VLEDS Complete Interior Light Kit – 5th Gen 4Runner Interior LED light Conversion kit
Upgrading the interior and exterior lights on the 4Runner is pretty common.
The factory incandescent bulbs lack high-quality light output and the yellowish-orange hue doesn’t help much with increased visibility. When you need to light up the cabin or the rear cargo area, having dependable lighting is very important.
For our first set of interior LEDs, we did an interior LED light swap with Sylvania Bulbs and although they are good bulbs, and would more than likely last about 50X longer than our factory bulbs, they were not bright enough for us.
After doing some deep research on LED companies, I chose VLEDS.
There are many great in-depth reviews in forums on multiple platforms, and they also had outstanding reviews on Amazon. The design of their newest edition bulbs looked well-built, durable, and optics unlike any other on the market.
Color Options
Compared to the 6000k (bluish-white) Sylvania Bulbs we had installed before, VLEDS clearly outshined in all areas, pun intended. I knew they were going to produce better light output but was unsure of the real in-person experience.
From the maps to the hatch, VLEDS produced a higher quality light output and increased visibility. This interior light kit is offered in 5000k, and 6000k color, and for those who are unfamiliar the ‘k’ stands for Kelvin.
This Kelvin color is heavily debated and true color varies from company to company.
General Kelvin Color Meanings
- 5000k: Pure White
- 6000k: Blueish-White
We choose 5000k bulb (warm pure white) VLEDS rather than the 6000k bulbs (colder bluish-white) we had in the Sylvania Bulbs. I don’t have anything against 6000k bulbs, I just wanted to go a new direction to fully test, see and experience the difference from a day-to-day perspective.
It really comes down to what color you like more, and if you are possibly looking to color match your headlights.
It’s nice to know that VLEDS also offers 5500k color options in a few of their bulbs as well.
Whatever color you decide, just know that you are getting a well-built, well-designed, quality interior LED light kit with VLEDS.
Interior LED light kit for the 5th Gen 4Runner?
Very few companies make an actual interior LED kit for the 4Runner or any platform for that matter. If you are looking for a kit, you just need to piece together the light bulb numbers on your own.
With the help of VLEDS ‘select year, make and model’ on their website, we have pieced together an interior LED kit that works for our 5th Gen 4Runner.
We also added a couple of the exterior staples, like the Puddle Lights, License Plate Lights, and the Reverse Lights.
Amazon:
- Front Map Lights × 2: Check Price
- Rear Dome Light × 1: Check Price
- Rear Hatch/Trunk Lights × 2: Check Price
- Door Lights × 4: Check Price
- Vanity Mirror Lights × 2: Check Price
- Mirror/Puddle Light × 2: Check Price
- License Plate Lights × 2: Check Price
- Reverse Lights x 2: Check Price
VLEDs:
- Full Interior LED Kit: Check Price
- DE3175 (x3) – Check Price
- 168/194 (x6) – Check Price
- 194 (x2) – Check Price
- Don’t forget the pry tools: Check Price
Other VLED Lights:
IMPORTANT: One thing you will want for swapping interior LEDs is a set of plastic pry tools. They are fairly inexpensive and you will use them again if you plan on future mods.
In terms of pricing, VLEDS are not the cheapest on the market but they are of higher quality than most.
When it comes to direct fit bulbs for the automotive industry, VLEDS has the attention to detail in the design, the packaging, and customer service, which all go a long way in my book. You may also want to check out their ‘why choose us’ page, which helped me seal the deal.
Front Map Lights
Replacing the map lights in the 4Runner can be challenging. I still stick true to my tape and twist method. If you can do it right, it works like a charm every time.
Make a circle with your tape (sticky on the inside) and suck up around the bulb. Secure the tape around the bulb as high as you can. Twist the tape and gently start to tug down.
The tape should be enough to grab ahold and the bulb should pop out.
Rear Dome Light
Rear dome lights are simple as long as you find the first indentation to pop the cover off (first photo indicated above). To place the festoon bulb in, using your plastic PRY tools will help.
Start by pushing the loose tab holding the bulb in place… out and then hold it on the outside. Then, slide the festoon bulb in place and release the tab.
For putting the cap back on, make sure you reinstall with the larger tabs in first and then suck the shorter tabs back up on the other side.
Rear Hatch/Trunk Lights
Find the gap in the edge of the light cover. Using your PRY tools, pop the housing out of place. Once the housing is out, swap in the new festoon bulb from your VLEDS light kit.
