USDM Front Bumper Amber running lights Retrofit
 

Hey guys, for some reason I have always been intrigued with the amber marker lights on USA cars. So I decided to retrofit to my A8. The task involves removing the bumper, replace the front bumper mouldings, add the marker lights then run the wiring to the inside of the car. According to the wiring diagrams, it’s a simple wiring connection to a grey/yellow wire which runs from the on-board computer to the 8 pin connector of the glovebox.

Parts Needed:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00229.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00201.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00200.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00194.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00202.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00203.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00209.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00210.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00215.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00214.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00213.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00204.jpg

Mouldings after painting

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00238.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00236.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00233.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00235.jpg

Connectors for marker lights and pins

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00219.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00220.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00221.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00222.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00223.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00224.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00226.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00272.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00268.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00271.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00001.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00002.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00003.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00004.jpg

Fitting Process... we start off by taking off the front bumper and both sections of the passenger side wheel liners. We need to run the wiring from the front of the bumper to inside the car on the passenger side. There is a grommet which we can poke thru to get access to the interior, getting to this was not easy so please make sure you have the equipments and tools so do this task.
I wanted to do clean setup so it all looks to OEM standard, so i decided to make use of the redundant pins on the 10 pin connector for the front bumper.
Replacing the mouldings....this is quite easy. Once you have the bumper off, take off the parking sensors on the relevant sides and using a trim tool, pop out the tabs holding the moulding in place. In order to swap the chrome trims, there is a small tab in the middle which you need to push out using a screwdriver and slowly slide it off. Installation is in reverse. Don’t forget to remove the retainers for the parking sensors.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00014.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00015.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00016.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00017.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00018.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00019.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00020.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00021.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00022.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00023.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00029.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00030.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00031.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00032.jpg

A small part of the bumper needs to be cut off in order to make room for the marker light.. nothing too bad. Even if you replace with the original moulding it should hold in place just fine.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00033.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00034.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00035.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00026.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00025.jpg

This is how it looks..

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00027.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00028.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00036.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00037.jpg

Running the wiring in place and setting up the connections in the 10 pin housing then routing the wiring to the grommet

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00027.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00028.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00036.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00037.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00038.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00039.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00040.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00041.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00042.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00043.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00044.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00045.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00046.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00048.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00049.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00050.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00051.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00052.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00063.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00062.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00061.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00058.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00059.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00056.jpg

We are now left to put the front of the car back together.

Now we sort out the wiring...you can use the grounding point as pictured and it is up to you how to power the lights. You can either power them directly from the fuse box or you can tap into the Grey/Yellow wire from the 8 pin connector for the glove box.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00069.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00070.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00071.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00072.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00073.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00074.jpg

And this is what we end up with...

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00077.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00078.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00079.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00083.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00086.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00085.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00084.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00080.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00081.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t/DSC00082.jpg

Nice thread.

Thank you +++

Great photos, thanks for posting +++

Great write up with excellent pictures thank you +++
It has now been immortalized as a sticky at the top of the section :D

Further to some questions:

Connector Used for the marker lights is part number: 1J0 973 722 and you can use Pins 000 979 133E with them. Or you can buy the pig tails I did from here

Pin assignments on the connector:
Pin 1: Earth
Pin 2: Power

Any more questions don't hesitate to ask :)

Wow!! They are based in Oerlinghausen.
You have just woken a lot of memories for me. I spent nine years in that area.

Thanks for posting the pics and the guide, really useful.

If the lights were clear or smoked, I'd have fitted them to mine by now. I'm also a fan of the USA spec amber side markers. +++

Great write up, well done!

In the USA there is a trend to delete them to make the bumpers (fenders) look like European spec!

Don't I know it! I bet there wouldn't be that much of a trend for the Euro spec if a smoked lens option was available though!