Thread: Rear pillar lights wiring advice needed

95 is an update, so the pillar lights should come on. (mine do).

So you shouldn't have to wire them up to come on, as you said, you have twin terminal globes.
Just be 100% sure they're working, and they're the correct type too.

There are two different twin terminal bulb types.
The type you need have to be the BAY15D, not BA15D(there's a difference).
The BAY15D also go by the term 1157 too.

The difference is that the two small side posts that lock the bulb into place need to be askew from each other, not directly opposed.

Seen both types, and it's easy to get confused.

The other thing is to be 100% sure that the globes aren't burned out.
Been there with my brothers D2, where it had no brake lights, and I spent hours looking for problems elsewhere, like wiring, earthing and brake switch, when the issue was both bulbs had blown.

So you shouldn't need to wire or rewire anything.

Thanks Arthur. I did find it strange that the unit allowed for a globe and yet not connected. I tend to also look for the complex solution so ill go back and re-check it all including bulb type.

Cheers,

The other thing to check is for continuity between the terminals at the connector to the bulb holder tracks.

Can't remember which is which, but on one side the tail light wire is red/black as you said, but on the other side I think it's Red/Orange .. or something.

So trace the connector to those wires, and with a (hopefully you have) multimeter, check for connection between that wire and the metal track at the base of the light where it connects the bulb holder.

You may have power at the wire, but it may not be transferring to the metal plate on the light unit.

OK, so I checked the bulb and it 'looks' ok with the offset pins, but of course will actually check the bulb tonight. If the bulbs are fine, then ill check the tracks as you suggest. Hopefully I can get this sorted relatively quickly, something that has been bothering me since I have owned it for a few years now but really never got to it until now.

quick easy check of the bulbs. coupe of lengths of wire connected to battery. Hold the earth on the main part of the body of the globe, and touch the positive cable end on each of the bottom poles.

More on this... globes both work. Wires that feed into the connector that operates the park like is not present... just an empty socket. So this may have been from factory??

I the connected that empty socket to a wire, then connected to the rear door globe Earth... worked but of course was then always on. So what cable colour goes to that socket?? Funny thing tho when connecting the bumper cable to the pillar connector it didnt turn on, so i suspect its something else going on.

Does anyone have a photo or colour of wire i should be using?

Cheers,

According to both the electrical circuit diagrams I have(RAVE and Haynes), the RHS feed is a Red/Black wire coming from Fuse F2 in the interior fuse box/
And the LHS uses a Red/Orange wire coming from F8 in that same fuse panel.

Yes, so pretty much what I thought given the colours on the bumper itself. I will give it another go, but I also forgot to mention that the indicators where also excluded in the pillar lights but someone in the past joined the wire from the bumper feed to the pillar plug and works well... this is the same principle I had in mind for the park lights but its been giving me the irrits!