How To: 5th Gen LED interior conversion

I think Toyota did great with the 5th gen 4runner but they really missed the mark with such an amber colored interior light choice,


It's just not bright enough for me so this is what I did:

I purchased a set of interior LED's from member csjumper2003 on tacomaworld with 9 total lights, the 2 map, 4 lower door, dome and 2 rear door dome lights:

and then the fun began!

First up was the 4 lower door lights, I really like that they are there but again just had such a poor light output they might have well been non-existant. You can use an interior pry tool if you have one or as I did a small standard screwdriver for most of it, just be careful but I had no issues using one.

Start by prying in the mid part of the light on the right side


and the assembly will pop loose


disconnect the power clip from the light assembly


once you have this there is a small tab you will pry up and slide the grey part and the cover apart



now gently pop the grey hood off and you will have access to the light...finally


pull the stock light out and insert the LED


***at this time plug the light back into the door just to make sure it turns on, these LED's will only work in one direction, if it doesn't light up pull the LED out and turn it 180 degrees and put it back in the holder, it should light up now, I would do this step on each light otherwise you could have to take it apart just to turn the light around.***

if that works then pop the grey hood back on


and reattach the cover to the assembly


reconnect the power cable and insert the left side of the assembly first and push the right side back until is pops into place. Congrats only 3 to go, once you get the hang of it you can do a door in about 2 minutes.

Next was the rear door dome lights


they both come off the same way, you want to push your pry tool or small screwdriver on the drivers side edge up, you are going to be pushing a metal clip back to allow the light to come out


once it is free it will just slide out and hang by the power cable


pop the cover off, there are 4 tabs on the edge, be careful these didn't feel too sturdy.
the light is held at two points, one of them is flexible and you can push it down to release the light, in this case it is the tab on the bottom of the light


insert the LED, make sure the LED's are pointed out so they will put the most light out, sounds simple but I have done it wrong in the past
test the light by flipping the switch to the on position and if it lights up reattach the clear cover and reinsert the power cable side first. them just press the side with the metal clip back and it will pop into place. Both drivers and passenger sides come apart the same, the clip is on the drivers side.

Now onto the interior dome light, same type of bulb however you only want to pop the cover off, the light assembly stays mounted to the ceiling
there are 2 spots on the side with the switch facing the front of the 4runner to pop the cover off of



this has the same flexible metal tab inside holding the light, it is a tight fit if you have larger hands but just take your time putting the light in. If it tests good and lights up you just have to pop the cover back on


Finally onto the map lights, start by using your pry tool or screwdriver and start at the side closest to you

you will remove this

in a perfect world where engineers gave you room to work you would just reach up and pull the lights out of the console, if you can then hats off to you and you're a better man than I am. I tried needle nose pliers with electrical tape wrapped around them to grab the bulb...no luck. I tried using a wad a various tapes to stick to the light and give me a boost pulling them out...no luck. Finally I just pulled the upper console, so much easier and it took about 5 minutes start to finish.

I started on the windshield side of the crawl control box, there are two openings to pry down on, it really did not take much force so don't over to it

then the crawl control box will come down, disconnect it and set it aside for the moment

there are two (I think 8mm bolts) to undo in the opening where the crawl control box was

now pull down, there are two connectors that it will pop loose from, just don't go too crazy, this is attached by a cable you don't want to break
you now have a panel that is loose and you can finally get to the lights and in my case a wife that came in and gently reminded me we have only made one payment so far and to knock my shit off

on the back side there are two black connectors, turn them about a half turn and they along with the installed light will come out

insert the LED's and for gods sake check to make sure they work so you don't have to do this again, if they do then reinstall the upper console the reverse of they way it came out


If everything went well you will have much brighter and more usable light, good luck!

 

Looks great man!

Appreciate the great how to with good pictures as well.

I've ordered from him before on TW and he has the best stuff.

 

thanks it's made a nice and noticeable difference, I'm hoping to do the puddle lights on the door mirrors soon as well.

