Turn signal staying lit up when headlights on

Jan 28, 2015
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Ohio
My 06 lbz has been giving me trouble and im looking for some help. Have switch backs for the front with built in resistors. The corner 194s are also leds. Everything works fine when the headlights are off. When i turn the headlight switch on or the auto function kicks in both turn signals stay lit up on the cluster and they will not function. Now if i pull the 194s out completely the switchbacks/3157s function fine. Tried putting regular bulbs in place of the led 194s and they stay on but very dim. I do have a flasher relay for leds and as stated the switchbacks have built in resistors. Any help would be appreciated.
 

Columbus450

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Aug 24, 2017
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Hmm try swapping headlamp relay,with other relays in fuse box, I would be checking any related ground wires Should not have more than 100 mili volts of voltage on ground wires,also I've seen bad lightbulbs like turn signal Bulbs cause this problem as well, Make sure there's no corrosion in any of the sockets .

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Jan 28, 2015
961
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Ohio
Ill dig in to it more tomorrow. Just thought it was strange when i removed the 194s everything works fine. Thanks for the advice.
 

graystonelbz

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Jul 20, 2007
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Prior Lake,MN
I haven't been able to run leds even with resistors in my front park/turn for a similar but different reason. I too have the actual GM LED flasher relay and have led 194's in my corners. My problem was with all LED front and rear park/turns/brake lights I would get back feeding into some of the other leds i had installed. If i remember correctly turning the turn signal on would also make the cab lights, liscence plate leds and opposite front corner blink faintly. Very annoying so I am just running regular bulbs in my front park/turns.
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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SoCal
You need a resistor for the 194s.


This is my setup.
All LED bulbs in the tail lights. Led turns and 194s up front. Led flasher, resistor wired in for the two rear turn signal LED bulbs and one resistor wired in for the 194 bulbs.

I had the same problem as you. When my headlights were on my turn signals in the dash were on very faintly. My turn signals on my tow mirrors were on too. Adding the resistors fix the problem and got all the bulbs blinking correctly.
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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Also the built in resistors in your switch backs up front might not be the correct resistance.

If I were you I would wire up resistors for each turn signal in the tail light and one resistor for the 194s. One resistors will take care of all the 194 bulbs. I used 50w 6ohm resistors. Wire them up at the rear so you can mount them easy with self tapping screws. Also you can easily replace the tail light harnesses if you decide to take the resistors out. Not so easily if you wire stuff up at the front.
 

graystonelbz

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Jul 20, 2007
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Also the built in resistors in your switch backs up front might not be the correct resistance.

If I were you I would wire up resistors for each turn signal in the tail light and one resistor for the 194s. One resistors will take care of all the 194 bulbs. I used 50w 6ohm resistors. Wire them up at the rear so you can mount them easy with self tapping screws. Also you can easily replace the tail light harnesses if you decide to take the resistors out. Not so easily if you wire stuff up at the front.

You should not need resistors on the 194's if you have resistors on all the front/rear turn signals. Or in my experience you can get away with the led flasher and only resistors on the front 3157 signals. At least mine worked that way. It didn't work for me even with the led flasher unless I had the resistors on the front 3157's also. These trucks do wierd things when converting to LED, I've started a couple threads and you'd swear I wrote them in Chinese with the lack of responses on here.
 

graystonelbz

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Jul 20, 2007
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everyone is quick to say its a ground issue with led's but that has never proven to be true for me. I've went as far as to add a ground to the front 3157 turns and that yielded no change. I would say one way or another you don't have enough resistance and like the above mentioned maybe the built in resistors aren't enough.
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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You should not need resistors on the 194's if you have resistors on all the front/rear turn signals. Or in my experience you can get away with the led flasher and only resistors on the front 3157 signals. At least mine worked that way. It didn't work for me even with the led flasher unless I had the resistors on the front 3157's also. These trucks do wierd things when converting to LED, I've started a couple threads and you'd swear I wrote them in Chinese with the lack of responses on here.
I was having problems with just running the led flasher. With the lights on my dash turn signals we're on but very dim. Also my driver's side turn signal in the mirror was on and very dim also. When I turned the blinker on it worked normal. As soon as I added resistors to the rear turn signals the dim turn signals went away when the lights were on and blinkers off. Then I noticed when the lights are on and turn signal on the 194s weren't alternating back and forth correctly with the 3157s. Added a resistor to one 194 bulb and it was fixed.
When the headlights are off the 194s and 3157 work together at the same time. Without the resistor wired in with the 194 and headlights off they worked fine. Hey would flash together.
With the headlights on the 194s and 3157s blink back and forth. Without the resistor the 194s would barely blink. More like a quick flash. The resistor fix it.


