MK5 Golf GTI

All Things Mk5 => Modifications & Technical Area => Cosmetic/Interior Modifications => Topic started by: Squeeguk on October 29, 2012, 08:03:22 pm

Title: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on October 29, 2012, 08:03:22 pm
I finished up the Skyline / Donut mod for my Jetta this afternoon in between the rain showers. Still working on adjusting the tail light brightness even though directly from the rear they look the same. Not sure if it's the tail lights having the LED's closer together. From some angles the inners do look brighter.

Excuse the quality of the pics, the flash tends to upset everything. Looks much better in the flesh.

In driving mode.
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi63.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh147%2Fsqueeguk%2F2008%2520Jetta%2520TFSi%2520DSG%2FDSCF3941.jpg&hash=c0b019f1da990c1929aaef2462f692ad6ba09269)

Twin reverse lights
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi63.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh147%2Fsqueeguk%2F2008%2520Jetta%2520TFSi%2520DSG%2FDSCF3942.jpg&hash=aa9b767af830b31453919af38b495b8209dd11ce)

An twin fog lights.
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi63.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh147%2Fsqueeguk%2F2008%2520Jetta%2520TFSi%2520DSG%2FDSCF3943.jpg&hash=266f3068c2b5450f4eb20b8eac5be3ee2acb7e88)

This is how it should have been from the factory imho.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Jaywoo-GTI on October 30, 2012, 03:53:52 pm
Great work. Looks perfect and i agree just how it should have been out the factory.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on October 30, 2012, 03:58:31 pm
Cheers mate, just trying to sort the coding out so all the lights are the same brightness. Hopefully get the wife to help me with that tonight

Trying to convince the chap who does the rings to do some for the GTi's.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Jaywoo-GTI on October 31, 2012, 09:28:03 am
Mine is still a ongoing project as it has been for the past 3 years, nearly got it all completed early this year but my second son arrived and the car took a back seat.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Tfsi_Mike on October 31, 2012, 09:30:47 am

Great work!  :congrats: :congrats:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: chrisr763 on October 31, 2012, 10:03:37 am
Looks brilliant Luis! May have to come over to do my fuel pump in the dark to see this ;) hope you have a torch! Haha
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: RedRobin on October 31, 2012, 12:21:37 pm
.
Does anyone know who James with email beginning jrb0481 is, please?

I sent him my Hella inner to work on it and he has disappeared!
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Polo6n1600i on October 31, 2012, 06:53:52 pm
Fancy doing me a set????  :wink:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: chrisr763 on October 31, 2012, 07:01:56 pm
.
Does anyone know who James with email beginning jrb0481 is, please?

I sent him my Hella inner to work on it and he has disappeared!

Oh no! That's gay :( hope it's just a mis understanding !!! :sad:

If SqueegeUK does do this for you, can vouch for his work. Such high quality it's unreal!
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Dannyboy88 on October 31, 2012, 08:21:05 pm
Nice work mate fancy doing a how to?  :wink:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on October 31, 2012, 09:32:25 pm
Thanks Chris, far too kind.

I can't really do a full how to with pics as it's all done, but I can type something out for you guys. It'a quite a simple job, but time consuming as you need to take a lot of panels off to run a wire from the relays to the bootlid. The rest is simple enough.

Let me put something together for you tomorrow with all the details.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Dannyboy88 on October 31, 2012, 09:33:59 pm
Thanks mate that would be great, where did you buy all the items to do it?
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: scopes on October 31, 2012, 09:35:15 pm
^^^^^^  :happy2: ^^^^^^
That would be very helpful!
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on October 31, 2012, 09:36:31 pm
Will have all the details in the how to, I used OEM plugs to make it all plug and play and made up my own harnesses. I got the rings from a guy in Belgium. Let me know if you guys are interested and I will try and do a group buy from him.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: chrisr763 on October 31, 2012, 11:15:57 pm
Would it be fairly similar to do a Golf Luis?
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: scopes on November 01, 2012, 12:46:36 am
intrested depending on cost  :happy2:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: JoeDarKa on November 01, 2012, 07:36:01 am
Im interested
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on November 01, 2012, 01:34:39 pm
Ok, at the moment this is only available for the Jetta as it came standard with the LED lights on the rear. For some reason (cost cutting?) VW decided in their infinite wisdom not to use LED lights on the GTi. You can however purchase them after market. I do believe you can get OEM.

