More pictures than reading this time, to ease you back in after the Bank Holiday weekend...
Not one for the purists and will no doubt divide opinion, but I've never been a fan of the oem rear lights so I've been on the hunt for quite some time. I bought a pair of tinted/smoked Depo ones last year and tried to repair them but wasn't satisfied with the result of my work so they're up for sale now.
A few months ago another set came up on ebay, this time they were DEPO smoked LED rear lights so I bought them and then found out when I fitted them, they were not 'canbus error free', so set off the 'bulb out' alarm.
Some might see that as a problem but most jobs with the S3 are a challenge, so I just thought of it that way. It was just the tail and brake lights that are LED so for the brake lights I decided to use ballast resistors, one for each rear light. I'm not a fan of ballast resistors, as they can get hot, but the amount of time spent on the brake pedal is never normally longer than a few minutes, at a time, so I was happy to use them for this job.
I stripped back the wires on the lights and soldered the ballast resistor wires to each of the two wires, a bit of electrical tape followed by loom tape. The resistors need to be away from anything that can be affected by the heat they give off so I decided to mount them on one of the fixing posts for the lights. I managed to drill out a mounting hole on the resistor and using a nut from my collection fixed it once the light was fitted into the car, nice and clear of everything...
I was happy with that but wasn't happy using ballast resistors with the tail lights as they could be on for hours and get very hot, too hot for my liking. What I needed was to find a solution to draw enough current form the circuit to fool the 'bulb out' gremlin. I had the original oem pair of puddle lights in my stock box from when I put in LED S3 logo one's so I decided to convert them into footwell lights...but S3 8L's don't have footwell blanks...that's a good starting point.
The driver's side was relatively easy as all I had to do was cut out the correct size hole in the under dash panel below the steering approximately in the middle of the footwell...Hey Presto
The passenger side could have been quite tricky as we all know it's foam under there. I pulled back the foam and there is a gap behind the glovebox with a space big enough to fit the light fitting but nowhere to mount it. After emptying my bracket bin I found one that, after a little bending/folding, fitted up behind the glovebox and a mounting hole matched with the access panel bolt for the blower...lucky result there...
I now needed a feed from the rear lights and they were found down the passenger side after removing the sill plate and footwell trim and pulling back the carpet. I found the wires to the lights there to take my feed for the 'new' footwell lights.
Next job was to make up a loom so got some blue and brown cable and wrapped that in loom tape and I also wanted to get the correct connectors to the footwell lights so they can be unplugged, if ever needed. I got those from this site...
893 971 632 / 893971632 Terminals and seals are included 2 Way Automotive Connector We ship Worldwide daily and you can buy online safely using PayPal We are the UK's largest specialist stockist of Automotive Connectors, and we offer low cost
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Stripped back and soldered onto the feeds to the rear lights..
Then tidied up with loom tape...
I used the earth point behind the passenger footwell trim for both wires and ran the loom behind the carpet to a 'T' junction to the passenger and driver's side. The passenger one fits in nice and snug...
They are fitted with red, standard filament 5w bulbs, so when the rear lights are switched on, there is a red glow in the footwells and enough current is drawn to stop the alarm going off...
They're not as bright as the three red beams in the lower console so I'm happy with that and I'm even happier with the lights now I've fitted them, I've transferred over the LED indicator and reverse bulbs from my oem lights so just the fog bulb to change if I feel the need but it's bright enough.
I understand they'll look chavvy to some, plus I'm putting the car up for sale after it's had it's MOT at the end of October so the next owner can remove them, if they choose...but that's life..
And finally...
I'm thinking of also adding the auto lights function, as it's a cheap upgrade and a good one too. Can any of you guys tell me where's the best place in the windscreen to put the light sensor if I get round to doing it before it goes...if I can sell it that is!