07 Sport Trac Ltd. & LED flasher

[Lil98Sport4X4]

LED installation/troubleshooting in my 07 Sport Trac

I've been working on my front parking light and tail light LED replacements, and I'm stumped on trying to figure out how to get them to work with an LED flasher.

From what I've read, the LED flasher should be a 'plug and play' modification. I located the stock parking lamp relay (with the help of the 2007 Ford shop/wiring manual), removed it, and plugged in the LED flasher. The LEDs still blink at a higher rate, and I still get the "check LF/RF light" error. Another odd thing is that when I turn on the parking lights, they blink as if the hazards were on.

UPDATE: The reason the lights blink when the LED flasher is installed is because the flasher is supplying power AND a corrected blink rate to the bulbs constantly without input from the SJB. The SJB will still detect the error and cause the LEDs to blink rapidly when the turn signal is activated.

LED flasher vs. stock parking lamp relay

LED flasher vs. stock parking lamp relay

 

[GreenMando]

We tried changing out the bulbs with leds. Did not have much success at all. Interior lights worked only for a few days.

 

[Fredness]

Ditto on my '05, nothing worked and I was not going to hack up the pristine harness for resistor - back to incandescent bulbs for me.

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

So far, the LEDs I installed in both dome lights, puddle lights, license plate lights, and front side markers have been working for almost a couple months now without any issues.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna install the tail light LEDs (turn signal/stop and backup lights) with the LED flasher and see how it behaves.

Fredness... I'm 100% with you when it comes to splicing in load resistors. I really, really don't wanna do it.

 

[FLOffroad]

Which LEDs did you use for the dome and puddle lights? Where would be the best place to get a wiring manual?

Thanks, I was recently thinking about interior LEDs, but I couldn't find anything on the forum for 2nd Gen STs.

 

[dogfriend]

Before installing the LED flasher, I did notice that the stock flasher had only 4 pins, but the SJB receptacle will also accept a 5 pin module. I'm not sure why Ford decided to use a 4 pin flasher for a 5 pin receptacle, but I'm wondering what would happen if I isolated (cut or covered) the same pin that's missing from the stock flasher.

LED flasher vs. stock flasher

The item on the right side is a relay. You can tell by looking at the schematic that is printed on the side. It only has 4 pins because it is a normally open relay. A relay with 5 pins can be wired as either a normally open relay (the center pin 87a is not used) or as a normally closed relay (the center pin 87a is used and pin 87 is not used). I believe that Ford used the 4 pin relay because it is slightly cheaper than the 5 pin relay.

Are you sure that you located the correct relay? My schematic for 97 shows a 5 pin device (see attached diagram) but I don't have any info for the newer Explorers.

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

FLOffroad... For the rear dome light I used a single 42mm 8 LED bulb, and the front dome lamps I replaced with two 42mm 16 LED bulbs. Check out www.superbrightleds.com to find the bulb numbers, but I believe the dome bulb number you'll need is to look for is 578 or search for 42mm. The puddle lights are 168. The license plate & front side marker lights are 194. I purchased the dome and puddle LED replacements from eBay, and I got the front side marker and license plate LEDs from my local Pep Boys.

I purchased the 2007 wiring manual on eBay for $7 shipped. I also purchased a Ford shop manual CD (from a closed dealership) on eBay for $15.

dogfriend... I double checked the orientation and numerical references on the flasher against the diagram and numbers listed in the manual, and they match.

UPDATE: The reason the lights blink when the LED flasher is installed is because the flasher is supplying power at a corrected blink rate to the bulbs constantly. The SJB will still detect the error and cause the LEDs to blink rapidly when the turn signal is activated.

 

[dogfriend]

dogfriend... I double checked the orientation and numerical references on the flasher against the diagram and numbers listed in the manual, and they match.

I think that 5th pin on the LED flasher is causing the LEDs to operate like hazards when the lights are on. If I can isolate that pin or just cut it off, maybe the LEDs will operate like incandescent bulbs. What do you think?

