity in terms of tail light design to new limits.
Decorative effects can then be added to the normal tail light functions
LEDs can be lit in sequence, like for the direction indicator lights

As stated, LED in tail lights are not replaceable and it happened that in real life they could fail earlier than expected.
In the below shown case, they did not last more than 3 years while other incandescent bulbs in the same tail light remained operational!
Still in this particular case, where LED are only used for the sidelights and for having lights shaped as lion claws (it's a Peugeot model) showing when the sidelights are turned on, the automaker proposes the replacement of the whole tail light, an absurd and costly solution.
So here is the alternative for repairing your car LED lights

DISCLAIMER:
Our pictorials are of informative nature and do illustrate works carried out by ourselves at our own premises for our own use and satisfaction.
Readers who envisage to carry out similar works inspired by the below method shall do this at their own risks and liability.

How to repair LED tail light by converting it back to incandescent bulbs

STEP 1: Placing a 5W incandescent bulb in a manner to recreate the lion claws effect:

1- Gently take out the bulb socket assembly. You will need to disconnect the LED's wires for removing it completely.

2- The LEDs are found to be built-in the plastics. No further dismantling seems possible.

3- All layers of the tail light are welded together, there is no way to access the LEDs unless the lens and the main body are cut and separated.

4- Cutting the lens requires hours of work and LEDs could be difficult to find in the market so better to use incandescent bulbs, available everywhere for $1.5!

5- A hole of the right diameter will be drilled in a place where the light would spread in the acrylic diffuser of the tail light to recreate a similar effect to the LEDs.

6- The hole location should allow the bulb to be introduced completely in the body. Try it on the car to make sure it doesn't interfere with the tail light seat.

7- Cut the wires that were used to feed the LEDs inside the tail light.

8- Drill another hole between the lamp socket compartment of the tail light and the new bulb location.

9- Let the wires pass by this hole.

10- Solder them to the incandescent bulb.

11- Make sure the bulb and wires are solidly soldered.

12- Tape one connector and introduce a heat shrinkable sleeve over the bulb base.

13- Shrink it with a heat gun or a hair dryer.

14- Your bulb is now ready to take on its new mission.

15- Temporarily fit it inside the hole without any further fixing.

16- Connect its wires to where the LEDs where connected and fit the bulb sockets assembly in its place.

17- Go to the car and try the effect. It works! In this case, the lion claws appear again in this Peugeot tail light. The light intensity is however weak due to the absence of reflector where the new bulb has been fitted.The result is satisfactory for simulating the claws, but won't be enough for the sidelight function itself, reason why we further modified the tail light as shown in step 2 below.

18- Seal well the hole around the wires of the new bulb with RTV silicone gasket maker. Repeat all steps on the second tail light.

Tail light bulb socket modification for accommodating a dual bulb

STEP 2: Changing the brake light bulb into a dual brake light / sidelight bulb

1- Now modify the existing brake light to accommodate a dual brake/side bulb instead of the existing brake bulb.

2- Solder two wires on the lamp terminals.

3- Cut the existing + terminal of the tail light plate...

4- ...and take it out using long nose pliers.

5- You can now introduce the wires of the new bulb.

6- Solder it to its base and solder the wires to the brake and side signals.

Final result - LED to bulb converted tail light

Now the side light's intensity is perfect while the claws are lit thanks to the first bulb.

Pressing the brakes will increase the intensity of the light due to the 21W filament of the dual bulb. All used bulbs are widely available in the market and very cheap in case of replacement.
The tail light has been successfully "deLEDified"