WinterPark321

I was attempting to change the halogen reverse bulb to LED on my 2013 GL550 when I realized there was no writeup on how to reach this bulb. It took sometime to figure it out, but in the end the LED produced a dashboard error. However here is how to do it if you're wondering

1. Pop off the interior tailgate trunk handle using a screw driver, revealing two T20 screws. Be careful not to scratch it.




2.Remove the two screws using T20 bit.






3. Pop off trim cover on the left of tailgate. Put your hand in the hole of the trim cover and slowly pull towards yourself. The tailgate trim is made of two pieces. The one you are pulling out is the smaller piece. Wear gloves as I cut myself accidentally.




4. Once the small trim is pulled out, remove the two electrical connectors. One is connected to power tailgate closure/lock and the other is connected to a courtesy light. Now removal of the large tailgate trim pops off by popping the yellow rivets out. If you shine a flashlight, you can see the yellow rivets. There is a large piece of insulation so removal will require popping the yellow rivets near you first before you can get to the inner yellow rivets. Once all rivets are out, there are two pieces of angled plastic attached to the tailgate trim, so you will need to angle it down to remove the trim altogether (Pictured).






5. The circled areas are the reverse bulbs. Let me know if you find an error free reverse bulb.




Halogen bulb

LED Bulb

cchintx

Thanks for taking the time to document this. I had bought the same bulbs with the intent to install on a 2015 GL550. Since I did not have these instructions, I ended up installing them on a 2017 RX350 and no errors so far.

I am kinda hesitant to order another set for the GL550 since you are getting errors on it.

chassis

Thanks for the writeup. Did you happen to notice if there is a replaceable bulb for the lower marker/tail lamp in the reversing lamp housing? In other words, in addition to the reversing lamp bulb, is there another replaceable bulb in the same housing? There was a question on this recently, and the conclusion seems to be (not confirmed) there are no other replaceable bulbs, and that marker/tail lamp failure means a new housing assembly.

WinterPark321

@chassis I haven't noticed a replaceable bulb in the housing. Next time, if an error free LED is found working, I will take apart this again (lol, for the third time), and take a look at it.

bkwbkw

Will the reverse led lights still function normally with the error?

vivaitalia

Installed these on my 2013 GL450 ... no errors and they are SUPER bright ... been over 26 months and still work flawlessly (knock on internet) ... I'm sure there are even brighter lumens out there nowadays ... but these will blind people ... LOL .. enjoy

96sc3

Sorry, off topic.
I have the Amazon set, it works for the most part but sometimes I notice one or both leds will flicker while in reverse which may trigger the error message.
I flipped them around and have not noticed improvement.

bkwbkw

tried installing these today but didn’t work. I’ve flipped polarity and tried each combo and I still get the backup light message.

The message goes away after I clear it, but wondering if it’ll come on while I’m driving, because that’ll get annoying.

rkundla

This is old, but I will respond anyway.

There is another replaceable bulb you can see the black plastic holder in the same photos with the white reverse bulb holder. The bulb looks similar to the one used for the reverse - same blade style anyway. All the other lights in this housing appears to be integrated LEDs.

rkundla

I just tried to install some 921 LED bulbs off of Amazon and had the same problem.

When the transmission is put in reverse, the LED bulbs turn on, then turn off, turn on and off two more times, then you get the reverse lamp error on the display. If you hit "OK" to clear the error, the lights come on and stay on. You can switch out of reverse to drive, then back into reverse and the lights come on with no error. If you turn off the car and then turn it back on, it will go through the same cycling and error again.

I guess this is the computer checking to see if the bulb is working then throwing an error. I don't think it is a CANBUS problem as much as a current sensing issue since these bulbs do not draw as much current as the filament versions. I looked to see about installing the load resistors in parallel and there is no good place to tap into the wiring because there is a circuit board that appears to be in between, as well as no good place to mount the resistor to help dump the heat it generates.

I ended up getting some Sylvania Silverstar 921 bulbs and they are brighter than what I had originally, but not as bright as the LEDs. You win some and you lose some.