VENOMSZ

iTrader: (4)

I think you should chalk this up as a loss.
You only spent $135...no biggie right?
Get the real oem lights, and save yourself
all the time and headaches.

DrPhantum

Even if I give up on these lights... I'll still attempt to send them back to the seller of the eBay auction. They may even have a work-around. My angle for the return will be that the auction listed them as being plug and play, an easy install, and "no modifications" needed. I'd say that these are all UNTRUE if I need to install a resistor to get proper behavior from the ECU.

Plus, I know enough about electricity to be dangerous... and I hesitate to think that the OEM tail lights just magically WORK. I am more inclined to believe that Nissan has wired up a resistor in each tail light to simulate the filament in the non-LED bulbs. This would essentially "trick" the car into behaving correctly... and I could keep my tail lights.

Plus... I like the ones that I got better than the OEM LED lights, and if I'm going to "chalk it up as a loss" then I might as well try the inline resistor thing. Maybe I could help everyone else that's having this problem, too. Right?

VENOMSZ

iTrader: (4)

True, but I'm referring to the problems these lights are causing you engine.
I just don't think that it's worth trying to make all the mods for these lights,
especially if it affects your engine...just not worth it.

DrPhantum

I drove the car around yesterday and this morning, and I had no engine trouble whatsoever... I even tried to make it happen by punching the gas and going to high revs. It's the weirdest thing that something like this would happen on such a haphazard schedule. Tomorrow I have to travel about 200mi for a client visit, and I will have many opportunities to cause it to happen.

I just have no idea what conditions have to be met for this problem to present itself.

Cux350z

iTrader: (162)

how about borrowing a multimeter and:

measure the resitance of a stock lamp
measure the resitance of your aftermarket leds
get someone to meausre the resitance of a oem led lamp

compare and then go from there

QdotJ

iTrader: (13)

I doubt there would be any problems with OEM tails... Or if you want to go a different route, get the Clear JDM/ Kouki Lights.... Whatever you get, make sure they have "NISSAN" embossed on them. No knock-offs, just to save money. Believe me, you'll spend more money in the end and the cost of frustration is not worth it either.

https://my350z.com/forum/exterior-and-interior/292530-06-tail-lights-old-news-but-they-are-too-sweet.html

DrPhantum

I proposed that idea in another thread that had more people with the same LED tail light issue. An even better idea would be for the aftermarket tail light manufacturers to just take the initiative to develop the tail lights to match the resistance of the stock lights. An inline resistor would probably do the trick.

dutchboy350Z

iTrader: (5)

It's probably because they're looking to make a quick buck instead of a quality product.

Jay'Z

iTrader: (118)

Good info in here... Ill be installing my tails next week hopefully..

Jay'Z

iTrader: (118)

Install was so easy a monkey would not want to do it.. Took about a good 4 mins.. And I was on the celly at the same time..

My new look should be finished in a week or two..

usmanasif

iTrader: (4)

Gosh...not another "bubble tail" assault on the Z's lights. Thanks doc, for contributing to our cars' growing reputation as rice mobiles.

A little bit of me dies every time I see euro tails on a Z on the road. At this rate, I'll be dead too soon; and I'm not even 30 yet!

DrPhantum

Yeah... my install didn't take long either... and then 2 weeks later, the engine would slip out of gear at >2500RPM. (At least that's what it felt/acted like)

I'm back to stock, now. I didn't like the way they looked, either. The picture was not representative of the real product.

usmanasif

iTrader: (4)

VENOMSZ

iTrader: (4)

get the clear led's from riverside infiniti...pure sexy, and
real oem nissan product.

DrPhantum

A google search for "Riverside Infinity" didn't yield any good results. Why from there? Good price? I'd like to know more. Thanks

Jay'Z

iTrader: (118)

In comparison the 06 LEDs..... I kinda like the 04 lights better..