I bought some aftermarket tail lights for my '03 and it turns out that they are confusing the crap outta my car. I guess it thinks its braking. when I roll on the throttle its sluggish. I unplugged them and the car accelerates like it should. Then, with the lights still unplugged, I rolled on while lightly pressing the brake and the sluggishness was back.

So, my question is, does anyone know how to remedy this problem without buying new lights? I have the skills to rewire or whatever if someone can tell me if its even possible...

Thanks!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NISSA...ht_4651wt_1167

 

Considering how inexpensive the OEM LED's are now I would just scrap these and pickup a set of the correct ones.

I would never recommend Ebay tails to anyone.

 

Where are these inexpensive lights you speak of? I've seen '06 LED tails for about $400...

 

"inexpensive" would be a relative term.

 

I've seen two separate instances for $200 in SoCal alone with trade for the non-LED's.

EDIT- For example: https://my350z.com/forum/texas-marke...il-lights.html

BTW, I paid nearly $600 for mine in 2006.

 

Do not believe that brakes are an ECU input. VDC maybe. ECU no.

Brake lights are controlled by a peddle switch. The lights do not control the switch. The switch does not control braking.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NISSA...ht_4530wt_1165

I installed a pair of these on my car a few months ago. they have been great but i have not had any problems with them confusing the ECU. Try replugging in the old lights and seeing if you can duplicate the problem.

 

How on god's green earth did you deduct that it was the taillights before your 'unplug' test?

I have these same taillights, and i have never noticed anything...

I also dont understand how you deducted that the electrical signal received/sent from the taillights could effect the ECU in any way, or performance for that matter...?

Please fill me in?

 

two words.

no way.

you have some other underlying issue for the hesitation issues.

 

Way. The dealer service department people told me the ECU in the 350Z is set up so applying the brakes overrides the throttle.

 

^ .....Ya, but dude..... seriously??

Do you honestly think the ECU's only way of reading whether the brakes are applied is by whether a simple electrical signal is being sent to the taillights?? Common now man...

I am unsure how the ECU reads it, i would assume the obvious and say the pedal, but i will go ahead and go out on a limb here and say the taillights arent the signal point....

 

ECU gets 'brake' input from the brake pedal, not if the tail lamps are on/off. also when the gas pedal is down the ECU sends the Accelerator position signal to the ABS control unit to tell it that the car will be accelerating.

in the service manual, it states that the central processing unit of the IPDM (intelligent power distribution model) controls the tail lamp relay coil. This relay, when
energized, directs power to the parking, license plate, side marker and tail lamps, which then illuminate. the only thing that the IPDM transmits through the CAN bus (i.e. tells status to other parts of the car) is: low/high beam status, front wiper/ rear defogger, and hood switch..

i don't believe there is way that a tail lamp swap will affect engine hesitation. there is an underlying issue with the OP's car.

i would ask: what OTHER mods have been done recently besides the tail lamps? radio install? anything where you had to remove the shifter plastic where the Air Condition ***** were?

 

I had those exact lights on one 03 track with the same issue.
That was when they first came out.
I had posted about it back then.
I got some cheap light chipped 06 tails and had no problems.
I really do not know why it affected the VDC.

 

Well considering the way to disable traction control completely is to remove the brake light fuse, I would say its possible.

However ebay lights, always expect problems when buying junk off ebay there is a reason its the fraction of the price of quality items

 

EDIT: I WAS SLEEPY I UPLOADED WRONG DIAGRAM ITS NOW FIXED SRY

http://www.amazon.com/Resistor-Hyper.../dp/B002CJQIGW

Wire that resistor into your taillight harness for the high-low led circuit...

It should work with just one resistor on one side, but it might need 2, or one on each side. Zip tie or mount the resistor securely. Remember that the resistor gets really hot when the lights are on.

Wire into a PINK with BLUE STRIPED wire and BLACK for ground as indicated in the FSM.

 

Can anyone confirm this is a problem with anything besides, "my butt tells me im going slower"?

Im curious now....i will test mine this weekend. Maybe on 03's only?

 

I had ebay LED tails on my old Audi A4. When i bought them, they tripped every light in my dash (check engine, tail lights, traction control abs, etc, etc...) and the car didn't drive 100% normal. I installed resistors and it did temporarily fix the problem. One night the resistors stoped working when I was driving at about 70mph in a tunnel. A lady cut me off and I had to slam my brakes. Well, my car didn't brake correctly and one of the front wheels locked up and caused me to do a 720. Luckily I only clipped the wall, so the damage wasn't that severe. The first thing I did before I took the car in for repair was reinstall my factory tail lights. The dash lights turned off and the car still drove fine.

I wouldn't buy "Ebay special" electronics again. I could have been very unlucky if there were more cars in tunnel that I was in. Some may argue that their was driver error in my accident, which is entirely possible; but the fact is that major safety components were disabled because of the car was confused by the tail lights. If I were you I would try and ****** some Stock LEDs to avoid any potential problems.

 

I have an 03 Track with these exact tail lights and my VDC is disabled as well. I just thought there was a problem in the computer...so glad I read this thread!

 

"Remember that the resistor gets really hot when the lights are on."

If that's the case, you need a resistor with the same resistance but a higher wattage rating. It'll do the job without getting hot, and it'll probably last longer, too.

 

I had these tails on my 03 w/o hesitation issues.

There was a member with the same problem as your but he fixed with some resistors. I post pics of his DIY wiring scheme.