Installing this LED is really simple.
Door/Courtesy Lights
There is a small gap in the housing of the door/courtesy lights as well as most lights.
Position your plastic pry tool and pop the housing out.
Using your thumbs, push the top plastic portion off of the main housing.
Then, again using both thumbs you want to separate the housing cover over the bulb.
This will allow full access to the incandescent bulb or in our case, old LEDs. Swap in the new VLEDS from your new LED light kit.
Vanity Mirror Lights
You have a couple of options here.
You can pop off the cover only and then swap in a new bulb or pull down the whole housing using needle nose pliers.
For photos and explanation, I felt like pulling the whole hosing down, although it’s not needed for this kit.
Small fingers or your wife’s help may be on your side if you don’t want to pull the housing down.
Mirror/Puddle Light
Well, there was some controversy on this post regarding the puddle lights.
I was curious to see how nerve-racking it would be to straight pull the cover off our mirror. Well, it was damn nerve-racking the whole time but it did work.
I pulled so hard both times the plastic cover flew off far beyond where I stood. It’s just really tight.
The other option is to remove the glass portion of the mirror like in that previous post. Both options are nerve-racking.
Good luck my young Jedis.
License Plate Lights
The easiest of all quick light add-ons.
All you need is a screwdriver to pull off the license plate light housing. That’s it, swap in your new VLEDS from your ordered light kit. I was concerned at first as the VLEDS bulb sticks out just a bit passed the housing.
But after you add the cover on top, it clears the bulb just fine.
Reverse Lights
Open up the rear hatch of your 4Runner and pop off the reverse light/tail light housing cover.
Twist and pull out the center bulb, remove the factory bulb and swap in your new VLEDS from the provided interior LED light kit numbers above.
Conclusion
With some bulbs, you may need to reverse the polarity, which means you may need to reverse the direction in which you insert a bulb. The whole process is pretty dang simple.
Just make sure you have a set of plastic PRY tools handy and you should be fine.
I can tell you for certain that VLEDS has a very bright light, a more refined/original well-built design and you can just feel the quality in these bulbs.
These lights far outperform Sylvania ‘super bright LEDs’ on every level which will far exceed the factory bulbs, if that’s what you are running now.
If you are running factory, jump straight for the VLEDS for sure, don’t waste your time with anything else.
Your recommendation for the 90lm 5000k (194_14_W_5K_LL) for the lights over the license plate doesn’t seem to work. I have a 2019 4Runner and when I push these in, they don’t work. They only work when I pull them out partially. However, if I do that, I can close them up in the housing properly. Thoughts?
Great upgrade. However, I could not remove the passenger side rear light housing. It’s very tight and not turning like the rear driver’s side light bulb did. I tried removing/turning it with a pair of pliers, however it appears that it will crack the plastic housing. Any suggestions?
I used a bandaid. I put the adhesive ends on the bulb and let it stick for awhile and then pulled down on the cotton part.
Great article and all steps here worked well! One issue I ran into with the VLEDs was on the puddle lights. Getting access worked great by popping off the top plastic piece, but I found that the larger VLED pushed back the brass connection bits inside the bulb housing. So the lights weren’t able to connect and light up. I was able to grab it and pull it back out with a pair of needle pliers (I bet good tweezers would work too). So be careful when putting the lights not to force things back too far.
Hey on the dome light – the OEM is easy to put in because the pointed edges are also flat, so it can slide in and out easily.
The VLEDs don’t have the same shape – they are circular cones – and I can’t get it to work. Are you sure what you put in there was the bulb linked to on Amazon?
The rest of them are awesome. I just would like to have a functioning dome light the same color.
Hey Brenan, love what you do here. I did this upgrade today! It all looks so good. I used the tape technique for the map lights. One of the light sockets popped out of place though.. so I unscrewed the 2 screws behind my sunglasses drop down and was able to pull down the housing and unclip the housing from the harness. Then I twisted the socket back into place and put the light in. Then put everything back. Thanks for the review on these lights and putting this all together.
Yeah, I have had to do that as well once or twice Thanks man!
I also took some before and after photos and I’ll be posting them on Instagram. I’ll tag you and mention this post. Let me know if you want the pics. I took them just to be helpful to the 4Runner community and hopefully you and trail4R.
