Pic and thoughts on csjumper2003’s LED white/amber DTRL

I posted this comment in csjumper2003's LED thread and he asked me to remove it so that owners of other years aren't confused. I did, but I still feel like it's necessary information in addition to the small Word doc he includes.


I ordered his white/amber DTRL LEDs, and they look incredible. They're not as bright as stock, don't throw light as far, but they're definitely sufficient to convey information to other drivers. Plus, no melting housing. I’m on my fourth socket in five years.


There are a few things that I discovered that might help someone in the future. This was on my '08.


When removing the dash kick panel, the right cubby should be removed first, but can be removed with the panel after taking the two 10mm bolts out. The power mirror wire loom will need to be disconnected. You might need to unhook the hood release cable from its little u clip in the dash.


The signal control box is a separate-but-attached piece on the upper right side of the fuse panel. It's the size of one of those Wi-Fi OBDII scanners. The instructions said remove two bolts to remove the panel but I also had to remove two nuts to get it loose.


If you're going to drop the fuse panel down all the way for ease of access, you're going to have to disconnect several wire looms. They're all unique, so you don't need to worry about that goes where.


I did not remove them all. Dropping the panel out just from removing the bolts and nuts and pulling the connection out of the signal box, without removing the signal box, allowed me enough room to get the strippers in place.


I'm not clear on the "not this side" image in the instructions. There's only one red/green wire. Snip it right through. I suggest leaving enough on the connector side that it would be possible to reconnect if needed. Connect the wire going to the relay to the side of the wire going into the loom, not the side going into the connector.


The white wire nut provided was too big for my use. I used one of the grey ones from the standard multi-pack.


Use a straightened wire coat hook to jab a hole in the rubber gasket, up behind the parking brake, going into the engine. If you've not done it before and don’t have an existing hole, I suggest going in from the engine side due to the design of the gasket. Looking in the engine, you can see existing equipment going in through the center; you want to go in between the outer and inner layers of the gasket, not through the center. You will need to jam the coat hanger through, it's solid rubber on the interior side. Using electrical tape, attach the wire to go into the engine to the coat hanger, ensuring the tape covers the end of the wire against the hanger so that it doesn't snag. Pull it back through.


Do a twist-pry with a big flat head to separate the two pieces of the DTRL socket. Use the coat hanger to poke the blue plug out. It pops right out, minimal force is needed.


The pressure from putting the two pieces back together was not enough to hold the wires in, contrary to the instructions. You're going to want to tape it in. Put on the taps for the resistor connections first.


It took me a minute to match the resistor suggested location picture to what I was seeing. It's between the radiator and the headlights, on the grill side. I had to remove the grill to get access. Two pop locks, two Phillips, lift straight up.