What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[wpoll]

Here's one XO member's tail light journey.....

Fitting 04+ clears on my 03 3.0!

I'm not sure if anybody did this, but here is what I did to make it work:

I bought my clears on ebay and when I got them they turned out to be the clearer 04+ lenses...so i put them in anyways and plugged it in...but the middle brake/parkin light would not work (the bottom light and blinker worked fine). So i tried moving the bulb around but nothing worked..I pulled out the new clear and compared the wiring to my ambers and here is what i found:

The connector used is a 6 pin connecter but only has 4 wires running to pins(female end):
On the right side: 2,3,5,6
On the left side: 1,2,4,5

The actual 04+ clear taillights only had 4 prongs inside the connector (male end):
On Right had prongs on: 2,3,4,5
On Left had prongs on : 2,3,4,5

So terminal 4 on the Right, and terminal 3 on the left were never connected to any power...Next I took the female part of the connector (attached to the car wires) removed the white clip/cover and exposed the wires/snap connector...

On the right hand side I unsnapped the wire in position 6, and resnapped it into position 4

On the left hand side I unsnapped the wire in position 1, and resnapped it into position 3

Put the white snap in covers back on and now all the tailights and brake lights work just like they are suppossed too!!

I am asuming that everybodies 03- wiring harness/connector looks like mine, and that all the 04+ clears have the same female connector as mine...either way it worked for me and it was completely freeeee....i was getting nervous that I would have to send back my clears!!

[Purplecty]

So everything works as it did on the prefacelift tails. Middle is the tail and the bottom is just a brake light. IIRC the facelift tails didn't come with bulbs and when I tried using my current bulb for the middle tail it did not fit but it fit fine for the bottom brake light. I swapped the socket from the prefacelift which was green to the facelift socket. After looking closer, the middle tail does look kind of bright so maybe I just need the correct bulb using the facelift socket for the tail light. Here is a crappy phone video I just took...

Build date is 7.02


https://www.dropbox.com/s/oee1wry2xi...31423.mp4?dl=0

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Purplecty

So everything works as it did on the prefacelift tails. Middle is the tail and the bottom is just a brake light. IIRC the facelift tails didn't come with bulbs and when I tried using my current bulb for the middle tail it did not fit but it fit fine for the bottom brake light. I swapped the socket from the prefacelift which was green to the facelift socket. After looking closer, the middle tail does look kind of bright so maybe I just need the correct bulb using the facelift socket for the tail light. Here is a crappy phone video I just took...

Build date is 7.02


https://www.dropbox.com/s/oee1wry2xi...31423.mp4?dl=0

Yep - you have the problem I thought you might have. The upper red section on each side is constantly lit up as a brake light - way too bright. Both upper and lower sections should have a similar brightnest level when the brakes are not on...

[Purplecty]

Originally Posted by wpoll

Yep - you have the problem I thought you might have. The upper red section on each side is constantly lit up as a brake light - way too bright. Both upper and lower sections should have a similar brightnest level when the brakes are not on...

So both should be lit up top and bottom as a dimmer tail and then the bottom lights up brighter as the brake or both upper and lower should be brakes as well?

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Purplecty

So both should be lit up top and bottom as a dimmer tail and then the bottom lights uo brighter as the brake or both upper and lower should be brakes as well?

Dunno what you car used to have but normal facelift car system is that for tails, all four red sections are dim. When brakes are applied one section on each side get brighter.

If you simply pull the top 21w bulb from each red section and replace it with a 5w BAS15S, you'll be fine.

[wpoll]

Oh, on the facelift cars, both upper and lower red sections BOTH light up under emergency braking only. But you won't have that option in your setup.

[Purplecty]

Originally Posted by wpoll

Dunno what you car used to have but normal facelift car system is that for tails, all four red sections are dim. When brakes are applied one section on each side get brighter.



If you simply pull the top 21w bulb from each red section and replace it with a 5w BAS15S, you'll be fine.

I would need to rewire the bottom lamp to come on as a tail light as well?

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Purplecty

I would need to rewire the bottom lamp to come on as a tail light as well?

Don't think so - from your video the bottom section looks to be working correctly already. Just need the 5w bulbs up top and you're all good.

[Purplecty]

Originally Posted by wpoll

Don't think so - from your video the bottom section looks to be working correctly already. Just need the 5w bulbs up top and you're all good.

Ok the bottom one just functions as a brake light only and not a tail. Where can i buy those bulbs? Have an Ebay ad I can use?

After another look the bottoms are definitely on and dimmer. The top ones were so bright it was hard to tell...

[EODguy]

I'd be very interested to see if you get a code after switching to a bulb of lower wattage?

Wouldn't it cause a problem for the LCM that his rear fogs/BFD hits a different bulb during start up test or usage?



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