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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > DIY Guides > DIY - e90 footwell and courtesy lights retrofit.



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      04-18-2010, 03:53 PM   #1
S_GonzaLes
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DIY - e90 footwell and courtesy lights retrofit.

At the beginning to start with my car, its a e90 320d 03/2005 i didn't have those lights so i made research how to do it, went to my local dealer and ordered the stuff i need, then i just started.

First the materials we need.

1) 4 pcs Interiior lights (2 for the doors and 2 for the feet compartment)



2) 4 pcs Universal socket housing for the lights.



3) 10 pcs bushing contacts (8 for the sockets and 2 for the door terminals)
4) 2 pcs pins (for the door terminals)


5) 1 pcs bushing contact (for connection with the footwell module)



6) Cable 0.75мм2
- green (or whatever you have, the best is red with blue stripe)
- brown (ground cable)
7) 2 pcs Cable terminals with 6мм open
8 ) 5 pcs quick connects
9) Heat shrink



Tools needed:

1) Torx 15 screw-driver
2) PH 2 screw-driver
3) Wrench 8мм, 10мм
4) Soldering iron
5) Pliers and knife (I used Leatherman surge multi-tool)
6) Wire (about 3 feet and thick 1мм) /I used wooden stick cause i didn't have wire by me/
7) Heat Gun (for the heat shrink)

How to do it:

1) We need to remove the Battery:
- With the 10мм wrench we release the nut and then release the brown cable from the battery


2) With Torx 15 screwdriver we need to release the bolts circled in red.
- At drivers side there are 3 bolts
- At passangers side there are 2
- After that just pull towards you and remove the plastic covers



3) With the PH 2 screwdriver we need to remove the 2 bolts in the small cover at drivers side.
- The first bolt holds the leaver for the hood, the second holds the cover itself
- This cover has one small clip
- Just pull as shown on the picture


4) At passengers side there are 2 clips holding it.
- Just pull it as shown


5) Doors interior trim should just be pulled from the backside yellow circle.
- There are few clips holding the trim to the door.
- After that release the 3 bolts circled in red with a Torx 15 screwdriver.
- When you release the bolts there are few clips holding the door cover (there is tape put on the clips position) After that you push a flat screwdriver to make enough room for your fingers and just pull gently.
- When all clips are popped release the cables and remember their positions.
Do exactly the same at the other side.

Pictures used from this thread http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30305 Thanks txusa03




6) You take the wrench with 8мм socket and remove the bolt holding the rubber that goes into the door (circled in red)
- You release the sockets and start to put them apart.
- The socket that goes in the door holds bushing contacts (number 3 from materials)
- The socket that goes into the car body hold the pins (number 4 from materials)
We will be back shortly on this one.



7) We have put everything apart, now we start doing the work. Bushing contact number 5) is put at the beging of the green cable (we will call it Main Cable), after that we push the wire from the passanger to the driver side.
- After that you tape the conncetor to the wire, than you pull the wire to the drivers side.
- The bushing contact should be installed in the socket (the 2nd/the bottom one/) of the footwell module, The footwell module is located under the small cover that we removed earlyer at drivers side. We install the bushing contact at number 35 (circled in red)
- You should put the cable under the carpet and leave 1/2 foot more, at the passanger side you should put it under the carpet and leave a bit reserve.


8 ) We fix 6 bushing contacts (number 3) to green cables about 1 foot long.
- 2 bushing contacts should be fixed to brown cables about 1 1/2 foot.
- The last 2 bushing contacts must be conected to brown cables about 5 feet long at the one side and the cable terminals (number 7) at the other.
- After all that we should assamble the universal sockets (number 2), in 2 of the sockets we put the shorter brown cables at pin 2 and 2 green cables at pin 1, the other 2 we assamble with the longer brown cables at pin 1 and green at pin 2.


9) The pins (number 4) we fix green cable about 1 foot.

10) we need to cut the holes for the lamps on the door covers, perforated inside.
- We cut the glue holding the insolation of the door. We put the wire in the rubber insulation that holds the cables going into the door, we tape one bushing contact with green cable to the wire and pull it inside. We nned to assemble the bushing to the socket at position 27, check picture 3 at point 5)
The red line shows where to cut the glue.
- At the other side the car body, we push the wire in the socket that guids the cables to the socket, than we push the green cable with the pin using the wire. We assamble the pin with the socket, at position 27 again.
- We connect back the sockets in the rubber insulation. Than we should thes our connection with wire testing tool, if its ok we close and put the bolt back.Picture 2 point 6)

11) We take one of the sockets with smaller brown cable, than we solder the green cable comming from the socket to the green that we just pulled in the door. Before that we should put the heat shrink.
- We nned to find the brown cable that is running through the door and connect the brown cable from the socket to it with a quick connect. We put the door insulation back, glue to glue. We put the lamp in the open of the door cover that we cut before. We connect all the cables back, and the cable to the lamp. We assamble the door back. The door is now ready, and we can begin at the other side.

