1980 LED Upgrades and Lessons Learned
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 11,953
Likes: 4,510
From: Virginia
Buy why the change after a week?
FWIW, these are the 1157 white-amber switchbacks I used in front as always-on DRLs. When (briefly) tested in my 79, they worked as expected with no other mods (other than the same LED flasher that went in with the taillights, years ago). The 79 is without a front wiring harness right now. If I get a chance, I'll see if I can identify where it touches the chassis. I think it is on the radiator support, somewhere.
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Joined: Jun 2022
Posts: 96
Likes: 27
Hey just a heads up! Dapper Lighting offers those special LED bulbs for our older cars now. I changed out all my bulbs to LED on my 81' and i don't have no issues. The LEDs are a bit pricy, but they are worth the money which stop me from guessing/wasting money on LED that "might" work. Dapper led bulbs
Oh BTW i did ran into an issue with my front left turn signal light keeping all the lights on when i try to use it. It was like i had a short somewhere when i installed the LED bulbs onto me car Come to find out the problem for me was a dirty connector. I had old dirt build up onside the 1157 socket. I went ahead and replaced the entire left pig tail since it was only $10 at AutoZone. The right side i just scrapped up all the dirt buildup. No more problems. Im going to also replace the right pigtail. Check the sockets to make sure they are clean.
Oh BTW i did ran into an issue with my front left turn signal light keeping all the lights on when i try to use it. It was like i had a short somewhere when i installed the LED bulbs onto me car Come to find out the problem for me was a dirty connector. I had old dirt build up onside the 1157 socket. I went ahead and replaced the entire left pig tail since it was only $10 at AutoZone. The right side i just scrapped up all the dirt buildup. No more problems. Im going to also replace the right pigtail. Check the sockets to make sure they are clean.
Last edited by Hellah fresh; Sep 9, 2024 at 12:32 PM.
Cruising
Joined: Apr 2023
Posts: 14
Likes: 1
From: cranberry twp Pa. 16066
Hey just a heads up! Dapper Lighting offers those special LED bulbs for our older cars now. I changed out all my bulbs to LED on my 81' and i don't have no issues. The LEDs are a bit pricy, but they are worth the money which stop me from guessing/wasting money on LED that "might" work. Dapper led bulbs
Oh BTW i did ran into an issue with my front left turn signal light keeping all the lights on when i try to use it. It was like i had a short somewhere when i installed the LED bulbs onto me car Come to find out the problem for me was a dirty connector. I had old dirt build up onside the 1157 socket. I went ahead and replaced the entire left pig tail since it was only $10 at AutoZone. The right side i just scrapped up all the dirt buildup. No more problems. Im going to also replace the right pigtail. Check the sockets to make sure they are clean.
Oh BTW i did ran into an issue with my front left turn signal light keeping all the lights on when i try to use it. It was like i had a short somewhere when i installed the LED bulbs onto me car Come to find out the problem for me was a dirty connector. I had old dirt build up onside the 1157 socket. I went ahead and replaced the entire left pig tail since it was only $10 at AutoZone. The right side i just scrapped up all the dirt buildup. No more problems. Im going to also replace the right pigtail. Check the sockets to make sure they are clean.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 376
Likes: 57
Did you ever get this to work? I just rewired my entire car (American Autowire), and this LED bulb thing is making me scratch my head. I got everything to work, provided I use one incandescent bulb on the left and right sides of the tail lights, and then hooked up my digital dash to find out nothing works again. Not to mention only one of my electric headlight motors wants to come up at any given time, but that's a different issue...hopefully 
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Joined: Jun 2022
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So I had to change out both of my socket plug in connectors on the front parking turn signals. My LED bulb wasn't making contact with the old plug in due to dirt build up. Once I changed that out all my led works fine. Look inside the pig tail to make sure it's not corrosion or dirty.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 11,953
Likes: 4,510
From: Virginia
One more think to look for. I discovered some hardened gunk in the front side marker bulb sockets. I cleaned them out, and thought nothing more of it.
Perhaps it was factory, and is something to check if you go this deep with your own car. Here's a thread where that was the primary culprit of non-functioning bulbs (not LEDs in this case).
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...de-lights.html
Perhaps it was factory, and is something to check if you go this deep with your own car. Here's a thread where that was the primary culprit of non-functioning bulbs (not LEDs in this case).
OK guys here is what I found. The right front turn signal socket was not getting ground or power to at least one leg. Fortunately the other end of this socket is a coupling that can be disconnected and that’s what I did. Next check for power and ground at this coupling with pigtail removed and all worked fine. The three flat plates on the pigtail that engage at this coupling were slightly corroded but really more of a hard crust on them that cleaned off easily and also the opposing three connectors on the harness were cleaned. Everything started working and also the green right turn signal indicator on the dash went away. Of course I removed the driver side identical pigtail and performed the same cleaning. Thanks for everyone’s input because it gave me a good starting point.
