Baby BMW Forum banner

How To: Retrofit Puddle Lights

E8x 
136K views 29 replies 16 participants last post by  Dispaced 
#1 ·
I thought I would post this as a reference for anyone who wants to retrofit puddle lights in the exterior door handles.

After retrofitting footwell lights I decided to see how difficult it would be to fit the lights in the door handles (which is part of the £175 extended light package)
Follow this link if you want to fit footwell lights
I used LED's which I bought and made the door handle lights myself, but you can buy the lights directly from the dealer.
part numbers: 63 31 6 933 277 and 63 31 6 933 278


1st part. FOOTWELL MODULE

I started off by looking at the WDS, for were the puddle lights are supposed to be connected to the car.
And found that both sets of lights should be connected to a footwell module (A4011) next to the drivers feet.
Pins 10 and 11 of plug X14261 should connect directly to both sets of lights in parallel.


The footwell module is located behind the plastic cover right next to the accelerator pedal.
To remove this, You will need to remove the upper trim panels which are directly above the driver/passengers feet (3x T20 screws).

Then remove the bonnet release handle and a second screw behind it.

After that, remove the trim covering the bottom of the door (it just pulls off).
Don't worry too much about leaving some of the clips in place, as they are easy to refit to the trim panel.

The plastic trim covering the footwell module should then pull off with a little pressure.



You will need to unplug X14261 and remove the outer black plastic cover. Then attach new contacts to pins 10 and 11.
Each plugs pins are numbered so it is just a case of counting the holes across the plug.





The wire from pin 10 needs to be fed to pin 26 of the drivers door multiplug.
To access the plug, you will need to open the door and remove the 8mm bolt holding it to the A pillar.
Carefully extract it and unclip the plug from the socket, and then blue piece of plastic.


Insert the contact into hole number 26





Then fit the blue plastic to the plug and refit the multiplug in the A pillar.

Repeat this process with the passenger side multiplug (from pin 11 of X14261 to pin 26 of the door plug)
Then assemble all of the interior trim pieces which you have removed.

2nd part. DOOR

Remove the cover on the door handle (the bit that is titanium or gomera black etc..)
Once you have the cover off, undo the two T20 screws that you can see.

Using something very thin, carefully remove the screw cover near the door handle.
Again once you have the cover off, undo the screw underneath.

Start uncliping the door skin from the bottom. You can use a sturdy spatula to start off with then the rest should come off by hand.

Reach below the electric window switch and push the switch from underneath, it should pop out easily. this is better than levering the window switch out from the top because you may scratch the trim. Undo the electrical connector to the switch.

The interior door handle is connected by a cable to the door release mechanism. Unclip the cable from the door where it terminates near the striker.

Finish uncliping the door skin completely, and unplug the speaker connectors.

Start pulling away the weather shield to access the door handle electrical connector. I used a knife to cut through the glue while I was removing the seal.
You should now have something which looks like this.



This is were the door handle light is pluged into the door.



Now remove the rubber bung on the rear of the door and unscrew the allen bolt holding the handle to the door.



Fit your new handle section and feed the wires through the door to the electrical connector. Be sure to aviod the window glass when fitting the wire and check that it doesn't obstruct the window operation.

Refit the weather seal and door skin. Done! :spotman:

I chose not to fit lights to the rear doors, but the process is pretty much the same.

As my light units are DIY, yours will not look like this (but you get the idea)







Please note: I did this modification on my 2005 120d Sport. I do not know how compatible the instructions are with any other model in the 1 series range and I and will not be held responsible for any damage you do, should you decide to refer to it to assist in any works you carry out.
 
See less See more
15
#2 ·
Interesting write-up, looks very involved! You seem to have access to the wiring diagrams for the car - is there any chance you could see how much work is involved to fid the LED rear lights that you get when you spec xenons on a facelift car? Always been interested in this mod, but never managed to get anywhere with it. I know it needs wiring to the footwell module, but thats as far as I get.

Any help/ideas would be appreciated!
 
#4 ·
1er-lover said:
If i was to do the rear lights too, would i run a wire in parallel from the wire for the front lights?
Yes.

You can run a wire from pin 26 of the front door, to pin 26 of the rear door too.
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
zmaster007 said:
Interesting write-up, looks very involved! You seem to have access to the wiring diagrams for the car - is there any chance you could see how much work is involved to fid the LED rear lights that you get when you spec xenons on a facelift car? Always been interested in this mod, but never managed to get anywhere with it. I know it needs wiring to the footwell module, but thats as far as I get.

Any help/ideas would be appreciated!
Sorry. I only have WDS 9 from 09/2006 so dont have any info on the LED tail lights.

Why would they need additional wiring to the footwell module compared with normal bulbs ?
 
#7 ·
Smithy120d said:
zmaster007 said:
Interesting write-up, looks very involved! You seem to have access to the wiring diagrams for the car - is there any chance you could see how much work is involved to fid the LED rear lights that you get when you spec xenons on a facelift car? Always been interested in this mod, but never managed to get anywhere with it. I know it needs wiring to the footwell module, but thats as far as I get.

Any help/ideas would be appreciated!
Sorry. I only have WDS 9 from 09/2006 so dont have any info on the LED tail lights.

Why would they need additional wiring to the footwell module compared with normal bulbs ?
No idea - this is just what I have been told. My guess would be because the lights perform different duties on facelift xenons - on halogens the brake lights/tail lights are the same bulb, but on the xenons, the tail lights are the LEDs instead.
 
#8 ·
1er-lover said:
You any idea which wires needed out of these?
Also which connectors out of these?
As you can tell i havn't a clue about wiring. :lol2:
Cheers
Just for reference according to a BMW tech at a main dealer the wiring required is from the list above any that is 0,75MMAz (what that means i havn't a clue :lol2:)

As for the connectors - item number 1 and number 2 from the list above.

I'm warming to the idea of this mod now.
 
#13 ·
blingers said:
i did this retrofit for all four doors awhile back. thanks Smithy! interestingly my drivers door was not prewired for puddle lights so i had to wire pin 26 in the door side.
Im doing this just now and my passenger for isn't prewired either I guess you used pin 26 in the door to the red wire on the light but where did you get the ground for the black wire? i don't want to screw in some homemade ground screw.
 
#14 ·
jap001 said:
blingers said:
i did this retrofit for all four doors awhile back. thanks Smithy! interestingly my drivers door was not prewired for puddle lights so i had to wire pin 26 in the door side.
Im doing this just now and my passenger for isn't prewired either I guess you used pin 26 in the door to the red wire on the light but where did you get the ground for the black wire? i don't want to screw in some homemade ground screw.
GND is pin 1 on the door plug
 
#18 ·
Tommy_town said:
When re fitting the weather seal , do you need to apply some new sealant / glue?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No. The glue should still be sticky enough. I cut through the sealant with a stanley knife, and the two amalgamated when they were pressed together.
 
#20 ·
Joe said:
I need to replace my drivers front light, how do I go about removing the housing with a key lock in it?
Remove the rubber bung on the rear of the door and unscrew the allen bolt holding the handle to the door.
 
#23 ·
Very good post, someone could help me make the original installation in the bmw f21? I have everything I need, I'm missing the original connections do not know where they go, also want to put ambient light inside handle and salvacharcos light in the bottom of the door, all in bmw f21, but no schemes of original installation, but if you I have the pieces
 
#25 ·
Delarioo said:
Any advice for the door glue? Don't think mine will stick back on.. what cold I replace it with?

Issue with my car was two had puddle lights two didn't... one front one back.. the ocd can't handle it :lol2:
Black Roof & Gutter sealant

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top