'98 Turn signal to corners relocation mod

Hey all,

After looking through the write-ups on this mod, I only came across one that I found to be complete enough to follow (pictures, parts-list, up-to-date links, etc). Even with this I found some incomplete/incorrect info (at least for my truck). I bought my truck with an aftermarket bumper already installed, but they did nothing to the turn signals from the original bumper. So I had no turn signal functionality up front. Hence my reason for modding.

The write-up I used as a guide is here:
http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/tacoma_turn_signal/

This guide claims that one bulb will be able to perform both the parking light and turn signal functions. I found this not to be the case and had to settle for just turn signals up front. All the parts needed and procedure are all listed there so I won't take the time to re-post everything here. However I do want to add some pictures and corrections so anyone looking to do this mod in the future will have less of a headache.

Step 1
Remove the corner light assemble by removing 1 screw at the top and popping it out (there's 1 push connection toward the bottom). Remove bulb from assembly.

Step 2
With a dremel, carve out a larger hole where the original bulb was. Take your time with this and check for fitment of the new socket often (I made my first one slightly too big). Try to carve more on the inside wall (marked with red in pic) as you don't have a lot of space on the outer wall. Feel free to skip this step initially if you want to test your wiring for functionality before permanently altering your corner assembly.




Step 3
Rinse the inside of the corner assembly with distilled/ soft water to remove the plastic debris. For my final rinse, I used 50/50 water/alcohol to help speed up the drying. I found I was able to get it about 90% dry with a paper towel and my finger.

Step 4
Remove the clips holding the wiring for the turn signal and parking light and pull the wiring out through the hole where the corner assembly was located. Remove the wiring loom. Cut the wires to the parking light just below the socket. Cut the wires to the turn signal to match the length of the parking light wires. Mark the green wire from the turn signal with a piece of tape to keep track (I forgot to do this and had to test to figure out which was which).



Step 5
Prep the new socket. Squirt some silicon around the black plastic wire guide to make it more weatherproof. Attach a wire to the ground tab using a quick disconnect (this should match the length of the 2 positive wires). I wrapped the whole thing in black tape to secure everything and hopefully make it more weatherproof.



Step 6
Twist the 2 white ground wires from the turn signal and parking light together. Using a butt connector, attach both to the white ground wire you added to the new socket. Twist the two positive leads from the new socket together. Before fully attaching with a butt connector, test for functionality by loosely twisting the two positive leads to the green wire from the turn signal. If it works, complete the connection with a butt connector. If it doesn't try the other green wire or check your ground connection. Clean everything up with black tape or a wire loom.




Step 7
Apply silicone around the rim of the new socket. Insert socket into corner assembly. Apply more silicone around the outside of the socket. Reattach corner assembly. Done!



*Additional note
There is a black wire in the turn signal loom on the passenger side. I just separated it from the rest and left it alone as I didn't know its function.


Here's a video of the final result:
https://youtu.be/84ltkpTR5eI

 

1. How do you replace burned bulb?
2. That black wire inside the turn signal loom is going to a horn. It exits the turn signal loom about half way down. Do you have horn working?

 

5 minutes with a dremel and some epoxy:

No wire cutting needed, no parts list.

 

or just glue in a standard 1157 bulb socket in there, shared ground, feed it both hot leads, and with 1 bulb and splicing in an 1157 connector you have parking lights and blinkers.

 

Horn works. To change the bulb you have to cut the silicone away, change bulb, and reapply silicone. Kind of a pita, but I figured how often do you have to change a bulb?

I tried to feed the single bulb both hot leads with shared ground. When you turn the parking lights/ headlights on, the headlights override the turn signal, and the bulb doesn't blink anymore. It just stays steady. I think the turn signal operates by cutting ground repeatedly. I could have tried to wire just the turn signal ground with both hot leads. That may work, but I didn't think of it at the time.

 

Great idea! Are you able to change the 1157 bulb that way? Your oem 1157 socket looks different than mine. I don't think mine had that outer gray cylinder. Either way, drilling a separate hole and keeping the parking light looks to be the better option.

 

Maybe you wired it incorrect? Both turn signal and corner parking light are positive switching meaning the ground is always connected to minus. You should have wired this as follow:

Common ( the side body of 1157 bulb)should be connected to vehicle ground (black-white wire). Either the turn signal ground or corner light ground (both wires have the same color).
High power contact (21W filament) should be connected to turn signal hot wire (green-black on the driver side, green-yellow on the pass side).
Low power contact (5W filament) should be connected to corner light hot wire (green wire - same color on both sides).

If that does not work you may have problem with ground somewhere.

Turn light diagram:



Corner light diagram:

 

Does the parking light turn off when the turn signal is on? I wanna do this mod but that's one of my main concerns.

 

I think I realized my error. I may have used 1156 bulbs instead of 1157. I just did a google search and it appears that the 1156 only has 1 filament and the 1157 has 2. Which would make sense that the parking light would override the turn signal as the 1 filament would be getting constant power. When I have a free moment, I'll try to rewire it with the proper bulb. Thanks for your insight!

As I stated above, I think I used the wrong bulb. If you wire it the way I have in my original post, the corner parking lights will be disabled, but the turn signals work all the time. With the proper bulb (1157), you may be able to get both the parking lights and turn signal to work from the same bulb by connecting each green wire to it's corresponding hot lead on the bulb socket.

 

basically an 1157 is 2 bulbs in 1: each power lead feeds it's own filament, the only common element is the ground. it requires, obviously, the correct 3 contact, 3 wire socket.

 

You can use an Oznium switchback contoller to take input from parking lights and blinker then connect both outputs to the same filament of the corner light. Then your parking lights work as normal but it flashes with the lower turn signal. you can keep the stock 2-conductor socket this way and get the desired effect.

If instead you follow the route of using a dual filament or two bilbs in the corner light housing, the blinker is less visible when the parking light is on.

$20 Oznium Switchback LED Driver

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B073XSXYP2

 

The blinker is not less visible when the parking light is on, it's a 21watt filament and completely overpowers a 5w filament. Most cars use a dual filament bulb for combined blinker/parking light. Next you'll say the brake lights are not noticeable when the parking lights are on...

 

Next you'll say the brake lights are not noticeablewhen the parking lights are on...

lol

 

Yep. I had to preserve as much of that cylinder as possible because the bulb is pretty large. But the bulbs click in and out, just like factory.