This is what worked for me and all my LEDs are working correctly like stock bulbs.
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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From my reading the led flasher is only good for two LED bulbs in the turn signals. The flasher was made so people with led trailer light don't have problems. That is why you still need to use two resistors somewhere wired in with the 3157 turn bulbs.

Mine works the way I describe and I'm happy. Just trying to help the op.
 

graystonelbz

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Jul 20, 2007
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From my reading the led flasher is only good for two LED bulbs in the turn signals. The flasher was made so people with led trailer light don't have problems. That is why you still need to use two resistors somewhere wired in with the 3157 turn bulbs.

Mine works the way I describe and I'm happy. Just trying to help the op.

I never realized my turns and 194's are acting the same way you described with the blinker on and lights on vs lights off. I'm going to have to pick up a few resistors and mess with it again. I thought someone told me not to use a resistor on the 194's for some reason? I'm wondering now if the added resistance will cure the back feeding I was getting into all of the running lights. When I had led 3157's up front with resistors I would get faint blinking in all of the running lights with a blinker on.
So to clarify, you have a resistor on each rear 3157 and then one resistor on 1 of the rear 194's and that's it?
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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Yes. And the led flasher. I have a resistor in the one of the front 194. But it should work the same if on The rear. 3 resistors and the led flasher fixed my problems.
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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It's easier to mount the resistors in the rear versus doing it in the front. And if for whatever reason you decide to do something different, you can replace the rear light wire harnesses. The front is harder to replace the wire harness
 

graystonelbz

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Jul 20, 2007
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It's easier to mount the resistors in the rear versus doing it in the front. And if for whatever reason you decide to do something different, you can replace the rear light wire harnesses. The front is harder to replace the wire harness

Makes sense...I have the LED flasher also, First I had the Novita which I thought didn't work properly and now i have a NOS GM part #10383322 flasher and no resistors currently. What brand LED's are you using? I have VLEDS everywhere right now except in the front 3157's. It seems like at one point I had 4 resistors on each of the front and rear 3157's and I was still having problems with the turn signals backfeeding through the roof lights and liscense plate lights ( all 194's).
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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Makes sense...I have the LED flasher also, First I had the Novita which I thought didn't work properly and now i have a NOS GM part #10383322 flasher and no resistors currently. What brand LED's are you using? I have VLEDS everywhere right now except in the front 3157's. It seems like at one point I had 4 resistors on each of the front and rear 3157's and I was still having problems with the turn signals backfeeding through the roof lights and liscense plate lights ( all 194's).
The resistors will get rid to the backfeed.

I have the novita flasher.

I run these in amber for the front turns and red for the brake and rear turns. I have tried a lot of bulbs and these are the best so far.

Alla Lighting 1000 Lumens 3030 36-SMD Extremely Super Bright Amber Yellow 3057 3056 T25 3157 3156 LED Bulbs High Power LED Turn Signal Blinker Lights Bulb Lamps Replacement (Amber Yellow) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075RH2SNJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_i4B2CbX2HDAEJ


The 194's I run are the new hp5's in amber and red from diode dynamics.
 

graystonelbz

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Jul 20, 2007
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I'm running all LED up front, recon tail lights with a novita flasher. No resistors and no problems

I'm assuming your LED tails have built in resistors, I'm just talking about changing to LED bulbs. This is what I don't understand...different guys all seem to say they get different results with the same trucks.
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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I'm running all LED up front, recon tail lights with a novita flasher. No resistors and no problems
Your recon aftermarket tail lights have built in resistors so people can replace the whole housing and not have problems. You are running a different setup so your fine with what your running.

All my tail lights and head lights are stock. I just changed out the incandescent bulbs and am running all LEDs except headlights and fog lights. I had to get the led flasher and run 3 resistors like I mentioned above to get everything to work correctly.
 

SoCalMike

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Dec 12, 2010
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I'm assuming your LED tails have built in resistors, I'm just talking about changing to LED bulbs. This is what I don't understand...different guys all seem to say they get different results with the same trucks.
Go try what I said and see what happens.