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How To: Upgrade to Facelift Rear Lights

E8x 
165K views 94 replies 59 participants last post by  Alpejohn 
#1 ·
First of all, thanks very much to Tigor as without his wiring diagram i would not have been able to do this upgrade.

So, here's how to do it... :spotman:

So this is how the pre facelift car looked like...



Inside the boot, you see access panels that are pretty much in line with the rear light cluster. The left side looks like this and simply pulls out.



Below is the right hand side. For ease, I unclipped the First Aid kit, which simply unclips and pulls out. The access panel is then just pulled out. On both access panels, there are two clips at the bottom and just one at the top (which is easier to remove first) so you just lever it out.



With the panels removed, you'll be faced with this: To remove the light cluster itself. The cluster is attached to the main body of the car by 3 7mm bolts which i've highlighted in red:



The wiring loom from the main body of the car is higlighted in red. This is where it clips into the rear light cluster.



All you need to do is look on one side of the male connector to the light bulb holder and there is a small retaining tab. Press this tab down and pull out the male part of the wiring loom. You'll be left with this:



The other side of the car looks like this...



Now that you have removed the clusters off the car, you will need to rearrange the wires. The end of the wiring loom will look like this:



You will then need to remove the white retaining clip, which is held on by integrated pinch clips. Just use a pair of tweezers and gently pull up and it will come off easily. You'll then be left with this:



It is a bit hard to see on the pictures, but the metal bits inside the black plastic are actually just spade conectors that have a spring mounted ridge on them to stop them accidently falling or being pulled out. Use the tip of a ball point pen to push down on the ridges to pull out.



Now it's time to re-arrange the wires as per Tigor's guide:

old left side -> new:

1 - black/purple -> blue/green
2 - green/yellow -> green/yellow
3 - brown -> brown
4 - empty -> empty
5 - blue/green -> black/purple
6 - green/purple -> green/purple (my wires were actually grey and purple)

old right side -> new:

1 - green/yellow -> blue/brown
2 - blue/brown -> green/red
3 - brown -> brown
4 - empty -> empty
5 - green/red -> black/blue
6 - black/blue -> green/yellow (my wires were actually grey and yellow)

Problem Time!!!

The male part of the wiring loom that I had just re-wired did not fit into the Facelift Female lamp holder!!!! Here you can see that there is a fixed gromet (higlighted in red) on the male connector that needs to go where it is solid plastic as highlighted in green!



Solution: Cut out a recess that will allow the guide to slide down and ensure a snug fit.



Once you have cut down the recess, you bulb holder should look similar to this:



Now, the male connector from your pre-facelift car will slide nice and easily into the female connector within the lamp holder

At this point I clipped the lampholder back into the face lift light cluster and offered it up to the car. The new Facelift lap cluster is attached with smaller 5mm nuts, so a quick trip to B&Q and some wingnuts and nylon washers sorted the job nicely.



Testing: Having never done anything like this before, I started with trying the Hazards first to ensure I hadn't messed anything up...which I had! read Tigor's instructions twice before you re-wire! The nearside tail light became the indicator. After rechecking and rewiring, it was all sorted! phew! AND no error message either!!!

And just to show you all is working well now, here's a picture of my baby in reverse with tail lights on, hazards on and rear fogs on too.



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#3 ·
Hi, I'm looking at doing this on my pre face lift 118d M-Sport.
But this might be a stupid question but are there 2 different types of face lift lights?? (None LED and LED)
What should I be buying??
Hope this makes sense.

Cheers

Olly
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
gg8tcw said:
First of all, thanks very much to Tigor as without his wiring diagram i would not have been able to do this upgrade.

Now it's time to re-arrange the wires as per Tigor's guide:

old left side -> new:

1 - black/purple -> blue/green
2 - green/yellow -> green/yellow
3 - brown -> brown
4 - empty -> empty
5 - blue/green -> black/purple
6 - green/purple -> green/purple (my wires were actually grey and purple)

old right side -> new:

1 - green/yellow -> blue/brown
2 - blue/brown -> green/red
3 - brown -> brown
4 - empty -> empty
5 - green/red -> black/blue
6 - black/blue -> green/yellow (my wires were actually grey and yellow)


Problem Time!!!

The male part of the wiring loom that I had just re-wired did not fit into the Facelift Female lamp holder!!!! Here you can see that there is a fixed gromet (higlighted in red) on the male connector that needs to go where it is solid plastic as highlighted in green!