Please keep in mind the usual things, neither I nor Mk5GolfGTI.co.uk forum will not be held responsible should you damage anything or yourself doing this mod. :happy2:

You will need the following:

1 x donut PCB ring with LED's on.
1 x spare passenger side inner tail light complete
2 x female connector housing 191 972 712
2 x repair wire set for above 000 979 129
2 x male connector housing 1J0 972 923
2 x repair wire set for above 000 979 133
1 x repair wire set S 000 979 150E
approx 10 metres of 1.5mm sq thin wall wire (I used brown and red to differentiate earth and live)
heat shrink butt connectors
Solder and soldering iron
Automotive cloth tape (for that factory fresh finish)
Side Cutters
Wire Stripper
Crimping tool
Heat gun or equivalent for heat shrink butt connectors
T20 Torx driver
Flat screw driver
Pizza Cutter
Bison Plastic adhesive (clear and waterproof) or eqivalent

Step 1:
Remove the rear cover on the boot lid. This is done by removing the 4 x T20 Torx screws on the back panel. Then pull the cover off gently from the top down, it should come away quite easily. Place to one side out of harms way.

Step 2:
Disconnect the harness on the boot lid and remove, makes life easier when you hooking up the other wires.

Step 3:
Remove the tail lights by removing the nuts holding them in place with a 10mm socket or spanner. Put them one side safely.

Step 4:
Take your inner tail lights inside and leave them to warm up for a few hours. One they have warmed up a little, so they are not too brittle, proceed to open the tail lights using your pizza cutter as per this video.



Step 5:
Once opened, you need to remove the centre section and drill the holes for the LED's. This is not difficult as they are already moulded in. Be very careful with your drill as you can easily mark the chrome effect. Be sure to wear gloves as it does mark easily. To remove the centre section turn the lights over and use a pliers to push the pins sticking up together and then down, there are 3 sets of these. Use a 5.5 or 6mm drill bit to drill the holes. Remember to discard the centre section from the drivers side with the red lens in and use the centre section from the passenger side tail light you purchased to make two reverse lights.

Step 6:
Once the holes have been drilled, take your dremel and remove the rear 'dome' of where the LED's will sit. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of this, but you do need to remove quite a bit of material. You will see what I mean when you have them out. If you do not do this, the lights will not sit in correctly. You will also need to drill a couple of holes next to each other for the wires to come through the back of the tail light assembly. You will see that the LED rings and the centre section can only go in one way.

Step 7:
Once you have done the above and placed the centre section back in the main moulding and ensured it is clipped back in place correctly, you can then re-assemble the lens portion back onto the main housing. It will fit only one way so do not mix the lenses up. Put a very little amount of glue on the mating surfaces, you don't want glue running into the lights. Then clip the lens back on and hold in place with some clamps for a period of time. I left them to sit for a few hours before handling them again. I then put a bead around the lens edge to make sure there was a good seal and no water could get in. I then left them overnight to make sure everything was dry and solid.

Step 8:
While the glue is setting, you can move onto the harness. First step is to make another connection for the second reverse light on the drivers side. Take one of the female connectors and one of the relevant repair wires. Cut the repair wire in half and insert the two terminals into the housing. Be sure to make a note of which is positive and negative. You can find which is which by looking at the original reverse light plug. You will then need to cut some wire and using the butt connectors crimp them to the ends of the respective repair wire ends. Then run them the length of the existing harness making sure you don't make them too long or too short. Strip back a section on each wire near the original reverse light plug and solder the new wires to them, keeping in mind the polarity. Tape these up using insulation tape and making sure that there is no chance of shorting. You are now done with wiring the new reverse light bulb.

Step 9:
This is where it get's a little trickier. You need to run a common earth from the original fog light plug on the drivers side to the passenger side by using the method above of stripping back and soldering only the ground wire. Do the same as above and ensure the wire running to the passenger side follows the original harness to the correct length. Take one of the female connectors and the respective repair wires and cut the repair wire in half again. Insert the repair wires into the female connectors, once again being mindful of polarity, which again can be copied from the original fog light connector on the drivers side. You will then need to use the butt connector to connect the earth side to the wire you just ran from the original fog light connector. Then take a long piece of wire, this needs to run to the panel by your feet and connect it to the repair wire coming from the positive side of the new connector using a butt connector again. then wrap up all the wires using the cloth tape for that OEM look.