I have a 2008 4runner and need to replace the cupholder bulb and the center console shifter bulb what ones do I order thank u
Changed all of them on mine. Having issues with the puddle lights fitment. Connections off so it knocks the bulb loose at times.
VLEDs appear to have prebuilt interior kits for the 4Runner that looks to cover the most common items:
INCLUDES:
2X Map Lights (194_14)
1X Dome Light (3022_24)
2X Vanity Lights (194_14)
2X Cargo Lights (3022_24)
4X Door Courtesy Lights (194_26)
14-UP Toyota 4Runner Interior LED Kit (vleds.com)
These lights are amazing! I thought I could get away with just buying the two front and mid dome lights but the LED’s are irresistible once you see how much better they are then stock. Thanks for the info.
Good Review! The tape trick is a life saver and I love how these products turned out. I’ve received many compliments on the LED upgrade. Thank you!
Hey Brenan, thank you for all you do on this blog. It’s clearly a labor of love that helps a lot of folks. So much appreciated. Quick question on the lights, I have replaced all the lights, including the puddle lights, which thankfully turned out not to be so bad. Like others have previously said, oddly, the dome light was a hassle for some reason. I actually had to give up and come back the next day for a fresh tackle… second time no fuss at all, and your tape trick for the map lights worked like a charm. Has anyone done anything with the “mood” light between the map lights? just curious if there was an option for it as well.
Thanks, so much for this. I just upgraded all the interior lights on our new 19′ 4Runner and the photos and steps were super helpful in the process. I thought the stock lights were rather weak and got the white 5500 VLED’s, simple process with great results.
Hey Brenan– I tried the tape trick for the map lights and I gotta say it worked PERFECTLY. I used some gorilla packing tape and the bulb popped right out. Very happy with these VLEDS all installed, pumped to move onto the exterior lighting now that the interior is all upgraded. Thanks!
Has anyone tried the VLED fog lights or low beams?
Thanks for the information here. Very well done. This is on my to do list now.
Brenan, I Enjoy your site ! Thank you !
I tried the tape method for the map lights with no success .They are not made to be changed like that. Two screws drops the overhead and a twist of the bulb sockets and your done . Much easier. I put the red ones in all the lower door lights so traffic behind me could see when the doors were open .
Rich, yeah those map lights can be tricky. Glad you have a method that works for you. I pulled that whole housing down as well. Both methods work, you just need to careful in order to prevent knocking the bulb socket out of place.
https://www.arclightleds.com/. Not mine but installing soon.
Seems to be the general topic of discussion, I think someone is getting this article going soon on their dome and maps.
I’ve read that within the Gen 5 years, the lights aren’t always interchangeable. I’ve got a 2012 TE and would like to install these. Has anyone done it on a 12?
Hey There, Do you prefer the 5000k to the 6000k? Does the warmer or colder light temp offer more useable light?
Alex, I like both temperatures. If I had to do it all again, I would maybe go with 5500K.
Just finished redoing all my interior lights with VLEDs and I’m awfully pleased with how they came out. As mentioned by another commentor the dome light fixture is a bit of a weird fit but will take the bulb after some messing about. Next move is going to be to add some reflective material to the backsides of the cargo hatch fixtures, as half the light is just spilling out into the interior of the panels. Great article though and really helpful with the whole process.
Oh, and I did do the “pull the outer cover off the mirror” method for the puddle lights. Worked perfectly.
First, like your site. I’ve learned a lot so far. I replaced most of my stock interior lights and reverse (2018 ORP) with the VLEDs. I ordered directly from VLED and chose the 5500k lights, half way between the 5000k – 6000k. They are substantially brighter than stock. They really light up the interior. To my eye, the 5500 bulbs still have a little bit of the bluish color. I will order 5000k for my wife’s RAV4. The dome light was challenging to install. The 31mm bulb seemed too large for the fixture, but I did get it put in and it works fine. Oh, thanks for tape trick to remove the map lights, it worked. Thanks for all the work you, and everyone else that posts, put into this site to help us all out and keep us informed.
Tim, glad the tape trick helped. Took me a second to come up with that one.
Has anyone tried a red LED light for the front cabin for those covert ops? Thought was to put the drivers side red and the passenger side white.
arclightled’s make some way cool lights that switch from dim red to bright while, like crazy bright light.
they also make a dome and rear hatch lights, well worth the price, high quality product too
https://www.arclightleds.com/