How to Fix Tesla LED Tail Lights
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- Save yourself hundreds! Instead of buying a whole tail light, just replace the LEDs! If you are uncomfortable soldering, contact me at
nick@rarecombinations.com
for assistance. Send or drop off your board and I will resolder! I will not open the lens and glue the lens back; I don't want to be responsible for that step!
I will send you a set of LEDs if you email me! I am in the US so shipping will be quicker than the slow boat from China.
Aliexpress title of the LEDs:
LSE6SF-V2BA-1-1 LS E6SF-V2BA-1-1 3528 red PLCC-4 Common Cathode Super Bright LED taillights SMD - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Hope this tutorial helped! Subscribe to help me out!
If you need any help with this (sourcing the LEDs or soldering), email me at nick@rarecombinations.com
Nick, thank you very, very much for sharing your experiences and insights! I appreciate it a lot!
Inspired by your video, I got myself some new tools and a small board to practise SMD soldering for warming up. :-)
My experiences:
Removing the light is definitely the easy part, when you are used to the sound of the small plastic clips breaking. ;-) They are replaceable, so not a big deal.
The chrome bar can be removed easier (not really easy), when warming it thoroughly with a hairdryer. But carefully, indeed.
I’d say opending the case needs some patience. I did it with a very sharp knife and it went fine so far. I also saw someone opening it with a Dremel … might be more difficult to glue it later, but at least it won’t harm the clear cover.
In opposite to what I expected, removing the old LED, cleaning the board and soldering the new ones was pretty much straight forward, following your instructions.
The ugly part: When opening the case and getting (even very small cracks), they might expand. A way to stop it is drilling a very thin hole at the end of the crack and put a drop of glue in. But yes, avoid this acetone-based glue … it will impact the surface.
All in all - a feasible job. For Tesla drivers in Germany, feel free to reach out. Maybe I can support.
Nick, again, thank you very much. Wouldn’t have dared to try this without you. Now I acquired further skills, new hardware and have the good feeling, I can fix this again and again instead of having a replacement, that is (relatively) expensive and will have the same issue after a while.
This was such good timing! I was sure these could be fixed. Thanks for going through the process and posting it has indeed saved me hundreds!
Glad it helped!
Thank you for posting this helpful video. I have managed to repair my left-side outer tail light on my 2015 M S60 using your linked-to LEDs which arrived pretty quickly (a week?) and work fine.
When I removed the clear piece of lens from the light's main black plastic body, there was only one section about an inch long that had a good connection; all the rest came away very easily suggesting nearly the entire weld had failed. Not good. Interestingly, there is no sign of failure (moisture inside the lens) on the R/H side one... or any of the other lights. I will be re-attaching it with a good quality translucent silicone and adding another bead to the outside of the joint once the first has cured.
Behind the paint on the PCB are huge areas of copper. Just twist off the LED with a pair of pliers and *very carefully* sand off the remains of the LED contacts and original solder with a rotating sanding tool attachment in a Dremel (or similar). If you over-do the sanding you will go through the copper to the glass-fibre board below. This will give you a clean copper surface to work with and makes the soldering much easier - even with a basic soldering iron. I tinned each area and then, one at a time, soldered (and tested) each LED to the PCB.
If you do remove the copper foil, this is not the end of the world as you can just use a piece of wire (like in the video) to bridge across from one correctly soldered LED, to the one with the damaged copper and then on to the next correctly soldered LED leg.
I placed the LED with a pair of tweezers in one hand and melted the (pre-tinned) solder pad with the soldering iron in the other hand and 'drew up' the melted solder with the tip of the iron onto the LED leg. Then the same with the other side. A self-supporting magnifying glass (with built-in light) helps hugely. Don't forget to conformally coat the repair when done.
Don't have a good soldering iron, illuminated magnifying glass or Dremel? Well, if you consider that buying a replacement tail light is *hundreds* of bucks (UK£200 + postage - and my revision 'D' is no longer available but Rev E is 100% compatible acc. to Tesla), why not buy them for this job - you will still save hundreds of bucks and have the tools for ever more!
To prevent this problem from happening, I recommend drilling a small 1/32" 'weep hole' in the bottom of the outermost corner of each tail light's lens; open the trunk all the way up and drill just inside the side wall of the lens at the lowest point; this will help any water or moisture to drain/escape and keep your lights alive longer. There is a vent on the lights, but since LEDs don't make enough heat the water never evaporates unless it's blazing hot outside.
In addition to drilling weep holes, if you do have to remove one of the lights, take them both out and apply "liquid electrical tape" around the top and side edges (lens to housing), don't worry too much about making it look nice, no one will side the sides when it's installed and trunk is closed.
