Back Up Lights

[Fenton House]

Back Again/

We have about 8,000 on the 400h. Very nice machine. Drove it from Seattle to Phoenix for Thanksgiving - we hit every kind of weather. Even had to detour around a nasty wind storm in southeastern Utah. Truly a joy to drive. My only gripe was that, because it runs so quietly, I found myself driving sorta fast in some situations I probably should not have been. The good news is that the car didn't seem to care - so I guess I don't. Have an issue with the backup lights I'd like to share.

For some reason the backup lights are next to useless. Initially, I thought that the LEDs were just not bright enough, but they are. After some checking it became apparent that the lights point up rather than down. So, the backup lights light the trees - not the ground. I'll bring it to the attention of the dealer the next time I'm in. Would like to know whether anyone else is experiencing the same problem.

regards,

Fenton House

[NeoN]

Back Again/

We have about 8,000 on the 400h. Very nice machine. Drove it from Seattle to Phoenix for Thanksgiving - we hit every kind of weather. Even had to detour around a nasty wind storm in southeastern Utah. Truly a joy to drive. My only gripe was that, because it runs so quietly, I found myself driving sorta fast in some situations I probably should not have been. The good news is that the car didn't seem to care - so I guess I don't. Have an issue with the backup lights I'd like to share.

For some reason the backup lights are next to useless. Initially, I thought that the LEDs were just not bright enough, but they are. After some checking it became apparent that the lights point up rather than down. So, the backup lights light the trees - not the ground. I'll bring it to the attention of the dealer the next time I'm in. Would like to know whether anyone else is experiencing the same problem.

regards,

Fenton House

if the engine is too quiet, which I found to be the case... drop in a K&N air filter and hear that sucker roar... and get a few extra HP while your at it. Only $30 shipped from ebay, check it out I love my filter!!

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

Back Again/

. . . snip

For some reason the backup lights are next to useless. Initially, I thought that the LEDs were just not bright enough, but they are. After some checking it became apparent that the lights point up rather than down. So, the backup lights light the trees - not the ground. I'll bring it to the attention of the dealer the next time I'm in. Would like to know whether anyone else is experiencing the same problem.

regards,

Fenton House

Hmmm. Never noticed that. Example, I like to back into the garage. I painted a yellow line on the floor of the garage so that when I see the yellow line where it lookl like it's aligned with the bumper, then I know I canclose the garage door. So even tho there's only a 60 watt bulb in the garage door opener, the garage is pretty dark ... especially at the rear of the 400h. True, the brake lights are much brighter, but the back up light brightness never seemed to be an issue to us. I guess you could always wire in an extra lamp, if you don't mind the look.

[williz]

Back Again/

We have about 8,000 on the 400h. Very nice machine. Drove it from Seattle to Phoenix for Thanksgiving - we hit every kind of weather. Even had to detour around a nasty wind storm in southeastern Utah. Truly a joy to drive. My only gripe was that, because it runs so quietly, I found myself driving sorta fast in some situations I probably should not have been. The good news is that the car didn't seem to care - so I guess I don't. Have an issue with the backup lights I'd like to share.

For some reason the backup lights are next to useless. Initially, I thought that the LEDs were just not bright enough, but they are. After some checking it became apparent that the lights point up rather than down. So, the backup lights light the trees - not the ground. I'll bring it to the attention of the dealer the next time I'm in. Would like to know whether anyone else is experiencing the same problem.

regards,

Fenton House

yes this is a well known problem!

look into your reversing lights. if there is this silver bulb cover mounted inside than you can easily increase the brightness of your reversing lights by taking this cover out (can easily be done, it is only screwed in place, i can send you an instruction to remove it).

it is mounted on the wrong side of the bulb so the light beam is looking up and the street behind your car is not illuminated.

[LexRexBlue]

I have an old RX, too and the backup lights aren't great. I probably just got used to it. However, when I got the 2008 IS I couldn't believe how bright the lights were; especially in the back up camera!

