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I was taking a gander at my new set of 04 taillights I got from Hardtopguy ($168 apiece I believe) and perusing the forums for info on the retrofit in my 01 S2k. I found nothing helpful. UPDATE: Hardtopguy is offering a kit for $500 with everything you need to do the upgrade - i don't know what's in it though. check out hardtopguy.com
I had a couple of questions:
1. What modifications are needed to the trunk wiring harness?
2. Do I need the 04 taillight sockets also?
3. Do I REALLY nead to cut the crap out of the car to fit them in?
After taking a look I was able to answer all 3 questions - some good news, some bad news:
1. Not many - no cutting/splicing of wires, and it only takes about 15 minutes per side!
2. Nope! You can reuse your old sockets and bulbs! No need for the expensive 04 trunk wiring harness. UPDATE: you might be wise purchasing the 2004 taillight sockets; there are only 4 and they can be had for about $15. i will be getting some and verify that the wiring plugs right in.
3. YES! You're screwed!!!! The good news is that Hardtopguy sends the foam padding piece and you can use that as a template. BUT I'm unsure if you can use the outside-lower bolt hole as a reference or not. UPDATE: the outside lower bolt hole is about 1/4" lower than the new one - but you can still use that as a reference.
Ok here we go.
First of all, the BIG difference between the old and new style taillights is the led part - there's no socket, just a 3-prong female plug:
Fortunately, we have almost the exact same plug already on our taillights - plugged into the park/brake light socket. Unplug the plug from the socket and this is what you've got:
The only difference between these two plugs is the old one doesn't have the notches cut out of it to allow it to plug into the new park/brake led module. Note the red arrows pointing at the tabs in the first picture. I took a dremel tool and notched the plug at the corners and took that big tab off the one side on the top. It's not pretty but this is what we have now:
Notice the red arrows pointing to the areas that were ground away. Now this plug will fit into the new 2004 taillight LED park/brake socket! AND the wires are correct, no swapping/cutting/splicing is necessary. You're done with the park/brake light. FYI - in the first pic the right (which is bottom on the light) pin is a Common Ground (-), the middle pin is parking light 12V positive (+) and the left (top) pin is brake light 12V positive (+).
Next we have the turn signal. The current turn signal socket is too big for the hole in the 2004 taillight turn signal hole. We can't use it. BUT the park/brake socket (brownish one) IS the right size. So we can use that one, but some modifications will be necessary. First off, we'll have to grind away the smaller tab (it is already removed in the picture but the arrow points to where it was):
Next, you will notice that the socket has 3 pins while the plug only has two:
Of course that is because the socket is powering 2 lights - the parking light and the brake light. The plug WILL FIT over either the two left or the two right pins if you grind off the tab:
In both cases it will power only the parking light, which is too dim and doesn't have enough load for the blinker to sense it, and your turn signal will flash rapidly (as if a blinker were out) and it will be very dim. We want it to be like normal, so either you can cut some wires and some other stuff, OR you can make a simple sneaky mod to the bulb. On the base of the bulb there are 4 wires bent over the bottom. On one side, bend each wire carefully over to the opposite side. Note that it has a "groove" it needs to fit into, so you will have to angle it slightly off to the side:
Now the turn signal plug over only two of the pins will power the brake light bulb, which is the same intensity as the turn signal bulb, and your blinker will flash normally. Sure we'll only be using half the bulb, but that's what I came up with for now. There are differences between the single filament turn signal bulb and the dual filament bulbs so you cannot (easily) plug them into the other's socket.
The final socket is the reverse light, and it fits perfectly. The only issue here is now it is farther away from the turn signal than before, and you'll need to peel away some of the wire loom and tape to get it to stretch.
02-15-2004, 07:34 AM
2004 Taillight Conversion Wiring
