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Adding and programming LED Rubicon fenders to my Willys

geolchris

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I really liked the look of the high top painted rubicon fenders, especially with the LED turn signals to match the LED headlights that come on the Willys. So, I added them. Here’s what I did.

First, I sourced a used set of painted fenders off a Rubicon. They were $400 on Craigslist, in good enough shape. What I sadly didn’t see until I got them home was that whoever removed them was an ape and cut the turn signal wiring about halfway back inside the fender. Bummer.

I figured I’d go the DIY route for painting the fenders using the Mopar rattle can paint and SprayMax 2k high gloss clear coat. I am not sure I recommend this method, as it ended up taking 13(!!) cans of the Mopar paint to get the job done. The Mopar paint says it does not need clear coat, but that’s a lie. It does not have a very nice finish. So I also used 6 cans of really nice clear coat to finish it up. The final product is pretty damn good, but it was about $225 in paint. Still, cheaper than what body shops were quoting me for the job, though, which was $200 to $300 per fender.

Mounting on the car was dead simple, just like any guide out there for removing and replacing the fenders.

Wiring to make the LEDs work as expected was pretty easy too with the right components. I did have to buy a programmer. I did not want to spend the money for a Tazer, so I went the iPhone App route. I got the JSCAN app (free app to view, $18.99 license in-app purchase to save changes), vGate iCar Pro BLE 4 ($29, https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071D8SYXN?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title) and the Chrysler 12+8 cable to get around the OBD security gateway ($37, https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07W4YF2H7?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title). All in, $85 for a device that seems to be functionally similar to the tazer, you just use your phone to change the settings. More money saved for more Jeep toys!

Since my wires were unfortunately cut, I spliced them into my existing halogen harness. If your turn signal harness is the complete Rubicon harness, and you have five wires on the body side of the fender harness - this is plug and play. In my case the halogen fender harness was missing one wire, the wire that goes to the DRLs. Now, my car had the wire on the body harness side for the DRL, white/yellow on the left, white/blue on the right. I am not sure if a normal sport or sport S has the wire on the body side, it would be interesting for someone to confirm. If not, then the Willys has it because the Willys has half the LED package (headlights, not fenders). But, since I had the wire on the body side, I just tee spliced into it and ran a wire along side the fender harness to the proper wire at the turn signal. I also tee’d in the yellow/brown wire (bulb fault wire) into the side marker wire, from all my research it seems like that’s how it is on the Rubi harness. If you have a cut rubi harness too, PM me and I can give you more detail on how I wired it up if you need help.

At this point, the fender LEDs worked for blinkers and the dim white LEDs would come on when the park lights or headlights were on. The lights were off when the headlights were in off or auto. Also, without programming, the blinkers would work for about a minute and then the system would report a bulb out and the hyper flash would start, and interestingly the computer would fully disable the whole front fender light assembly (amber and white lights) until the computer was cycled.
Onto programming - with the JSCAN app open, and the bypass cable plugged into the wires under the dash and above the OBD plug, and the iCar adapter plugged into the bypass cable, you’re ready to go. Press the ignition button until the car is in run, but don’t turn it on. In the app, connect to the car.
  • Go to adaptation
  • Go to LED Lights Settings
  • Go to LED Front Park/Marker Lamps settings and change to activate
  • Go back, and go to LED Front Turn Lamps present, change to activate
  • Go back twice, go to DRL Daytime Running Lights configuration. In here, there’s multiple things you have to change:
  • DRL Configuration: Optional DRL
  • DRL Dropout Enable: Active (turns off bright white lamp when amber is flashing)
  • DRL Lamp Location: Dedicated
  • LED Dedicated DRL Present: Active
  • Left Dedicated DRL Lamps Output Present: Active
  • Right Dedicated DRL Lamps Output Present: Active
When you’re done setting all those, you’re going to be like me and jump out of the car super excited to see the bright white lights on! Only to be disappointed because they aren’t. But the headlight halos are. What the fuck? Oh...turns out, the bright white fender DRL lights only come on when the engine is running AND the e-brake is off. So I disconnected the app from the car, turned the car off, unplugged the bypass and plugged the wires back in under the dash, and had to jam a brick behind a wheel and start the engine and take the brake off and voila - the bright white LEDs were on.

Sweet!

I hope this helps some of you other adventurous Jeepers out there.

Jeep Wrangler JL Adding and programming LED Rubicon fenders to my Willys 3B04A039-D3B3-4477-B900-22F609934A54

Jeep Wrangler JL Adding and programming LED Rubicon fenders to my Willys 3F4536AB-6D17-4F53-AAA6-D873CD06E38D
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Tdkrum5

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I have the sport Altitude with the LED headlights and tail lights. I too would like to find some Rubicon LED lights and fenders. Thanks for the info and the tips to get them all working. I was hoping this would all be a plug and play and it would all work.
 

df007

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@geolchris nice work. I went through much of that updating my Sahara from halogen to OEM LED stuff and also elected to try the Jscan route. The one thing I still have not been able to do is get the Halos to work on the headlights. Jscan has recently added a bunch of options here to try but I haven't been able to get the setting or combo of settings. Really trying to avoid spending another 330 on a Tazer.

