dizzeedazza Posted October 20, 2010 Report Share Posted October 20, 2010 hi ive decided to write up a diy for what i did today, basically i retrofirred facelift rear lights to a prefacelift, its easy but does invilve cutting your cars wiring which is why i am writing up a diy for it. first i want to thank marcus on this forum for the help he gave me via a pm about the wiring colours etc if you are going to do this to your car you need the complete rear lights including the bulb holders and connectors with a few inches of wiring heres my 'old' lights i hated the tinted tops on them! heres the diy 1. unplug the battery as we will be cutting the wiring 2. take off the inner part of the rear light and unplug it, do this on both sides, the pic below shows the difference between the pre and post facelift bulb holders. on the right is the facelift and on the left is the pre facelift, as you can see the facelift ones have 4 bulbs whereas the prefacelift has only 3. this is because the facelift ones have two bulbs for the tail lights instead of one. 3. now undo the 3 bolts that hold the light lens onto the car, one of them is behind the boot lining.see pic below 4. the whole rear light should be off the car now, as you can see from the pic below the connectors on the bulb holders are different also (see pic below) pre facelift has 6 wires in a straight line connector, whereas the facelift has 7 wires in two rows of 4 (one of them is not used) 5. next i cut the wiring on the car ready to connect up to the new lights (see pic) you can see the 6 wires, they are Old 6 pin connectors Left side plug (Ref X319) looks like: O6 O5 O4 O3 O2 O1 1 = Left Brake Light (black/green) 2 = Left Tail Light (grey/violet) 3 = Signal wire to switch off consumer load (red/yellow) 4 = Ground (brown) 5 = Left Indicator (blue/green) 6 = Signal wire to boot lid light (white/brown) Right side plug (Ref X318) looks like: O6 O5 O4 O3 O2 O1 1 = Signal wire to boot lid light (white/brown) 2 = Right Indicator (blue/brown) 3 = Ground (brown) 4 = Signal wire to switch off consumer load (red/yellow) 5 = Right Tail Light (grey/yellow) 6 = Right Brake Light (black/blue) 6. heres a pic of the facelift connectors all cut and with the connectors on, as you can see there are 7 wires, but i have wired the 2 tail light bulbs into one connector. the new wiring on the 8 pin plug is New 8 pin Connectors Left side plug (ref X338) looks like: O4 O3 O2 O1 O8 O7 O6 O5 1 = Signal wire to boot lid light (white/brown) 2 = Ground (brown) 3 = Signal wire to switch off consumer load (red/yellow) 4 = NOT USED 5 = Left Brake Light (black/green) 6 = Left Indicator (blue/green) 7 = Left Tail Light (grey/green)*** extra light/wire, linked to pin 8 8 = Left Tail Light (grey/violet) Right Side plug (ref X339) looks like: O4 O3 O2 O1 O8 O7 O6 O5 1 = NOT USED 2 = Signal wire to switch off consumer load (red/yellow) 3 = Ground (brown) 4 = Signal wire to boot lid light (white/brown) 5 = Right Tail Light (grey/green) *** extra light/wire, linked to pin 6 6 = Right Tail Light (grey/blue) 7 = Right Indicator (blue/brown) 8 = Right Brake Light (black/blue) now that you have linked up the tail lights there is only 6 connections, the same as the car. 7. now wire the new connectors together, the next 2 pics show the wiring all connected up, its really simple as the wire colours are exactly the same so just mutch them up, one of the pics shows where the two wires goes into the one from the car. 8. now just put the new rear lights on and connect them up, easy as that! the boot lid lights are easy all you need to do is replace the lenses. so i wont go into that. and thats it! here is the end result IMO looks 1000000% better and im really pleased, if anyone wants to do this diy and wants anymore info then please feel free to pm me or leave a message on here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dizzeedazza Posted October 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 quick update, wiring the 2 tail light bulbs onto the one didnt work! kept getting the tail light warnings on and off, so unwired one of them on each side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrimja Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Good DIY mate. Couldn't you have washed the car first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz 330 Cs Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 They look infinitely better than the ones you had Ps. Your windows look rather illegal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dizzeedazza Posted October 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Good DIY mate. Couldn't you have washed the car first? i havnt washed the car since ive owned it, pretty bad really. i get to it one day soon They look infinitely better than the ones you had Ps. Your windows look rather illegal thanks they do look better, and ive been saying im going to remove the tint for ages, never got round to it. might do a light smoke all round, im not a fan of the darker rear, look rubbish IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shane10010 Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 (edited) Hi, Great post! I have a 1998 E46, have just installed a secondhand set of facelift tail light clusters/connectors and have a few questions: i) The top light (brake) is a single filament and comes on (dimly) with the lower tail lights - is this normal? ii) I am getting the bulb error message on the dash - Did you also get this and is there any way to clear it so it recognises the new cluster with the additional tail light bulb? Thank you in advance Shane Edited November 1, 2012 by shane10010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shane10010 Posted November 3, 