For dealing with the corrosion, some Deoxit or CRC QD Electronic Cleaner might be able to clean the board without sanding it. I'll be trying that on my X's LED brain box, when I try to repair my headlight in a couple weeks from now.
I had to replace one of mine this past spring since you hadn't yet made this video; I still have it around, maybe I'll have a go at repairing it, thanks for making this video.
@deftdawg could you post some pictures where you drilled the weep holes. The Tesla mechanic told me the same but he also recommended to close the hole again. What happens when you keep the weep holes open? Do you have experience?
Looking forward getting your feedback. Regards from Nuremberg. Tobias
I should have done that, it fried the brake light
@@NicholasLittlejohn Don't blame yourself, it's Tesla's design issue.
Is it possible to change the backup light for something brighter?
how much will u charge if i mail it to u?
what do you use to test/power the lights outside the car
Thanks Nick, great video, what is the number for the LED.
Скажіть будь-ласка які марка діодів .?
I am in Laguna Hills CA. Will you help me with my 2015 Model S? Tail light, door handle and power window problems.
Do you know if the same LEDs are used in facelift model s (2017-2020)?
Very likely
Why does the water pool in there?
Design defect
How did you manage to separate the outer plastic case parts? Seems to be heat welded.
Pry pry pry and pray pray pray that the lens doesn't crack!
I will try something else. Will report how it goes.
@@NicksCarHistory Yeah so I used a mini drill with a cutting blade to saw through the black plastic close to the clear one. This way the transparent plastic stays untouched and the seam isn't visible from the outside.
For my 2014, the weld had mostly failed, so a screwdriver popped it off. I did have one curved section near the backup lights that cracked across the face, but most of it was fairly easy to break free.
Hi Nick, I live in OC, CA. Can you fix my tail light? And the cost would be?
email me! nick@rarecombinations.com
Isopropyl alcohol and a fiberglass brush is the best way to remove the corrosion.
Wondering if Tesla will fix these under goodwill as a safety defect
That'd be nice, but I doubt it...
I reported it to NHTSA and Tesla said they likely wouldn't do safety stuff after warranty.
Hi. I. Just notices today that my passanger side tail light that one is on the tailgate didnt work at all. Zero led.. I guess i have to change it. Do u know maybe the voltage that comes out from the wire that goes to the light? Maybe i can try somehow to. Fix it. Why nobody selling only the pcb board for this thing. I searched aliexpress bht nothing only fron light pcb..
How much would you charge to fix one array in one light?
I’m in LA. Can I pay you to fix mine please 😊
1: To answer your question, the anode of the LED is on 3 pins, the one cathode pin (line side / negative side) is at the corner with the cutout. So technically it's the wrong part, the original had just two leads, but oh well, bending or snipping that pin off is a fine solution.
2: To get better contact / easier to solder bare copper, you can scrape between the LED's where the traces are. The black is just the board color, but coat it with something when you're done for moisture resistance.
3: Just one of those strands is plenty to electrically connect the LED, bridging it across multiple LED's where they don't have a good trace is a great option if the corrosion is bad.
4: Don't snip off the LED's or leftover parts of the old LED's - you can tear the traces. Use the soldering iron to melt the solder and remove the old LED parts. The LED's will flex up off the board when you try desoldering one end, they will bend the LED legs on the attached side... this is weaker than the board, so no worry about damage.
5: when done, use some epoxy, nail polish, something to secure the LED's and seal it a bit from moisture - as well as hold the LED in place if you needed to use a wire to connect it.
6: I used 5 minute epoxy to put the lens back together. One layer to glue it, second layer to get any visible voids. Then a layer of clear silicone 2 to add a layer of waterproofing. I also used silicone to glue the gap between the trunk lid and the light housing to keep water farther away.
Also, i'm in western NY in case anyone needs help. I left this as a separate comment in case this is an unwanted comment it can be deleted.
100 pcs LEDs for $16, 10-day shipping. Great video Kinda wish it was just a bulb lol. Thanks, Tesla for the moist tail lights 😬My left one just went out. $400 at a junkyard for a light that will last god knows how long.
Hi Nick, thanks for sharing this! I just ordered a replacement light because I couldn't find any information on a possible repair. Now I will order the LED's and tingle around with my broken taillight so I can repair the other one if/.when it breaks.
Glad I could help!
Thanks Nick for the video. Shall I have issues with the LEDS on the Model Y. I'll reach out to you. :)))
Yea the LEDs on any of the Tesla tail lights should be replaceable in the same way. It would be cool to take apart the Y tail light!
Where is California are you? And how much you charge to fix my taillight? Only right side inner taillight
Yo hey nick my light just went out. My not experienced at all with soldering. Can you help me out fixing it for me. Let me know how much. Thanks
Shoot me a message at nickscarhistory on instagram or email me at nick@rarecombinations.com