Solution: Cut out a recess that will allow the guide to slide down and ensure a snug fit.

Now, the male connector from your pre-facelift car will slide nice and easily into the female connector within the lamp holder
I would advise just getting rid of the plastic circled in red, its much easier and doesnt affect anything if you're reversing back to the original lights

Concerning the wiring, the right light didnt work for me I had to try different combinations to make it work !
 
#9 ·
Harris118d said:
will i be able to do this to a 54 plate 1 series registered in 2005 ????????
oops. Another late reply.

I upgraded my 06 plate pre facelift rears to the blackline facelift rears 2 weeks ago.

Makes an amazing difference to the looks of the back of my car.

I had some initial problems but only down to my own stupidity ! The above guide is good to go for pre-facelift cars !

As oto's post above, just clip the small black plastic bit off with a long nose plier !

Will be updating my photos soon.
 
#11 ·
Why are LED lights harder to fit - is there a guide to this please?
I was tempted by these:

are they worth it at £149 though?
I have a 2005 metallic grey 1 series - so the darkened rear facelights would lok tremendous!!

btw - daft question to the guide but: Left rear - is that left facing towards the back or left side of the car when facing the front? (eg - drivers side or passengers side).
Also - the pick of after cable changes are done would be truly useful :)

thank you
 
#12 ·
ra11 said:
Why are LED lights harder to fit - is there a guide to this please?
I was tempted by these:

are they worth it at £149 though?
I have a 2005 metallic grey 1 series - so the darkened rear facelights would lok tremendous!!

btw - daft question to the guide but: Left rear - is that left facing towards the back or left side of the car when facing the front? (eg - drivers side or passengers side).
Also - the pick of after cable changes are done would be truly useful :)

thank you
Part number you need for the blacklines 63.21.0.432.619. Mine were £129 from cotswold.

Left = Passenger side. (in UK :lol2: )
 
#13 ·
Ecosse said:
ra11 said:
Why are LED lights harder to fit - is there a guide to this please?
I was tempted by these:

are they worth it at £149 though?
I have a 2005 metallic grey 1 series - so the darkened rear facelights would lok tremendous!!

btw - daft question to the guide but: Left rear - is that left facing towards the back or left side of the car when facing the front? (eg - drivers side or passengers side).
Also - the pick of after cable changes are done would be truly useful :)

thank you
Part number you need for the blacklines 63.21.0.432.619. Mine were £129 from cotswold.

Left = Passenger side. (in UK :lol2: )
Great stuff - thank you: I've pm'd James - lets see what happens. £119+£8 delivery seems cheaper than the facelifts with Xenon's = whats the different? are these LED rear lights or non and is fitting LED rear the same proceedure (or even posible on a non-facelift?)

thanks again
 
#14 ·
ra11 said:
Ecosse said:
ra11 said:
Why are LED lights harder to fit - is there a guide to this please?
I was tempted by these:

are they worth it at £149 though?
I have a 2005 metallic grey 1 series - so the darkened rear facelights would lok tremendous!!

btw - daft question to the guide but: Left rear - is that left facing towards the back or left side of the car when facing the front? (eg - drivers side or passengers side).
Also - the pick of after cable changes are done would be truly useful :)

thank you
Part number you need for the blacklines 63.21.0.432.619. Mine were £129 from cotswold.

Left = Passenger side. (in UK :lol2: )
Great stuff - thank you: I've pm'd James - lets see what happens. £119+£8 delivery seems cheaper than the facelifts with Xenon's = whats the different? are these LED rear lights or non and is fitting LED rear the same proceedure (or even posible on a non-facelift?)

thanks again
As far as I know, LED's are not possible on pre-facelift without major upgrade back to wiring loom.

The above part no and guide is all you require.
 
#16 ·
Just done this myself, fitting a pair of FL lights I bought from johnpigg here.

The instructions are spot-on!

Before:



After:



It's worth noting that if your car has a factory fit CD changer in the boot you will access your nearside light through this little hatch behind the CD changer cover:



 
#21 ·
PJ_9911 said:
PJ_9911 said:
del1873 said:
what about leds on a face lift is that possiable ???
any one know this?
anybody?????????????
Lots of rewiring back to the footwell module will be needed. Unless you want to try and hack it in using a feed from the numberplate lights or something.
 
#26 ·
The function if the reversing lights is to indicate to other motorists that you are reversing - the facelift lights do this just fine. If you are looking for reversing lights which light up the area behind you then no - these do not help with this at all.
 
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