 

Looks great! Good write up. I did mine about a month ago. I didn't pull the crawl control out. If you wrap the tape around the bulb and twist it up it gives you something to hold on to. I cussed at it for 20 min and used a lot of tape but they came out.

 

Just did the same to mine last night. Used Yorkim lights from Amazon.

You forgot to do the license plates lights

 

I decided against the license plate light, I them on my Tacoma and it was too bright for my taste, it's the only place I liked the dimmer factory ones

 

I feel ya on that. I would like it if mine were a little dimmer but I do like the clean white look.

 

Thanks for the detailed post, and the great pictures. Seeing what the big difference LEDs make, I got the kit and did the conversion. Besides being much brighter, the cool white light goes so much better with the modern interior.

Also, I was able to get the map bulbs quite easily, and you weren't kidding about them being in there tight. I wrapped some electric tape on the tips of long nose pliers (really long ones from harbor freight, but regular needle nose ones should work too). I opened the door and waited for the bulbs to get hot, then grabbed the bulb with pliers and held it tight for a minute. The heat melted the tape enough to get a better grip, and then just pulled down to get the bulb out. I didn't take any pictures, your post covers it great.

 

Great idea on using the bulb heat to get a better grip with the tape. I really wish I would have thought of that, but hey I learned how to remove the panel so I guess that's a win

 

I went to PrecisionLED. They have a kit for interior LED's and they also have a great install video. Check it out.

 

How about backup lights? Just thinking

 

I got Yorkims. Been running their 194's, and 921's for years without issue. Their bulbs are pure white, no blue or yellow tint at all.

$11 Yorkim 912 921 LED Bulb, Backup Light Bulbs High Power 2835 15-SMD Chipsets Extremely Bright Error Free T15 906 W16W for Back Up, Reverse, Tail, Brake Lights, 6000K White, Pack of 4

https://www.amazon.com/Yorkim-Extremely-Bright-Chipsets-Reverse/dp/B01L3M9ORS

*edit: Just realized I look like a Yorkim salesman, I promise I dont work for them, just like their shit.

 

Awesome write up Dan . For sure one of the mods on the to do list. Might be my 1st?

 

it is night and day different, also don't forget the reverse lights too:

 

On the kit I put in my Taco, the reverse lights were the ones I swapped back to incandescent. The LED versions with my kit didn't throw light nearly as well in the reverse location...I'll have to check those other LED bulbs out from above for my Runner.

 

Thank you for posting this. Just installed mine.

 

Awesome and thanks for posting with pics!

 

Any problems blowing fuses? There are a couple threads on tacomaworld about people blowing fuses when swapping to leds.

 

No problems yet, I also did this in my Tacoma for about 2 years with no problems. It might be more about where they are getting theirs from.

 

Sweet write up.

 

Do you have any issues with the map lights or dome lights not shutting off completely? I had a Jeep grand Cherokee I swapped to LED's and the map lights would just go dim not off. It was tremendously annoying.

 

Did you also do puddle lamps in the mirrors? I'm thinking of hunting those bulbs down too.

 

no issues with them turning off, they fade in and out like the factory ones, just a lot more light.

 

I thought about it and I will be doing them, its been so cold here I don't want to mess with the plastic and have it be fragile and brittle so it will have to wait for a month or two I think they are the same bulb as the license plate, that kind of scares me as when I did the swap on my Tacoma the plate bulbs both started to strobe and fail, the only bulbs that ever did that too. I think it might have just been 2 bad bulbs though.

 

Finally got it done your instructions made it so simple. I'd give myself an 4 out of 5 just because I had a little trouble with the map lights and didn't read your instructions carefully but when I did it all went down like clock work! Keep up the good work bro!!!

 

Glad it worked out well, do guy like the change?

 

One of the best and most needed upgrades. Wish I knew what to change out the stock headlight and fog lights to? Suggestions???