Sounds easy right, just plug and play?
Not really, this project involved trying few different parts from Amazon, having to get the vehicle electric diagrams in order to study and figure out how to make it work.
The main reason for issues on this and many other upgrades for this vehicle are due to the old electrical design and parts present in this vehicle.
Flashing relays, for instance, uses bimetallic strips design, instead of electronic oscillator/timer relays. These thermal driven devices requires minimum currents for operation, in fact, it only works if load is present. The load current drives the oscillating process and it somewhat dictates the oscillation frequency. For instance, loads with lower current will oscillate in lower frequencies while higher currents operates in higher frequencies.
Because a minimum load current is required for operation, LED loads draws way less current than incandescent bulbs and it is not enough for these flasher relays to work.
In this vehicle, flasher relays are used for turn and emergency lights.
Typical OEM flasher relays:
How it looks internally:
While electronic flashers are usually smaller and retro compatible for easier replacement.
Typical electronic flasher:
For the upgrade to LED lights, two relays had to be replaced with modern electronic parts in order to have all turning and emergency functionalities.
These are plugged into the fuse tray, located under the dashboard near the steering column.
Replace old flashers with this electronic flasher from Amazon:
Note that although it fits and plug replace the old relay, the electronic designs require an additional ground wire, which you can connect to any ground available near the fuse tray, usually any screws docked to the car's metal structure. In my case, I decided to splice and extend this ground wire to give me better options for connection.
Upgraded with the following products:
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