I have 2 LED flashers (thought the first one might have been defective), so I'm not gonna feel bad about sacrificing one to test a theory.

If you have decent access to the relay socket, you might be able to release the wire in the center pin location and try your theory without cutting the pin. You should be able to release the terminal from the socket using a small pick to push back the metal tab on the terminal. Sometimes there is a plastic locking piece that you need to remove first.

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

I'd have to try and drop the SJB to get that kind of access. From the shop manual, it doesn't seem to be too tedious to remove the SJB, but it's still a little beyond my comfort level. I'd hate to screw something up by unplugging it. In fact, I know I'd have to retrain the TPMS sensors if it's unplugged. If I need to go that route, I might try it, but I'm definitely open to other suggestions.

Here is a pic I took of my SJB. The shot is looking straight up inside the left side of the dash. The parking lamp relay is circled.

 

[dogfriend]

Ugh. Too much work.

What's that other black box just to the left of where you circled?

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

That's the run/start relay.

 

[FLOffroad]

Thanks lil98, one more project for the list!

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

Well, I installed the remaining LEDs (front turn signals and tail lights), but I couldn't get the flasher to work.

I tried isolating the middle pin on the LED flasher with a couple layers of thick tape, but it still didn't work. I can't believe there isn't a compatible LED relay that will work in place of using load resistors for each light.

I'm gonna do more investigating with the hope that I can figure something out. In the meantime, I've just been dealing with the error messages/rapid blinking. I found that after the error messages cycle through once, I can just hit reset and they won't appear again until the ignition is cycled (turned off and then on again).

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

I've poured through a LOT of diagrams and customer experiences with LED installations for 07 Ford vehicles. From what I've read so far, it appears the 07 ST SJB has an internal control for the turn signal. This means you cannot simply change out the parking relay to correct the rapid blinking associated with the low current draw of LED lights.

So at this point, I've concluded that there are two ways to fix the problem...

1) Use load resistors

PROs... turn signals blink normally, no more error messages

CONs... splicing 4 lamp harnesses, resistors heat up which may or may not cause problems depending on where you mount them, but I have yet to hear/read about a load resistor causing a problem.

2) Have Ford dealer disarm the SJB "bulb out" detection circuit

UPDATE: You cannot do this on a 2nd gen. Trac

Regardless, I'll keep posting updates until I find a solution for LED lighting.

If anyone else has something to add or to correct anything I've stated, please share your thoughts.

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

I located a SVE (Special Vehicle Engineering) bulletin that outlines a procedure to disarm the SJB bulb outage detection. The bulletin appears to address 2008 incomplete F series models (250-550) with a trailer package.

I'm hoping this will work for 2nd gen Tracs.

Again, if anyone can confirm or deny that this procedure works, please post up your thoughts.

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

Well, bad news...

After talking to a couple Ford techs online and thumbing through my shop manual, I learned that you cannot configure the bulb outage detection in ANY 2nd gen. (2007+) Sport Trac SJB.

When it comes to upgrading the turn signals to LEDs, the only option for Gen. 2 ST owners is a load resistor installed on each light harness OR you can just leave it 'as is' and deal with the rapid blinking and error messages.

I've investigated this every way I could think. I even asked if it would be possible to switch out a 2nd gen. ST SJB with a configurable SJB from another Ford model, and it's just not possible.

 

[FLOffroad]

Yet again, electronics ruin everything.

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

Well, it's not so much that electronics ruin things. It's just as car companies incorporate 'smarter' electronics management systems, simple upgrades (like LED bulbs) become more of a hassle for the average car owner.

I was very surprised that even the 2010 ST SJB didn't have the option to turn off the bulb outage detection. You'd think Ford would be more open to LED bulb upgrades or even including them as standard equipment.

 

[033035]

wont work i have a a 07 sport trac with an emergency vehicle package on it and it doesnt work becuz the computer controls the light the only way to do this is to rewire the whole system

 

[Lil98Sport4X4]

I've successfully installed front and rear LED replacement bulbs using the load resistor method, and they have been working great for almost a year now.

You can view my write-up about installing the load resistors here.