New guy DRL question

[74Pantera]

I just bought a 2013 PPV yesterday. White, 108K miles, great clean body and interior. 4000 mile oil changes since day 1.

The horn didn't work and I connected "the tan wires" as per this forum and that's fixed.

I was told "one of your DRLs is burnt out". OK, I replaced both sides with LED equivalents. Now neither side works. Tried engine on & off, in park & drive, parking brake on & off, and all the combos I could think of. So I had at least one before I fixed it... are the LED lights an issue? Am I doing something out of sequence? All the other lights are good.


I been reading the forum for hours and apologize if I've missed an obvious answer somewhere.
Thanks for any input you might have!

Michael

 

[74Pantera]

I just bought a 2013 PPV yesterday. White, 108K miles, great clean body and interior. 4000 mile oil changes since day 1.

The horn didn't work and I connected "the tan wires" as per this forum and that's fixed.

I was told "one of your DRLs is burnt out". OK, I replaced both sides with LED equivalents. Now neither side works. Tried engine on & off, in park & drive, parking brake on & off, and all the combos I could think of. So I had at least one before I fixed it... are the LED lights an issue? Am I doing something out of sequence? All the other lights are good.


I been reading the forum for hours and apologize if I've missed an obvious answer somewhere.
Thanks for any input you might have!

Michael

Well, I took the LED units out of the DRLs and tried the one good old incandescent bulb and it worked
on both sides. So I guess LEDs won't replace the old style bulbs, at least not yet on this Tahoe until I figure something else out. Anybody see this before?

Michael

 

[kbuskill]

Well, I took the LED units out of the DRLs and tried the one good old incandescent bulb and it worked
on both sides. So I guess LEDs won't replace the old style bulbs, at least not yet on this Tahoe until I figure something else out. Anybody see this before?

Michael

Try rotating the bulb 180° in the socket. Some of the cheaper LED bulbs are unidirectional and will only work when inserted in the proper orientation.

Also make sure you bought the correct bulbs as there IS a difference in the socket configuration between the 3157 and the 3157CK.

The bulbs look and fit the same but the power and ground terminals are in different locations.

 

[74Pantera]

Thanks! I'll definitely look at that in the morning. I did have 2 good standard bulbs that I put in and they worked. I found I could change them pretty quickly by just taking the screws out of the light housing and the upper grill. Moving the light forward and tilting the grill out let me reach thru from the sides by the radiator.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

As said above, flip them over. Polarity matters on a lot of LEDs. Also, DRL should be 4114 bulbs, not 3157 or any variation thereof. The 3157s will fit and work, but usually not for long.

 

[RichardCranium]

As said above, flip them over. Polarity matters on a lot of LEDs. Also, DRL should be 4114 bulbs, not 3157 or any variation thereof. The 3157s will fit and work, but usually not for long.

Came here to post this as well, had the same in my experience. This is definitely one difference between cheap (box store) LED's and top shelf pieces. Not calling you out for that by any means, hell you may never have a problem with them beyond rotating them to get them on. There are certainly differences in the amoled as well, but if it works for you and you are happy then you're good.

Hope flipping them works for you.

 

[74Pantera]

They're Sylvania 3157. I don't know if those are cheap or not, but I'll try flipping them. Thanks for all the info!

 

[74Pantera]

Hard headed as I am I thought I'd give it one more try...I'm already scratched up anyway.
I took the old bulbs out, put the LEDs back in and they both work fine. I was sure I had tried
every combination in the book...I guess not. On the bright side I found I can change both DRLs
in 25-30 minutes start to finish.

Thanks for all the input!
Michael

 

[74Pantera]

Hard headed as I am I thought I'd give it one more try...I'm already scratched up anyway.
I took the old bulbs out, put the LEDs back in and they both work fine. I was sure I had tried
every combination in the book...I guess not. On the bright side I found I can change both DRLs
in 25-30 minutes start to finish.

Thanks for all the input!
Michael

 

[RichardCranium]

If you end up like me, and go through phases were you try different bulbs and setups for your headlights (or anything in the front housings), you can leave that side bolt out.....the once accessed from the removed inner fenderwell. Those two top bolts and the bottom divots that snap into the light mount hold the headlights just fine in my experience, I've had them out since the first day I had this Tahoe. I can have both headlights out in about 5 minutes now.