Since you seem switched on with the Jscan stuff, and you have working OEM LED headlights, would you mind scanning you Jeep and letting me know what you have set for the following in the DRL section? To see them all you may need to go Settings>App & Adapter>Show advanced options. BTW you can see the "factory" settings by enabling "Display factory adaptation values" for anything you change in case you need to go back.
Jeep Wrangler JL Adding and programming LED Rubicon fenders to my Willys 1592566716205
 

LLANERO

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I have a sport s and mine has the drl wire on the body harness.
I set the drls to "feders" and everything woks like factory with my hight top fenders with leds.
 
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geolchris

geolchris

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Ok -

Signature Lamps or Mirror Repeater Present pin a5 & a.7 halo
Signature Lamp

Switch Lamp Indicator #1 - HALO
Not Present

Switch Lamp Indicator #1 Present - Pin F34
Deactivated

Switch Lamp Indicator #2 - HALO
Not Present

Switch Lamp Indicator #2 Present - Pin F37
Deactivated

Switch Lamp Indicator #3 Present - Pin F43
Deactivated


I think the three pins are if you wire up your halos to a different pin then normal in the fuse box.

On the same page, check these -

DRL Configuration
Optional DRL

DRL Lamp Location
Dedicated

LED Dedicated DRL Present
Active

I think those three reference the Halos, but not 100%.
 

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df007

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Ok -

Signature Lamps or Mirror Repeater Present pin a5 & a.7 halo
Signature Lamp

Switch Lamp Indicator #1 - HALO
Not Present

Switch Lamp Indicator #1 Present - Pin F34
Deactivated

Switch Lamp Indicator #2 - HALO
Not Present

Switch Lamp Indicator #2 Present - Pin F37
Deactivated

Switch Lamp Indicator #3 Present - Pin F43
Deactivated


I think the three pins are if you wire up your halos to a different pin then normal in the fuse box.

On the same page, check these -

DRL Configuration
Optional DRL

DRL Lamp Location
Dedicated

LED Dedicated DRL Present
Active

I think those three reference the Halos, but not 100%.
Thanks a lot! Hopefully I can use that info with the Jscan folks to help the situation. It is helpful to see that you don't have any of the more obscure settings activated. The last three you added are all the same for me too. Thanks again!
 

LHuffman47

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I have done all of this, and the DRLs function perfectly. My only issue is that I have a constant turn signalS out notification, anyone else experiencing this?
 
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geolchris

geolchris

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I have done all of this, and the DRLs function perfectly. My only issue is that I have a constant turn signalS out notification, anyone else experiencing this?
Yes, you gotta set (in JSCAN) the front turns to LED instead of halogen or whatever the default is. That’ll disable the check.
 

LHuffman47

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Yes, you gotta set (in JSCAN) the front turns to LED instead of halogen or whatever the default is. That’ll disable the check.
I don’t see a selection for halogen or led just active or deactivated
Jeep Wrangler JL Adding and programming LED Rubicon fenders to my Willys 26168238-2495-4B57-9F65-D32B7AA64E5A
 

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LLANERO

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I don’t see a selection for halogen or led just active or deactivated
Jeep Wrangler JL Adding and programming LED Rubicon fenders to my Willys 26168238-2495-4B57-9F65-D32B7AA64E5A
I'm having the same issue. If I select LED, I get the lights out message (my fender lights are aftermarket).
If I select halogen, lights flicker.
I added resistors (with the halogen setting) and, with the ignition on, but engine not running, everything works fine, but with the engine running none of the fender lights work.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
 

LHuffman47

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I'm having the same issue. If I select LED, I get the lights out message (my fender lights are aftermarket).
If I select halogen, lights flicker.
I added resistors (with the halogen setting) and, with the ignition on, but engine not running, everything works fine, but with the engine running none of the fender lights work.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
I have factory LEDs, no issues at all in functionality! Just sucks to have the warning all day everyday
 
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geolchris

geolchris

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Yes, active is what I have it set to, sorry.

Let me double check my programming today and see if there’s other settings.

For factory LED’s, you used the factory harness too, right?
 

LHuffman47

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Yes, active is what I have it set to, sorry.

Let me double check my programming today and see if there’s other settings.

For factory LED’s, you used the factory harness too, right?
correct, yes I used existing factory harness
 

jeepinization

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I also have a 2020 Willy and ordered the high fenders from the factory which included the LED/DRL lights. As I was also adding the AUX upgrade at the time and it also needed to be flashed at the dealer the dealer said they would turn on the DRL / LED Fender lights at the same time and not charge me.

After getting it back from the dealer and tested it, the DRL, LED and turn signal lights were all working but I still was getting the front turn signal lights error message. I took it back to the dealer, they turned everything they could on just in case to make it work and it still had an error message.

They reached out to their contacts at Jeep and Jeep basically came back and said this is a known issue but they do not have a solution at this time, which I find hard to believe, especially because the Rubicon Fenders are sold as "High Fenders with LED lights" as a mopar upgrade for any JL model jeep (Sport, Willy, Sahara and Rubicon) according to the mopar site. You would think they wouldn't sell the High Fenders with LED upgrade package for all JL models if they couldn't support it.

I could have sworn I have seen on the forums somewhere a few people who also had the dealer flash their computer and the dealer had figured out how to flash the computer in a way in which they successfully remove the turn signal error message go away but can't seem to find it.
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