Awesome easy improvement with trunk lighting

[jcaspar]

Cutout is done with a razor knife. The area is covered with a thin fabric that is framed in hard plastic so it is almost impossible to cut too much unless you are really aggressive. I cut an X and then cut along the edges. Does not have to be perfect as a little extra will be covered by the light. Pry out the red light at the back of the door and you will see the wire loop for the puddle light taped to it. I carefully cut the tape with the knife. The end of the puddle light wire will be taped to a connector inside the door and for this you need to partially pop off the lower rear of the door panel. My right panel came off easy, left was a bit more difficult. I took a thin screw driver low on the door and carefully pried up to get the spluger under it. I had to pry with the spluger quite hard to pop the panel off, loosening 3 of the white connector pins. This gives just enough room to get your hand in. Disconnect the connector on the red light to give you room to work. The puddle light connector will be wrapped in tape. free it by gently cutting the tape. Connect up the two lights, the new one should pop right in. Be careful to route the puddle light wire inside the white panel pins so it is not pinched by the panel. If you had one of the white door panel connectors break free from the panel you will need to pry it out and put it back in the door panel. Align the white connector pins with the door and push panel back in place.

Definitely harder than the trunk lights but much easer than upgrading the windage tray on a Dodge Viper...

P.S. The only light I have NOT liked so far is the one in the rear hatch. It seemed to blind me when the hatch was opened as it was right in my face. I went back to an original light for this one.

This is awesome, I've ordered the 3-pack set (12 bulbs + 1 for glove box) for mine. My 85D does not have the premium lighting package either -- the rear door puddle lights were my concern. I was wondering if it would be as simple as cutting out the recessed areas on the bottom of the rear doors and finding the lighting cable -- looks like you did it and it worked well.

Can you elaborate a bit on any issues you ran into? What did you use to cut out the recessed area? How far up inside the door was the lighting cable, and was it taped or otherwise secured inside? Did you need to remove any door trim?

 

[artsci]

Deja vu all over again

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Deja vu all over again

You know, he never said most of the things people say he did. :biggrin:

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Thanks, jcaspar! I got the light kit today, will probably install this weekend.

 

[jcaspar]

Happy to help. Good luck.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Successfully installed everything today. The lighting is awesome, much brighter than the factory lights. Rear puddle lights weren't too bad to install -- I followed the YouTube video of how to get the rear door trim panels off. The only issue I ran into was that one of the white plastic fasteners for the right rear door trim broke. Easy to replace, but I'll have to run by the service center and get one.

Those little lights are tough to pop out sometimes. It's difficult to believe that they can hold themselves in that strongly.

Other casualties: 3 or 4 scraped knuckles, lots of sore muscles, and my back is killing me. I really need to get back to the gym. :smile:

Thanks to all for the advice!

 

[jcoverton]

I just replaced all 13 lights including the glove box. I had premium lighting so it was just pop and replace. Took 30 min. for all the lights. The toughest was the trunk lid light as it was the first one that I removed from hard plastic. The key was to start prying at the recess on the end of light and work you way around to the side.

The lights under the seats were a little different as you first remove the holder from seat and then after unplugging the light you can remove the light from the bracket. The bracket removes by rotating the top of one side towards you and down. Once one side is unhooked twist the other side off and they come off easily. The lights were a little harder to remove from the bracket as it is thin plastic also. I used pump pliers and squeezed the tabs on the rear of the light and pressed it out instead of prying from the front. This put less stress on the bracket.

The glove light was last and I read it was difficult. It came out easier than I expected. The first edge popped quickly and I switched the tool to the other side and the light just fell down.

The best part of the project was when I replaced the light under the dash by the pedals were I found it was not connected. I never noticed that there was no light here. I had to put my hand behind the plastic piece that holds the light to fish out the plug. Someone must have missed it when they assembled the dash or it was loose and fell out later.

I love the amount of light the new bulbs produce.

I had set of plastic trim removal tools but bought the one from Abstract Ocean anyway. I found it worked better than what I had and would recommend it if you are replacing all the lights. It fits the small notch in the lights and slides easily to pry out the rest of the lights.

 

[FlatSix911]

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