2012 Report Share Posted November 3, 2012 Replaced the 21w tail bulbs with 5w units - light error sorted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan 24v Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Why am I seeing pics of the FRONT bumper and fogs???? Shouldnt they be rear light clusters?? joewatkiss and cos01 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz 330 Cs Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Yeah what's going on here ? Has the OP changed the pics or what ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dizzeedazza Posted November 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2012 dont have a clue of what has happened here. strange, if anyone wants the pics i still have them somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragyth Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 lol wtf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayP07 Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Really wanted to see the results of this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dizzeedazza Posted May 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Here is the pic that should have been at the end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayP07 Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 Ive been checking ebay for a full set of lights... what would you guys pay?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singh41 Posted May 11, 2013 Report Share Posted May 11, 2013 Adapters can be bought from the bay for about £45 if you want to avoid chopping your loom. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-3-SERIES-E46-LED-REAR-LIGHT-WIRING-CABLE-FIT-SALOON-COUPE-CONVERTIBLE-M3-/390591754833?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Plat_Gen%3AE46&hash=item5af1153251 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayP07 Posted May 11, 2013 Report Share Posted May 11, 2013 Thanks for the post mate but that particular adaptor is for LED style lights will that work for OEM face lift lights as i doesn't say in the description? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eko Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Im about to fit my facelidt rear lights in the next couple of days. Did you sort out the problem of getting the second tail light working correctly without throwing an error on the dash? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayP07 Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 Im about to fit my facelidt rear lights in the next couple of days. Did you sort out the problem of getting the second tail light working correctly without throwing an error on the dash? Eko, I know from the other thread you've fitted them already - did you have any problems with the above? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eko Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 I just left the 7th wire unwired for now too avoid any issues as I just wanted to get on with my engine swap. Will be going back to it at a later date though when I have more time to focus on it. Im about to fit my facelidt rear lights in the next couple of days. Did you sort out the problem of getting the second tail light working correctly without throwing an error on the dash? Eko, I know from the other thread you've fitted them already - did you have any problems with the above? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayP07 Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 I just left the 7th wire unwired for now too avoid any issues as I just wanted to get on with my engine swap. Will be going back to it at a later date though when I have more time to focus on it. Im about to fit my facelidt rear lights in the next couple of days. Did you sort out the problem of getting the second tail light working correctly without throwing an error on the dash? Eko, I know from the other thread you've fitted them already - did you have any problems with the above? Thanks for the reply E! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eko Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 I replaced the lower light bulb from a 21w with a 5w as it was far to bright. Heres a pic showing how I currently have them wired....look a bit crap like this so will be attempting to sort it soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayP07 Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Hmmm... No that doesn't look good as is. I take it the out red part of the lowest strip is supposed to be lit up too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eko Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Yes thats the 7th wire light mate. Hmmm... No that doesn't look good as is. I take it the out red part of the lowest strip is supposed to be lit up too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayP07 Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Yes thats the 7th wire light mate. Hmmm... No that doesn't look good as is. I take it the out red part of the lowest strip is supposed to be lit up too? Im trying to buy a set of lights from a zoner but he's away so I'm waiting... Still shopping elsewhere... The lenses are easy enough to get hold of but the looms are another thing not sure how much the dealer will charge but I can't imagine it being cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eko Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 Theres a set of lights on here in the classified for £50 posted,I assume they are the ones? Maybe try one of the BMW breakers such as Fab Recycling to see if they will cut the loom parts off for you. Might work out cheaper and maybe easier than getting them from the dealers? JayP07 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
