2006 Avanti Exterior LED lights upgrade

[ronmanfredi]

One upgrade that can’t be beat is to change out the run/turn/brake light exterior bulbs to LEDs. (I don't do the headlights since most don't provide the beams the way that I want them).  I’ve done this more than once on other vehicles and the result is always excellent.  When it comes to the turn signals though, there is always a flashing problem created since the LED bulbs don’t have enough electrical load on them to make the flasher work properly.  If you have a 2005 or older Avanti, then you can solve the problem by using a United Pacific 90652 LED Turn Signal Flasher but not on a 2006-2007 S197 Avanti since it does not have one. As Can Bus systems improved, manufacturers like Ford integrated the flasher within a module known as the Smart Junction Box (SJB).  Other manufacturers call this a Generic Electronic Module (GEM).  In the case of our Avanti’s, the SJB is mounted on the passenger’s kick panel and includes a PC board along with various Can Bus system fuses.  The SJB operates other parts of the car like the convertible top, heated rear window, interior and exterior lighting, some instrument cluster components among others.  Because of this, the recommended way to make the turn signal and emergency flashers work properly is to add 50-Watt, 6 Ohm resistors to each LED light bulb in the turn signal circuit. 

These are very common today and I purchased mine off Amazon.  For our 06-07 Avanti’s, we need 6 of these since there are 6 turn signal bulbs in the car.  Once you read about them or receive them, you’ll discover that they generate heat, enough so that you don’t want to zip tie or tape them to any other plastic part in the car.  In my case, I decide to make simple brackets out of 1/6” x 1” aluminum flat metal. For the front, rear and front side marker lights I purchased the Auxito bulb brand off Amazon since I like the bulb design and have used them before without any problems.  With the bulbs and resistors in hand, the next thing to do was to make up the brackets for the resistors.  The fronts were simple since you can use one of the bumper mounting bolts the extend inside the tire wheel well and simply add a nut to hold the bracket in place.  I used blue Loctite on the nuts to be sure they wouldn’t come loose.  The rear lights were a little more challenging since you want to stay off of the interior trim pieces / carpet and provide room for the resistors to get some “air”.  Once the bulbs and resistors were installed, the bright and crisp lights were now a welcome addition.