12) The green cable that comes from the door we should connect with a quick connect to the main cable, at the passengers side we solder the green cable that comes from the door to the main cable.

13) Its time to make the wireing for the footwell lights.
- We take the other 2 sockets, the ones with longer brown cables.
1) At drivers side we put the green cable next to all other cables and we connect it with quick connect to the main cable, the brown we put under the carpet and ground it. Under the carpet there are 2 boxes for grounding, we bolt it to the left one. (number Х173 on the picture)
2) At the passangers side we put the green cable with the other cables, and use quick connect again, the brown cable we bolt under the carpet. (Х490 on the picture)



Now it is ready for testing, we can put the socket in the footwell, we can put the small sockets in the lamps, and connect the battery. Everything should work now and the lights should light If everything is "OK" we stop the lights from the button in the central light. We disconnect the ligth in the feet compartment and start to assembly the covers. we put the lamps in the plastic cover opens and connect again.


I hope its clear enough. I appologies for my English.
I cant take any response for damages during instalation.

Here are some pics ready:


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      04-20-2010, 08:33 PM   #2
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awesome job! do you have door handle light?
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      04-20-2010, 09:06 PM   #3
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great write-up
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      04-20-2010, 09:35 PM   #4
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Great job on this project!
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      04-22-2010, 12:29 PM   #5
S_GonzaLes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mimiandi View Post
awesome job! do you have door handle light?
No, i don't have it yet, looking forward for retrofitting it.
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      04-29-2010, 01:27 AM   #6
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Cool let me know if you do it.. i dont have one either and have the parts but haven't done it yet. I don't know how i should take the vapor barrier off and put it back later.
i got the OEM door handle lights from tischer for $34~ each.
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      05-09-2010, 03:35 PM   #7
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Great job.

I just have a little question. I'm planning to do a similar thing, but just the footwell lights on my E90 '09. It should be the same but but just to be on the safe side i draw up a small schematic based on your description. I would be grateful if you took a look and told me did I get it right? If it's Ok we can leave it here, maybe somebody else needs it.

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      05-11-2010, 09:43 AM   #8
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Yes, you got it right, just assemble the brown wire at pin 1 of the connectors.
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      05-12-2010, 02:47 PM   #9
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It would be nice if some one could post pictures of the footwell module as it is seen in place after u have just removed the driver's side kick panel. I was also wondering if we need to add a in line fuse to the green wire to protect the expensive footwell module. What is the part number of the bushing that connects on to the footwell module? Thanks in advance.

Last edited by raj55; 05-12-2010 at 02:52 PM..
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      05-13-2010, 03:46 PM   #10
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You don't need any fuses...

Quote:
5) 1 pcs bushing contact (for connection with the footwell module)
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      05-14-2010, 03:45 PM   #11
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Thanks Gonzales! The only reason I asked about in line fuse was because some one in BMW 1 series had connected a inline fuse between the fotwell module and footwell light.

http://www.babybmw.net/forum/howtos/...lumination.pdf
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      05-27-2010, 04:05 PM   #12
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Gonzales, having removed the kick panel on the driver's side, I noticed that the footwell module in my car (320, E91, 2009 halogen lights) does not look as in your picture and I have begun to have doubts if I can connect the footwell lights there. It would be helpfull if some one could post a photo of the whole module and not just the connector.
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      06-05-2010, 03:26 AM   #13
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hey could you give an estimate on time you've spent on this and the cost of parts? great DIY. My 320D also doesn't have it and it's kinda bugging me.
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      07-17-2010, 03:52 PM   #14
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Maybe a stupid question but how do you install the bushing contact (part no. 5) into the pin 35 of the footwell module socket?

Just slide it into the pin 35 hole, and it will snap into place and won't fall out?
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      10-23-2010, 09:12 AM   #15
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What happened to the pictures in this thread? OR is it just my computer not showing the photos?
Raj
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      11-03-2010, 07:43 PM   #16
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I can't see them either.
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      11-08-2010, 03:25 PM   #17
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passenger not passanger
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      01-11-2011, 03:57 AM   #18
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Can you put the pics again, I can not see them.
Or maybe you have a DIY file?
Thank's
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      04-02-2011, 04:38 PM   #19
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Missing pics.

Hi GonzaLes,

Great job you did with this DIY, just what i was looking for, as i am about to do the same my self, mine is a 325i sedan so it already has the footwell light instaled from factory, but the i have 4 doors that needs light.

Seems that the pictures disapeared, are you able to upload them again?

I plan to also do the outside handle light i all 4 doors (sedan) when the door covers is of anyway, did you fit the handle lights yet?
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      08-14-2011, 04:45 AM   #20
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Hi great work! Can u repost the picture please?
Thanks a lot!
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      11-24-2011, 12:45 PM   #21
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this is just what I needed. I hope you can put back the pics. thanks
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      03-25-2012, 04:54 PM   #22
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Hello

What is the part no for "5) 1 pcs bushing contact (for connection with the footwell module)"???

I think I have found the rest on realoem.com


Thanks
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