Installing Front Footwell Lights

Yet another feature of the higher spec cars which can be easily added. Time for this one will, again, depend on what wiring loom you have in the car. Ford decided to put the holders in some cars and simply miss out the bulbs, therefore if you are lucky, it's as simple as putting two W5W Capless bulbs in the holders. For the rest of us, you will need to obtain the holders and then wire them yourself. This how-to enables you to install footwell lights that come on when the door is opened and then remain on for the duration of the timer.

You will need:

• Two 5W Capless Bulbs
  • FINIS - 81AG-13465-AA - £1.72

You may need: (Depending on wiring loom installed)

• Two bulb holders
• Insulating tape
• Wire cutters / strippers
• About 2 meters worth of suitable cable
• Volt Meter

Alternatively:

• 2 High-Bright 12v LED's instead of the bulbs

This photo should give you a good indication of where the holder is. Its taken looking out of the passengers footwell - the light you can see at the bottom is the front courtesy light and the plastic panel is the bottom of the glovebox. If there is a white bulb holder with wires on it in place then all you need to do is add the bulbs and you're done.

If not you will need to wire it yourself, which isn't that tricky. The first thing to do is obtain the holders which are not normally available from Ford as they will only want to sell you the entire loom. You can take them from a scrapped mondeo and they are also used by Ford to hold the glove box bulb in most of the models (fiesta, escort etc) so you can take them from here.

Prepare to start the job by locating the plastic holders in both the drivers and passenger footwell and removing the foam pad in the passengers footwell (Its held up with 4 plastic clips that you pull hard on to release)

Now to start with first attach the supply wires of the one holder to your new power cable and crimp or solder the joint.

Next insulate with tape to avoid shorting and install the holder in the drivers side foot well. With this done you need to thread your power cable behind the console (there are several routes so take your time) so it arrives in the passenger footwell.

Put the passengers bulb holder in place and then cut the supply wire so you have enough to go from the drivers lamp to the passengers with a little spare.
Now measure and cut yourself another piece of cable to go from the passenger footwell to the fusebox with a little spare.
You now have to make a join in which all three cables come together - that is, the power feed from the drivers lamp, the power feed from the passenger lamp and the power feed that will be from the fusebox.

The final part is to connect the power feed to the fusebox. It helps to remove the glovebox to do this - open it as far as it will go and then give it a sharp tug towards the rear of the car. Both hinges have a detaching mechanism and will allow you to put the glovebox to one side. Look up at the fusebox and you'll see a black pull handle (looks like the end of a plastic drawing pin). Pull down on this to release the fusebox and then tug it (just like the glovebox) out of its hinges for easier working. On the underside of the box you'll find three push in connectors and you need to find the black/blue and the Orange/Blue wires that feed the courtesy light.

This is looking up at the fusebox in position, the black square with the holes in it is the central timer module (where the ding-ding noise comes from) the plug you need is directly behind this so check you have the right connections by inserting the positive probe of a volt meter into the orange/blue wire and the negative into the black/blue wire. Open a door and your meter should read around the 12V mark - close the door and after 12 seconds the meter should go back to reading 0v. If this doesn't happen then you have the wrong wires so try again. You can also check by removing the plug (it comes out by depressing the clip) and then opening a door - you shouldn't get any interior lights (but the relay will still click)

Next if you are working with a door open, remove fuse 34 (Its got an orange surround on most of the car's I've seen) - this is the fuse for interior lighting and clock, and pulling it will turn off the interior lights so you can connect up without fear of shorting anything. You now need to cut the orange/blue cable and crimp it onto the positive supply for your door lights and then spice the black/blue cable onto the negative supply. You can solder this connection but it can be risky around the fuse box and don't just tape the wires together as there is a possibility of them coming loose and shorting against something in the fuse box.
With this done close all the doors and wait for the relay to turn off (You'll hear a click) - reinsert the fuse and check everything is ok. Now open any door and the footwell lights and courtesy lights should come on.

Refit the fusebox making sure not to trap and cables, and then the foam panel with its clips. Again make sure everything is working and that all the lights go off with the timer. You should end up with something like the picture here.

Now I didn't like the way the light was neatly shaped around the the passengers footwell yet the drivers side was just allowed to shine wherever it wanted. What you can do here is to get another passenger piece of foam from a scrapped mondy and cable tie it to locations in the drivers footwell. You will need to cut it to allow clearance of the pedals and steering wheel - remember that safety comes well above aesthetics so don't attach it to any moving part!