[flybones]

I am interested to know how to access the backup lights. I can see a 10mm nut on the edge of the liftgate, but the light housing seems to be held in by more than just this. Is it necessary to remove the fascia panel inside the liftgate to get at the liftgate-mounted lights? I can see the silver reflector Willi referred to, and it does seem to aim the light up. This is apparently not an LED, according to the bulb list in the owners' manual.

Thanks.

Eric

[williz]

I am interested to know how to access the backup lights. I can see a 10mm nut on the edge of the liftgate, but the light housing seems to be held in by more than just this. Is it necessary to remove the fascia panel inside the liftgate to get at the liftgate-mounted lights? I can see the silver reflector Willi referred to, and it does seem to aim the light up. This is apparently not an LED, according to the bulb list in the owners' manual.

Thanks.

Eric

this should help!

Removing_bulb_cover_from_reverseing__light.pdf

[flybones]

Thanks! That's just what I needed. I'll see how it looks.

Eric

[wwest]

An LS400...but....

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...6&hl=backup

[williz]

An LS400...but....

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...6&hl=backup

we did something very similar with the RX400h and used a 35W halogen lamp. result was a melted lamp socked, a blown fuse and a malfunctioning head unit.

[wwest]

An LS400...but....

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...6&hl=backup

we did something very similar with the RX400h and used a 35W halogen lamp. result was a melted lamp socked, a blown fuse and a malfunctioning head unit.

It seems improbable, impossible really, that a 35W halogen, even two, would be left on long enough (backup lights...??) to melt the socket, blow the fuse, or cause a malfunctioning "head" unit. My '01 RX300 has the same arrangement and has NEVER blown the fuse. What "head" unit do you speak of?

[williz]

An LS400...but....

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...6&hl=backup

we did something very similar with the RX400h and used a 35W halogen lamp. result was a melted lamp socked, a blown fuse and a malfunctioning head unit.

It seems improbable, impossible really, that a 35W halogen, even two, would be left on long enough (backup lights...??) to melt the socket, blow the fuse, or cause a malfunctioning "head" unit. My '01 RX300 has the same arrangement and has NEVER blown the fuse. What "head" unit do you speak of?

Fact is the following:

On our first try to improve the reversing lights on the RX400h we used stronger bulbs/lamps, in my case 35W halogens, fitting into the standard lamp sockets.

After 2 weeks the back up camera and the navigation system went out of function.

Lexus dealer/service found a blown fuse controlling some equipment in the trunk including the reversing lights. When the technician took out the reversing lights/sockets, the sockets had been crumbled and black and caused a shortage.

So what I am saying is, if you upgrade the lamps “be careful and make sure that the lamp sockets not getting to hot”.

And we found a much easier way of improving the reversing lights by taking out this funny lamp cover forcing the light going up instead of illuminating the street behind the car.

[wwest]

An LS400...but....

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...6&hl=backup

we did something very similar with the RX400h and used a 35W halogen lamp. result was a melted lamp socked, a blown fuse and a malfunctioning head unit.

It seems improbable, impossible really, that a 35W halogen, even two, would be left on long enough (backup lights...??) to melt the socket, blow the fuse, or cause a malfunctioning "head" unit. My '01 RX300 has the same arrangement and has NEVER blown the fuse. What "head" unit do you speak of?

Fact is the following:

On our first try to improve the reversing lights on the RX400h we used stronger bulbs/lamps, in my case 35W halogens, fitting into the standard lamp sockets.

After 2 weeks the back up camera and the navigation system went out of function.

Lexus dealer/service found a blown fuse controlling some equipment in the trunk including the reversing lights. When the technician took out the reversing lights/sockets, the sockets had been crumbled and black and caused a shortage.

So what I am saying is, if you upgrade the lamps “be careful and make sure that the lamp sockets not getting to hot”.