Step 10:
Take your newly modified and glued tail lights and attach one of the male connectors with the relevant repair wires to the wires coming from the rings in the tail lights. Once again, be mindful of the polarity. Do this for both sides. Try to keep the wires as short as possible, but easy enough to work with.

Step 10:
Re-install the harness and the tail lights in the boot lid. Make sure to connect the plugs correctly and you should end up with this:
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi63.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh147%2Fsqueeguk%2FJetta%2520Install%25202012%2FDSCF3944.jpg&hash=92dd7cb2a4c8b74b56eaf9fb1e7354a22a594d60)
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi63.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh147%2Fsqueeguk%2FJetta%2520Install%25202012%2FDSCF3945.jpg&hash=063b665cad79cf81336314b555c0dc7a9d6da15f)

Step 11:
Remove the boot carpeting and put it to one side. Then remove the plastic protector piece on the back of the boot. This is done by removing the two plastic 'screws' holding it down and then pulling. It should come away easily with a good tug or three. Put this to one side. Now remove the four fasteners holding the side panels in place, two on the rear and two under the parcel shelf, you will see them easily. Do this to both sides. Then pull the side panels away gently.

Step 12:
Now you need to run the single wire from the new plug on the passenger side to the front of the car as per the original harness. This can be a handful as it's really tight in there. Once through the grommets and sheath, it should enter in the side of the boot behind where the outer tail light is.  Once through, feed it along the back of the boot where the existing wiring is and over the drivers side rear wheel arch. You will need to remove the rear seat, the trims along the drivers side, the rear seat side section, and the trim where the light switch goes.

Step 13:
Once you have got to this point, you will need to remove the relay tray and turn if over. This is done by releasing the two clips either side, you should be able to feel them if you put your hands up one either side. Once you have done this, you should see 4 plugs on the bottom. You are looking for plug B as in the picture below. You want to remove this plug by releasing the purple clamp by pulling it to one side. Then activate the clip on the plug and pull it out. You then want to insert one end of the repair wire into pin 4. You can then put it all back together in reverse order. Before putting all the panels together, join the wire you ran from the back to the repair wire you just installed.
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi63.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh147%2Fsqueeguk%2FJetta%2520Install%25202012%2F59c5ce2b.jpg&hash=f7f21b52259dc8a04d76b498711996a52442a42d)
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi63.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh147%2Fsqueeguk%2FJetta%2520Install%25202012%2F80ea66a6.jpg&hash=1a54f17994ab3a94602f2f9f1b768f2c95e14af5)

Step 14:
Re-assemble everything as it should be.

Step 15:
You now need to do some coding with VCDS as below:

In module 09 - Central Electrics

Byte 3, Bit 1 uncheck as you will now have 2 fog lights
Byte 4, Bit 4 check activation of both rear fogs
Byte 10, 15% rear fog as parking light or the same as what you lights are set at. I had to change mine to 1 to get it as dim as possible and adjust my driving lights a little brighter as below.
Byte 12, 35% Rear parking light dimming
I also changed the following previously to get just the outer rings on without the inners:
Byte 9, 0% Rear brake light as parking light

Hope this helps? Any questions, let me know.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on November 01, 2012, 01:37:25 pm
I meant to add that there is another way to wire without all the extra coding and running a wire to the front, but then you still end up with one rear fog light and one reverse light as per standard. It just means tapping the wires off the passenger rear light and running them to the rings. This then only gives you driving lights on the inner rears.

