Replace Individual LEDs in Tail Lights

[firm0707]

Dears,
Hope everyone's doing great!

Could anybody advice, I have group of 3 LEDs (side of tail lights if we imagine it like "(::") that lit at half of brighness.
Are they dead or should figure out with something else?

Many thanks in advance!

UPD:
They're completely dead ((
There was just a reflection from near LEDs.
Will left they just for BFD and later will replace.

Thanks!

[tmast]

So as it turns out, you 100% can get into the taillights without cutting into them. However, the lens needs to first be separated from the housing.

If anyone is attempting this, I HIGHLY recommend removing your lens. The adhesive on both taillights I disassembled was very old and dry rotted. I suspect this will become a "routine maintenance" item for those with water leaking into their lights (or who want to preventatively address it) and not wanting to spend $750 per light as these cars continue to age.

I'll add to this DIY or maybe even do a separate one (how to disassemble LED taillight housings), as I took lots of detailed photos and went slow so as not to break anything. Which, in 20 year old plastic, is quite easy to do. I tested several techniques and went until I heard plastic cracking, then backed off. There is a way to get these apart without breaking a thing.

First post, and thank you to everyone in the thread!!

I would love this because i had to replace the entire last two rows of LEDs on my board (with the original method of cutting the back plastic), and I suspect it's because it was the dependent area where water accumulated because the seal is probably cooked. I don't think my repair will last too long if I go out into the rain. What would you use to seal it back up correctly? Clear silicone RTV?

For the sake of comparison, I was able to accomplish this repair with a cheapo hot air gun and solder paste. I was able to heat the solder up enough to get the old LEDs off, wicked off the old stuff, then put a dot of solder paste. I kept the board level and gently held the new LEDs in place with some angled tweezers while slowly heating. Solder flowed to where it needed to. So far so good on the bumpy roads here.

[Shonky]

Every PCB is different but if you have a scrap board of some type (an old motherboard might be good as it should have some decent power planes) I'd recommend having a bit of a practice to get a feel for it.

[Casa de Mesa]

Yep! Exactly.

Something about a blind squirrel comes to mind.

Appreciate the tip! This is a next weekend project at this point but looking forward to getting the hot air station. The vids on YouTube are so interesting to watch and the damn algorithm keeps sending them to me I can't get anything done, lol

[heinzboehmer]

I think this makes a bit more sense to me now. Are you saying: take the pliers at 90 degree angle to the face of the board, squish the LED from the side (don't touch the board) thereby breaking the LED itself but the 4 contacts for the LED will remain on the board. Then use hot air to remove / clean up any residual debris.

Is that it?

Yep! Exactly.

I would still try to get the first one off with hot air. But if you find yourself having to heat it up for an excessive amount of time, then just go the destructive route to avoid damaging the board.

[Casa de Mesa]

New LEDs arrived this week. Ordered a hot air rework/reflow station yesterday. Stoked. Got an ATTEN 862D based on multiple reviews on Reddit, YT, computer building forums, etc. It has the blower for the hot air in the base rather than the handle. It was more than I was originally planning on spending, but I really dislike working with inferior tools and I had an Amazon credit so it was basically free (car addict logic right there)

Watching YouTube vids of people desoldering and resoldering resistors, chips, etc. is strangely satisfying. Who knew?

If you do end up going that route, you should consider destroying the old LEDs with pliers to get the bulk of them off, then clean up the pads with hot air. Will save you a lot of headache. Just watch that you don't accidentally pull a pad off during the destruction phase.

I think this makes a bit more sense to me now. Are you saying: take the pliers at 90 degree angle to the face of the board, squish the LED from the side (don't touch the board) thereby breaking the LED itself but the 4 contacts for the LED will remain on the board. Then use hot air to remove / clean up any residual debris.

Is that it?

There's a lot of copper (i.e. heat capacity) in those GND/power planes and it's not easy to get everything up to solder melting temp with the cheap reflow stations.

This comment is also why I went with a slightly better station.

[Casa de Mesa]

Appreciate the pointers, as always.

This wording:

...you should consider destroying the old LEDs with pliers to get the bulk of them off

...induces and makes me realize how little I know about working on boards!

But knowing this is the direction I should be heading will hopefully narrow my focus on what to research and ultimately buy.

[heinzboehmer]

Heads over to YouTube "reflow station".

If you do end up going that route, you should consider destroying the old LEDs with pliers to get the bulk of them off, then clean up the pads with hot air. Will save you a lot of headache. Just watch that you don't accidentally pull a pad off during the destruction phase.

There's a lot of copper (i.e. heat capacity) in those GND/power planes and it's not easy to get everything up to solder melting temp with the cheap reflow stations.

[Casa de Mesa]

Heads over to YouTube "reflow station".

[heinzboehmer]

Just ordered some LEDs. And by some I mean 50. At $0.67 each, it's hard not so get extras!

Thanks for the DIY on the PCB LEDs. Time to learn how to solder PCB boards now. I'm good with the "blunt object soldering" but PCBs will be a whole new universe for me.

Hot air makes stuff like this a breeze. You can get reflow stations for super cheap these days from the usual suspects.

(and you won't end up with the horrible solder blobs that are all over my repaired taillight from trying to use a soldering iron with too big a tip)

[WOLFN8TR]

Lastly in case he sees this and is like WTF, I very recently bought WOLFN8TR 's driver's side LED taillight. Had I not had a backup on the way, I probably wouldn't have attempted this.

Ya I seen this right before you bought mine. I wish you luck with the repair. 😎

[Casa de Mesa]

Just ordered some LEDs. And by some I mean 50. At $0.67 each, it's hard not so get extras!

Thanks for the DIY on the PCB LEDs. Time to learn how to solder PCB boards now. I'm good with the "blunt object soldering" but PCBs will be a whole new universe for me.

[heinzboehmer]

Nice! Agreed that removing the lens if the adhesive is failing is the way to go. Should have done it this way from the start, but the adhesive was fine back then.

And +1 to rechroming if possible. That stuff is extremely easy to damage.

[Casa de Mesa]

Another thought here. At this stage of disassembly, it would be easy to get the chrome plastic recoated if anyone knows if that's possible. It's on my list to research. The chrome on the taillights I acquired has seen better days.

Lastly in case he sees this and is like WTF, I very recently bought WOLFN8TR 's driver's side LED taillight. Had I not had a backup on the way, I probably wouldn't have attempted this.

[Casa de Mesa]

So as it turns out, you 100% can get into the taillights without cutting into them. However, the lens needs to first be separated from the housing.

If anyone is attempting this, I HIGHLY recommend removing your lens. The adhesive on both taillights I disassembled was very old and dry rotted. I suspect this will become a "routine maintenance" item for those with water leaking into their lights (or who want to preventatively address it) and not wanting to spend $750 per light as these cars continue to age.

I'll add to this DIY or maybe even do a separate one (how to disassemble LED taillight housings), as I took lots of detailed photos and went slow so as not to break anything. Which, in 20 year old plastic, is quite easy to do. I tested several techniques and went until I heard plastic cracking, then backed off. There is a way to get these apart without breaking a thing.

Here's where I'm at currently, out of time to progress this further this weekend.