MESO Puddle Light build

On the window seal. It goes in the corner towards the rear of the window

 

@Tacospike

thank you so much!! I’m taking a break with the install, will post pics when done

 

Funny! I have the exact same piece, sitting in the door pocket now cause I had no idea where it came from!! Thanks @Tacospike

 

I used a wire snake I had sitting around. See what @poroto used, its exactly that.

Removing both sides of the boot made it easier for me, but annoying to put back in.

This^ best way IMO.

 

Good luck guys! Remember to take your time and I high suggest plugging everything in on the ground to get familiar with the connections and how it routes. Also wouldn’t be a bad idea to just plug the a pillar harness in and do a quick function check before running all the wires. for the drivers door boot. DISCONNECT the main harness in the cab and you can pull the whole boot/wiring out through the door jam. Makes it 100x easier.
I have a few puddle kits left in stock, so don’t wait if you are on the fence!

 

So here’s an update. I got the lights installed, couldn’t get the door panel back on, had no idea how that piece on the window was supposed to go back. Decided to just take it to Toyota for my scheduled Maintence and have them put it back together too, since no matter how hard I tried the door wouldn’t clip in place. They told me it should take around an hour to put the door panel back on. So all in all, it will be $170, which is subject to change if it takes more than an hour to put back together...

 

This rubber piece?
It would sit on the window frame closes to the bpillar.
In the picture top is the bottom, and the door sheet metal slips inbetween.

Like so.


$170 to put the just door panel back is a little much...
First make sure all the white clips are there and not bent or misaligned. Those clips bend easily.

The door panel is then inserted from the top at an angle, top towards the window and bottom slightly towards you, and slides down. Once you can see the hole for the push pin like clip on the forward portion of the door panel line up with the hole on the door frame, then it is aligned, and all you have to do next is punch press the door panel to engage the white clips.

 

@Rainoffire
I appreciate all the help! I’m not that good at all this , decided to take the chance and try the puddle pods, which people say on average takes 2 hours? I gave myself 4 and ended up taking way longer, making two trips to Home Depot as well. At like 10pm last night I was still trying to insert the door panel back on and struggled and just kinda gave up. After reading your post I think I wasn’t inserting it in properly and all the clips kept bending. 170 is pretty crazy, since I Take it that it would probably take an experienced toyota technician like 10 minutes to do it. But since my door panels were off, it was a pain dealing with trying to open the door and all that, and I have to be at work so I just decided to have Toyota do it. Price is way too steep, probably would’ve been able to pay that to have someone install the entire light set up and saved myself the day of work

 

Where are you located ? The TW community is pretty large. I’m sure someone would be willing to help you out.

 

@Frsh2df
In Washington!!

according to Toyota it took the person 30 minutes to install each door panel back , and 3 of my clips were broken. Resulting in another $17. I know none of the clips were broken before I brought it in.

 

That sucks. I’m sure they just didn’t care and manhandled it and broke them. Glad you got it all back together though.

 

But, hey... you have PUDDLE LIGHTS now! How do you like them?

 

Don't worry, it is a first for everyone.
If you could do the Puddle Pods, a few more tries and you could have gotten the door too. I have pulled off those door panel way too many times, way more than I should have ever needed to....

I took 8ish hours lol..... Though I did do it with my power folding mirrors.
Ended up at homedepot's parking lot at 3am just to test them out.

Went for Ramen after, cause after all that struggle Tonkotsu Ramen sounded real good.

 

30 minutes!? Isn't it $170 for 1 hour? 4 doors would be 2 hours, for whopping total of $340!? That is a load of BS, even if I took my time to caress, massage, seduce the door panel back unto the door, it would be 10 minutes tops.

Chances are high that they broke the tabs. Probably jealous of those sweet sweet Puddle Lights.

And I thought my dealer was bad...

 

So what’s the trick to getting these things to turn off? I’ve been camping the last few days and leave my door open because my dog hates camping and stays in the truck most of the time. I’m sitting here for the last hour or so and it looks like a UFO is landing since they never turn off.

 

Puddle switch

 

Off....

 

Mine is wired in to the door switch. I’m out of spots in my switch pro. But I think I’m going to have to add a switch somewhere.

 

Doesn’t work on mine. I checked that first. I always have mine in the off position.

 

I gotcha.

I just use Meso’s puddle switch and I can leave it on auto, or turn it off when I’m cleaning or working on the truck.