Eclipse to Talon Tail Light Wiring Conversion
For the longest time, I've wanted to convert my Eclipse's tail light wiring to function like the Talon's where the brake and blinker lights are completely separate from each other. If you do this with a hard top Eclipse, it could be as simple as swapping a section of the harness, and the blinker relay. However, for the Spyder, that isn't possible (without major splicing of the two different harnesses). This setup can still be done, as many members on this forum have done it, but I haven't seen any write-ups.
With help from 97eclipseNT, I have completed the wiring modification, and the tail lights operate the way I want them to. I give him credit for the info I'm providing, but I'm just the one who decided to put the info together for everyone else.
Tools needed:
Cross-tip screwdriver
Flat-tip screwdriver
Wire cutters
Wire strippers
Wire crimpers (if using wire connectors)
Soldering iron (if not using connectors; preferred)
Lighter
Parts needed:
Electrical tape
Solder media (if soldering; preferred)
Wire connectors (if not soldering)
Heat shrink
Wire
Zip ties (optional)
Step 1: Accessing the flasher relay & cutting the wire.
Use your cross-tip screwdriver to remove the center console, and then your stereo. Also remove your rear seat cushion at this point. The flasher relay is located up above and to the right of your stereo's mounting location. It's the flat black box with the 10-pin connector plugged into the bottom.
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Disconnect the harness from the relay. On the connector plug, locate the SOLID GREEN wire. There are NO stripes on it, but there may be the little silver rings, that's fine, it's still considered solid green. This is the ONLY wire on this plug that connects to the brake switch that is plugged into the brake pedal. Cut the wire. It doesn't matter where you cut it, but getting a soldering iron in this area can be tricky.
Step 2: Extending the wire.
I cut the wire closer to the plug so I'd have more wire, and therefore could have a little more room to solder the wires. Before starting all this, I rummaged through my stock pile of hacked DSM wire harnesses and pulled out a section of matching solid green wire. You don't have to color match, but it's easier if you do, so you can retrace the wires later if needed. Plus I have OCD, so not color matching wasn't an option. Make sure you have enough to reach all the way to the tail lights. I think I used somewhere between 6 and 10 feet. Now, you can solder your extension wire onto the brake signal wire you cut from the flasher relay. Or you can use wire connectors, but soldering is the best way to go. Unfortunately, this was the only location I got to solder because my iron ran out of fuel, and I didn't feel like running an extension cord for my plug-in iron. I'll redo the others later though.
Once you've secured the extension wire to the signal wire, route it through the various components under the center console, and run it under the carpet between the console and rear seat cushion. Run the wire over to the driver side of the car. I zip-tied the wire along the factory harness to keep it all organized and to keep the wire stationary. Now you can run the wire under the seat back and into the trunk.
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Step 3: Modifying the tail light connections.
First off, remove all your trunk panels so you can run the wire and access the tail light bulb connections. I ran the extension wire to the center brake light wire first. I cut the brake wire and connected it to my extension, and then another extension to run to each of the tail lights.
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Don't connect to the factory harness in this location. Since the signal wire was cut from the relay, there shouldn't be any brake signal from the factory harness. Continue running the new wire to the driver side tail light. I choose to use the inner-most light location for my brake lights. There's a black (ground) wire, a solid green (blinker) wire, and a green w/white stripe (brake signal) wire. Cut both green wires and splice your new wire to the green w/white stripe wire. This is the method for using the factory 1157 (dual filament) bulb sockets. I have chosen to use 1156 (single filament) bulbs and sockets from my spare wire harness collection. If you choose to use the 1156 sockets, cut the black ground wire as well and wire the 1156 ground to it, and its' green/white wire to the factory green/white wire. Continue the extension to the passenger side light housing and repeat all this to the exact same bulb socket. Give yourself extra slack in the wire so you don't get it pulled on when you reinstall all the panels and zip-tie it in place if you wish. Now the 2 inner lights will illuminate when you hit the brakes, but they won't illuminate with the blinkers.
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Now you just have to reinstall all the parts you removed. Be sure to use heat shrink on all splice/solder locations to protect your work. Before I swapped the bulb sockets, the center brake light would flash with the flashers while the brakes were on. Now that I have swapped to the 1156 bulbs, this has gone away. But, the center brake light now doesn't come on while running lights are on, and brake applied. I'll continue to look into this issue until I have perfected everything. I will update this write up as necessary.
In this video, you can see the center brake slightly changing illumination with the blinkers. It didn't do this when first hooked up, so I believe it was doing this because the battery I'm using needed to be charged. It's an 18-volt drill battery.
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This video is just blinkers by themselves.
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