The only coding you would then need to do would to switch off the rear brake lights as parking lights, Byte 9.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: chrisr763 on November 04, 2012, 10:52:13 pm
Thanks for the Writeup!  :happy2:  :congrats: :congrats:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on November 05, 2012, 08:36:19 am
Thanks for the Writeup!  :happy2:  :congrats: :congrats:

Thanks Chris. Glad it's appreciated. :happy2:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: scopes on November 05, 2012, 11:32:11 am
Totally awesome write up there matey... Very detailled  :happy2:

This would be one for the How to section
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: RedRobin on November 05, 2012, 12:27:27 pm

Totally awesome write up there matey... Very detailled  :happy2:

This would be one for the How to section


.... x 2  :happy2:

Contact richwig.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on November 05, 2012, 12:34:40 pm
Cheers chaps, will do. Pity I should have taken more pics. Never mind, if I ever do it for someone else's car, then I will take pics.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: chrisr763 on November 05, 2012, 03:45:15 pm
Cheers chaps, will do. Pity I should have taken more pics. Never mind, if I ever do it for someone else's car, then I will take pics.

Its always the way... Pretty sure everytime ive done somthing I think after.... Should have taken photo's of every stage  :rolleye:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: felix! on November 06, 2012, 04:37:11 am
nice little mod
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Yawn on November 10, 2012, 01:12:05 pm
Looks fantastic but even with your great write up it would be beyond me to do this myself unfortunately.

Best I've managed is the fog delete and that does clean the rear quite effectively IMO.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Steviedubs on November 24, 2012, 08:39:22 am
That looks excellent, great idea! Where did you get the led rings from?
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: SI-R32 on November 24, 2012, 09:34:29 am
1st want to say well done for putting all that together, great write up

2nd so glad you've posted that video up, I had my golf inners done by JLS Tuning, but now i've seen a way of removing them defo going to try this on my spare set.

as said above though the bloke in the vid must have the smd rings made for him by an electronics company as there not widely available.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on November 24, 2012, 11:55:49 am
Thanks guys.

Yeah, got the rings from Guy in Belgium. He specialises in Passats, but also does the rings for the Jetta. They are professionally made with proper printed boards and the resistors and LED's are all surface mounted. Very neat.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: nezquick on November 24, 2012, 03:30:51 pm
you should copy and paste that brilliant guide into the guides section and it should be made a sticky! well done looks very smart anr im definately going to give it a go! :congrats:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: chrisr763 on November 25, 2012, 09:28:47 am
you should copy and paste that brilliant guide into the guides section and it should be made a sticky! well done looks very smart anr im definately going to give it a go! :congrats:

I think it might already be on the page somewhere :P could be wrong!
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on November 25, 2012, 06:42:59 pm
Yep, it 's already in the how to section. :happy2:
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on May 08, 2013, 10:59:14 pm
For all those with Jetta's, please let me know your interest in this as I can now get a supply of these rings. Once I know how many are interested, I can get a price for either supplying you the rings or doing the tail light mod for you and sending you the lights back with or without a harness that you then need to plumb in.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: DSG_Steel on May 08, 2013, 11:19:12 pm
Hi can you do this on my mk5 golf? ?
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on May 09, 2013, 09:06:01 am
Hi can you do this on my mk5 golf? ?

I can, but you have to have Valeo LED lights and there is a lot more work than on the Jetta so becomes expensive. I am working on getting some rings made for the Valeo tail lights. I will update once I have some news.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: screech on May 19, 2013, 11:04:37 pm
This was a very interesting read, thank you.

I know it's a jetta write up, but as far as the connections go, (extra fog, reverse and connecting to the CECM) is this the same as the golf. (Sorry if that's a stupid question!)


Can the inners also be programmed for brake lights?


Cheers.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: Squeeguk on May 20, 2013, 09:44:50 pm
This was a very interesting read, thank you.

I know it's a jetta write up, but as far as the connections go, (extra fog, reverse and connecting to the CECM) is this the same as the golf. (Sorry if that's a stupid question!)


Can the inners also be programmed for brake lights?


Cheers.

Yep, the wiring will most likely be the same, I have done the GTi before and wired up the same as the Jetta.

You can make the inners behave exactly like the outers, but that means wiring it differently, taking the feed off the outer lights. I haven't really looked into doing that at all, so can't be 100% sure if you could do it with coding. The inner rings on my car are actually the fog lights coded to run as driving lights too.
Title: Re: Skyline tail light mod for Jetta done.
Post by: JoeDarKa on August 30, 2013, 10:27:51 pm
Did anyone see the video on how to split the lights? Doesnt seem to work now!