MESO Puddle Light build

#willyoubemyfriend

 

Now that would be pimping, and that is wrong.

 

Your onto something there.

 

Beer is my go-to breakfast while camping.

 

Right!!!

 

Well, this got awkward really quick....
You should buy extra MESO kits... it will be like offering candy out of a van!

 

The Marine Corps motto

 

Coming to a street near all of you

 

#foreveralone

 

I'm patiently waiting for some magnificent member to post a DIY Video of this install...

 

Saturday is coming...

 

Make sure to include any tips you get from members on here.... And provide shout outs for said tips.

 

Keep in mind, I am an amateur when it comes to any type of modding. None the less, here are my tips:

- Keep your removed bolts, clips, screws, etc in one spot. Don't set yourself up for failure

Step 1 Tips:
- 1F: When you remove the mirror trim piece, there should be 3 white clips stuck in the door behind the trim. Carefully remove each one and snap all 3 ONTO the mirror trim piece. This way when you reinstall the trim piece, it will snap on flush.

I did learn the hard way, and after finishing install I tried to put the trim piece back on (while the white clips were still in the door) and ended up pushing all 3 white clips into the door frame, lost forever. The instructions do not warn you of this easily avoidable issue.

- 1G: Before removing the door panel, I would highly recommend removing the power window panel WHILE the door panel is attached to the door. I believe it was MUCH easier to remove the two power cables connected to the power window panel than trying to unplug them with the door panel removed from the door.

It was hard to see the power cables and the larger of the two I could not remove while trying to hold onto the door panel. When you pop off the power window panel, you have more slack to work with giving you better visibility of the power cables that need to be unplugged.

Step 2 Tips:

- 2B: There are 3 black glossy circle stickers that behind them are 3 10mm bolts you remove to detach the side mirrors from the door. If you push gently in the center of each sticker, you can easily remove each one without damaing them. That way you can re-use them AFTER you put the side mirrors back on after installing the puddle pods/vleds.

Not a big deal if you ruin them, some electrical tape can cover the holes if your suppose to keep them covered but they are so easy to re-apply after removing I think it makes sense to try and re-use them when everything gets put back together.

- 2H: Where you fish the cable through the mirror trim and then the mirror arm, that rubber piece you push the extension cable through does bend and stretch so don't be afraid to apply a little force when pushing it through.

- 2I: My passenger side mirror needed to be trimmed to get the puddle pod fixture to fit flush. I could not find my dremel and used generic wire cutters. The plastic was soft enough to cut using that, so don't over think it. Of course, a dremel lets you make it look nicer if you care but it ends up being covered any way.

Step 3 Tips:

- 3G: The infamous boot! The bane of amateurs out there like myself. Removing the boot can sound challenging, but if you reach between the door and the cab and using your fingers to push down on the boot you can slowly pry it out in a circular motion. The instructions only says to remove the boot from the cab side, but I recommend removing it from both sides (door and cab) as this will give you more room to fish a cable through the boot.

See picture below.. I taped the meso cable to a long flat head using electrical tape, and then from the bottom of the boot (door side) I gently pushed up towards the top of the boot (cab side) while twisting/wiggling the flat head. The driver side boot has the most cables already in it making it the most challenging. Using this method took me 2 minutes to fish the cable through.



Step 4 Tips:

- 4F: Step 4 really wasn't challenging, but behind my a pillar contained more cables than I believe the average taco has. This created an issue where after installing the meso harness and connecting everything together, I could not get the a pillar trim on without it bowing and looking "bloated." I was able to make more room by detaching the clip that holds the harness to the frame, but ultimately could not replicate the same look without it looking stuffed with cables haha.

Luckily, you do not notice anything out of the ordinary unless you are purposely looking, but no cables or air bag or anything is exposed/visible which I figured was good enough

 

Installed the puddles yesterday and got no light from either mirror. Everything else works as expected, so I can only assume that I have a loose connection somewhere. I ran out of time to investigate, and will pick it up tomorrow.

The toughest part of the install was the threading the wire through that godforsaken boot (driver side). Passenger boot was easy.

 

Meso helped me out with 4f last night. I wonder if there is a way to transfer that clip to the new harness.

 

Helped you out by getting the a pillar to fit flush like normal, or just told you to remove the the clip that holds the harness to the frame?

 

The latter. I wasn't sure if just yanking on it is all I needed to do.

 

I am gonna fiddle with fixing my cable management under my dash and a pillar in a few minutes, if I find any other good tips I will let you know.