Think I found the solution to the dim front turn signals on 18+

I am thinking that when they upgraded the LED headlight with the new 7443 turn signal bulb and socket, they overlooked the wiring or thought the new sockets were still of the CK configuration. The signal wire in the first spot and the ground in the middle works fine in the CK socket that was on all the 14-17’s and 18-20’s with the Halogen headlights. The 7443 uses a standard configuration so the wires should have moved to utilize the 28w filament as a directional, but the wires stayed in the same location leaving us with a 8w turn signal

 

I won't have a chance to look into it till next weekend, but it's sounding more feasible with every post.

 

I wonder if we have a history of what is going on. I recall some threads that people were complaining about turn signal brightness ... I wonder if Toyota fixed the problem at some point and/or overlooked this in certain model years.

just a reminder to others with older models. Don't go swapping wires. Keep your headlights off. Turn on the parking light and observe ... If your turn signal is brighter than parking lights, you don't have any problem. If you still don't like the brightness then LED may help but switching wires won't help you.

 

Mine's a 2020 built in 2/20 and was wired dim. I'd bet that its the 18-20 crowd with the LED headlights from the factory. The 14-17 crowd who retrofit these lights either used a signal adapter harness or re-pinned their stock wiring as a work around for the turn signals. The 18+ SR and lower trim SR5's are still using the original 3157CK setup from 14-17 and don't have this issue

 

I think Toyota may have outsourced their Testing and QA department ...

Maybe it requires more manual labor to make an old design fit ... and they are aware of this but ignored it to save a few bucks.

Edit:
Isn't there a NHTSA test that auto makers must pass including the light brightness, etc.? I know for example you can't have any red lights on front. Amber is ok up front.

did the dim turn signal passed that test?

 

I checked mine again and the turn signal still looks plenty bright to me next to my LED parking lights.

 

How do you move the wire?

 

I didn't realize the white part was a lock! I was all jamming down on the prong , hahaha

 

Worked like a charm on my 2020! Thank you so much because I couldn't find LEDs that would work in the 2020.

 

Plan on doing this, this weekend. Will report back how it goes.

 

If this all pans out without any negative side effects, then this would definitely be a thread worthy of being stickied.

 

Fwiw, I've been using these LED bulbs for a few months now with no issues. I've been running retro'd led housings in my 17 for over a year now, and did the wire swap when I did the conversion. Even with the brighter filament, the bulbs are still pretty dim when the headlights are on. These bulbs are a massive improvement in brightness, plus there weren't any error messages or hyperflash with these, and no resistors needed

 

Well was bound and determined to do this today, pulled things apart and looks like someone was in there before me, both plugs were hacked up, tried to finish anyways, but no luck barely got the plugs back together, will have to order replacements and fix the wiring with new plugs. To be continued.

 

What do you mean? Did you buy used? Pics?

 

Yea, it's a 19 bought it feb 20. Just going to replace the plugs, prob should of just backed off when I saw that, but tried to repin them anyways, I have new plugs ordered, will be a simple fix.

 

Moved my pins from center to outside today and it works great. Left the JDMStar LEDs in and nice and bright(er). I’ll try the OEM bulbs sometime but they should be fine now activating the correct brighter signal elements. I hope Toyota reads this thread.

 

I did this on my 19 and it works as advertised. There is a plug you will have to remove in the third hole in order to move wire over. I used a straight pick and pushed it out.

 

I just finished this wire swap too. I read this thread yesterday and decided to try it.
Big difference! I had been considering the JDMStar LEDs but hadn't ordered them yet. After seeing how bright the higher wattage filament is, I might leave it this way with the stock bulbs.
The little white locking plug is fragile. I found that pliers were crushing it when I tried to pull it straight out so I pried gently from each end with a narrow knife blade until it started to move. Watch out for that little black plug that seals the unused wire hole. It WILL try to escape, at least from my clumsy fingers. It can be pushed out with a toothpick.
Thanks thomasbus

 

Have oem tow mirrors and replacement plugs coming in, will do the plug fix next weekend with the addition of turn signals on the mirror's I'll be happy with the 28w output.

 

Great thread! Going to try this next weekend. Thank you @thomasbus337 !

 

Did mine yesterday as well. Quite a difference. Thanks @thomasbus337!!!

I work for Toyota so I am going to see what I can find out with regards to this wiring, why and how it is this way. Doesn't make sense.

 

Definitely gonna try this after seeing so many successful attempts! Thanks OP!

 

Awesome, again I’m guessing it was an oversight when the turn signal socket changed from a CK to standard configuration on the 18+ LED headlights, if you plugged in the 18+ socket from a SR or base SR5 the light would function as normal with the stock wiring configuration

 

I have the lef OEM headlights and I replaced the turn signals with the vled triton bulbs. Will this do anything for me? Will they still dim?

 

Nope, for some reason or another, the Tritons fix this issue. I tried swapping the pins back to stock with the V6’s and it made no difference

 

Word. I love that they are so bright you can see the light pattern on the ground. Kinda makes up for no side view of the blinker. Now people can see my signal light pattern from the side. Good job OP

 

So just out of curiosity I did a comparison to my 2017 Sienna front turn signals and guess what?!?....same bulb and connector as the Tundra but wired so the 28W filament is used (same as suggested by @thomasbus337 ), not the 8W! Also on the Sienna the LED DRL turns off when the signal is activated. So it does not make any sense that the Tundra is wired the way it is...lower power bulb with DRL on.

 

This seems to be a problem with certain model years (headlight upgrade?) until Toyota figured out what was going on ... and it's not a universal problem.

My '16 has the bright turn signal (28W) and when turn signals are off, the same 28W is used as DRL. The 8W filament of the same bulb is used for Parking lights.

I just wonder how these certain models with dim turn signals passed the brightness tests (NHTSB or other tests). Maybe even the dim turn signal was still within the limits. or maybe the tests are based on honor system.

 

This issue appears to be 18+ and only on models with the LED headlights. The group that retrofit these lights onto the 14-17 either used a wiring adapter or re pinned the plug as mentioned in the install instructions on many websites offering the upgrade harness