And we found a much easier way of improving the reversing lights by taking out this funny lamp cover forcing the light going up instead of illuminating the street behind the car.

So......, I'm guessing here.........

You had a relatively poor, high resistance, connection for the 35W halogen where it was plugged into the socket....

In the process of the dealer troubleshooting the backup camera problem the backup lights were left on for an extremely L...o......n...........g time.

I'm surprised the service technian didn't smell something burning and go to the source sooner...

[williz]

An LS400...but....

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...6&hl=backup

we did something very similar with the RX400h and used a 35W halogen lamp. result was a melted lamp socked, a blown fuse and a malfunctioning head unit.

It seems improbable, impossible really, that a 35W halogen, even two, would be left on long enough (backup lights...??) to melt the socket, blow the fuse, or cause a malfunctioning "head" unit. My '01 RX300 has the same arrangement and has NEVER blown the fuse. What "head" unit do you speak of?

Fact is the following:

On our first try to improve the reversing lights on the RX400h we used stronger bulbs/lamps, in my case 35W halogens, fitting into the standard lamp sockets.

After 2 weeks the back up camera and the navigation system went out of function.

Lexus dealer/service found a blown fuse controlling some equipment in the trunk including the reversing lights. When the technician took out the reversing lights/sockets, the sockets had been crumbled and black and caused a shortage.

So what I am saying is, if you upgrade the lamps “be careful and make sure that the lamp sockets not getting to hot”.

And we found a much easier way of improving the reversing lights by taking out this funny lamp cover forcing the light going up instead of illuminating the street behind the car.

So......, I'm guessing here.........

You had a relatively poor, high resistance, connection for the 35W halogen where it was plugged into the socket....

In the process of the dealer troubleshooting the backup camera problem the backup lights were left on for an extremely L...o......n...........g time.

I'm surprised the service technian didn't smell something burning and go to the source sooner...

sorry, wrong guessing!

there was high contact pressure, but we used the original sockets. you are using (at least it looks like so on the pictures) special halogen high temp sockets mounted somehow on the original sockets.

during the lexus technician troubleshooting process, the reversing light had not been on, because the fuse for the reversing lights was already blown from the melted sockets and the blown fuse caused the malfunctions on the head unit.

but please don't get me wrong here! i am not saying what you are doing is wrong, no. but it should be done with special care and it is not as simple as it looks!

as you named it, resistance between lamp and socked, lamp heat, burning time...... and remember resistance between lamp and socked may change over time, contact pressure becomes weaker and socked temp gets higher.....

[Dave2008-RX350]

Fenton House said the following, "For some reason the backup lights are next to useless. Initially, I thought that the LEDs were just not bright enough, but they are. After some checking it became apparent that the lights point up rather than down. So, the backup lights light the trees - not the ground. I'll bring it to the attention of the dealer the next time I'm in. Would like to know whether anyone else is experiencing the same problem."

regards,

Fenton House

Yes, omg yes, I even got LED this week and it does NOTHING because they are pointing UP, absolutely Fenton House.

[Dave2008-RX350]

Any Solutions to the light pointing up?

[Ohdanigirl]

On 12/5/2019 at 11:30 PM, Dave2008-RX350 said:

Fenton House said the following, "For some reason the backup lights are next to useless. Initially, I thought that the LEDs were just not bright enough, but they are. After some checking it became apparent that the lights point up rather than down. So, the backup lights light the trees - not the ground. I'll bring it to the attention of the dealer the next time I'm in. Would like to know whether anyone else is experiencing the same problem."

regards,

Fenton House

Yes, omg yes, I even got LED this week and it does NOTHING because they are pointing UP, absolutely Fenton House.

Does anyone know how to remove that weird plastic cover? I tried opening the file shared earlier but it won't download for me

[bumankumar3]

Thanks! That's just what I needed.

[bumankumar3]

Thanks and regards..  Teatv  boi hrms