Ford LED Tailgate Lightbar Installed

[BoricuaBeautyx]

How is it mounted? Pics? Uses screws? Double sided sticky tape? The mounting surface of the plastic bumper is angled up.

They used the adhesive that came with the bar as well as tape to paste the wiring to the tailgate. I apologize if not in order, but there are some pictures attached to this post:

**Note: The third picture is what it looks like with the tailgate fully down. You do not see the light bar unless you lift it slightly. Hence, why the light bar is visable in pictures 2 and 4. ***

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[Sembazuru]

Color me corrected....Did some googling and found some fascinating articles about north America being the only continent that doesn't mandate amber rear turn signals.

Yeah, the US market is odd that way. See this video if you want to see a well worded rant about it:

 

[AugMec]

After a few back and forth emails, here is the summarized info from Putco…

Me: I installed the Ford accessory light bar made by Putco and my driver side tail light only works intermittently. Oddly, if you switch the headlights from auto to off and then back to auto. It’ll work as normal.

Putco: “Yes we have had some reports of issues occurring, can you send the pics/videos you have and I will show those to enginering.”

Me: Sent photos and videos…

Putco: “I have one idea you can try, if it works it would require running a wire from the battery to the blade but it may solve this issue in the meantime of the engineers finding a more user friendly solution.”

Me: I purchased this from Ford accessories directly so that I don’t have to cut or slice any of the trucks wires, what would you suggest?

Putco: “It would require running a wire from the lightbar to the vehicles battery so your vehicles wiring would not be touched but the wires coming out of the lightbars black box would need to be modified.”

Me: OK, what wife do I need to alter?

Putco: “Coming out of the blade box you will see 2 red wires, one side will have a heat shrink and one side is plain cut the side with the heat shrink and give power to the plain side.”

I will try this next weekend when I have some free time and see if it fixes the problem and will update with another post. Anyone with more knowledge on this truck can’t I just use the 12 V accessory wires in the bed instead of running a wire to the battery? As long as it’s supplies 12 V power it shouldn’t make a difference I don’t think.

 

[dennish]

Found this thread after purchasing my bar - curious, anyone successfully install without the drivers side issue? OP said he got a new harness - anyone reach out directly to Putco and get one? Finally - where instructions included - mine has none. Found them online, but found it odd.

 

[BoricuaBeautyx]

Found this thread after purchasing my bar - curious, anyone successfully install without the drivers side issue? OP said he got a new harness - anyone reach out directly to Putco and get one? Finally - where instructions included - mine has none. Found them online, but found it odd.

I had the dealership install it. But they actually had to called Putco to figure out that the harness was the issue because the dealership could not figure out what was happening. Mine did not come with instructions. I found the instructions online as well. No issues with mine since the fix!

 

[AugMec]

Found this thread after purchasing my bar - curious, anyone successfully install without the drivers side issue? OP said he got a new harness - anyone reach out directly to Putco and get one? Finally - where instructions included - mine has none. Found them online, but found it odd.

Found this thread after purchasing my bar - curious, anyone successfully install without the drivers side issue?

I installed mine (https://accessories.ford.com/products/tailgate-light-bar-halogen-led) myself but unfortunately also have the issue with the drivers side light only intermittently working.

OP said he got a new harness - anyone reach out directly to Putco and get one?

I reached out to putco ([email protected]) and they said to run a power wire from the battery to it which i hope to do this weekend. I have read on this site that curt (https://www.curtmfg.com/part/56477) makes a harness for lightbars thats works well and seemingly without the drivers taillight issue. Upon looking at it it does have a wire that runs directly to the battery. So i do believe that will be the fix for this putco version.

Finally - where instructions included - mine has none. Found them online, but found it odd.

The instruction were not included in the box - i looked it up on youtube.

 

[Rolmav]

They used the adhesive that came with the bar as well as tape to paste the wiring to the tailgate. I apologize if not in order, but there are some pictures attached to this post:

**Note: The third picture is what it looks like with the tailgate fully down. You do not see the light bar unless you lift it slightly. Hence, why the light bar is visable in pictures 2 and 4. ***

The guys at the dealer-installed mine above the bumper's plastic, still clear of the spare tire hole. They also ran the harness a different way. I'll have to take pictures on lunch if I remember, lol. I haven't noticed any issues with the tail lights not working. Hopefully, Putco figures it out sooner rather than later.

 

[BoricuaBeautyx]

The guys at the dealer-installed mine above the bumper's plastic, still clear of the spare tire hole. They also ran the harness a different way. I'll have to take pictures on lunch if I remember, lol. I haven't noticed any issues with the tail lights not working. Hopefully, Putco figures it out sooner rather than later.

I would like to see it! I love mine, but I don't really like how the dealership installed it. I do like the placement though, I like it visible. I'm really happy that it didn't give you issues. I was pretty ticked when that happened to me and it seems to be a common issue

 

[Rolmav]

I would like to see it! I love mine, but I don't really like how the dealership installed it. I do like the placement though, I like it visible. I'm really happy that it didn't give you issues. I was pretty ticked when that happened to me and it seems to be a common issue

I feel like mine is almost too high but, they talked with Putco and stated that's where it should be mounted. It is still visible so that's a good thing, lol. I'll be sure to get some pictures.

 

[K5Blazer]

Sounds like this is Plug & Pay.

 

[Rolmav]

Sounds like this is Plug & Pay.

It is but, there seems to be a common issue with the taillights not working with the light bar.

 

[dennish]

I asked Putco support:

I just purchased VNZ6Z-13B678-A Halogen/Led Tailgate Light Bar and it came with no directions. While searching, I found the directions in the forums, but also multiple individuals saying after installation, the driver side taillight only works intermittently.

My questions are is there a way to tell if my unit is affected or is it all - if so should I wait to install?

I just received this from Putco support:

There did seem to be an issue with the pinning of our harness but we have since addressed this, the only way to know if you have a bad harness is to plug it in and see what happens sadly. If it is a bad one then please fill out the link below and we will swap it.

Guess I will give it a go....

 

[K5Blazer]

It is but, there seems to be a common issue with the taillights not working with the light bar.

I said Pay, not Play

 

[Rolmav]

I said Pay, not Play

Oh, that's my bad, lol. Quick reading and no comprehension were at play here.

 

[Ottocycle]

I recently installed my Putco Bar. Did not buy it from ford accessories. Used the curt wiring harness. Have no issues with my driverside rear tail light. Mounted it with magnets so I can get to rear tire lowering hole

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