Amber rear turn signal conversion, 2005-2010 Mustang

[ctann]

Hi all,

On the (hopefully) last step of my journey, of importing my 2008 Saleen S302E from the US to WA. Just went over the pits, and they are happy with everything except the rear turn signals (which must flash amber only). Note that WA does not require a RHD conversion as the car is > 15 years old.

I ordered a pair of "Euro-spec" tail lights from eBay, which have a clear lens/amber bulb for the turn signal. However, research shows that wiring can be pretty complex. This car is as factory-stock as is possible, so I do want to mess with it as little as possible. I'm not afraid of tackling the wiring, but the online instructions I found are pretty poor, and it sounds like a mistake could fry the existing circuitry...

If there were a plug and play solution, I would jump at it in a heartbeat, but I couldn't find anything suitable.

So - any one had to tackle this during the import process?

Cheers,
            Chris.



ps:
Here are the tail lights I purchased: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372482207183

Wiring instructions I found so far: https://www.mocgb.net/forums/forum/technical-questions/-05-to-14-s197/14932-05-on-sjb-safe-sva-modifications
https://www.allfordmustangs.com/threads/converting-rear-lights-to-euro-standard.1100868/page-2

[Aussie-67]

Is the original one a plug in type?  If so  just wire up a new plug. If you cant do it any auto electrician should be able to do it.

[ctann]

Yeah, you would think it would just be a matter of a little re-wiring, but turns out it is way more complex than that due to the SJB (Smart Junction Box). The online solutions include adding relays, running wires back from the front indicators, etc etc. I did find an auto electrician that said they could do it, but I have a feeling they didn't really understand what it was they would be tackling...

Chris.

[Aussie-67]

Wouldn't you just add the plug before the junction box, etc?

[ctann]

US Spec cars of this period use a single wire for park/stop/indicator lamps (well, two wires, as it is a dual-filament bulb, but the stop and turn signals are combined). So there is no convenient point to tap off separate turn/stop wires. As the cars have an SJB, it is not as easy as just bypassing things, because that does stuff like fast-flash blinkers, throw "bulb out" messages, and can even prevent the car from working (one hacker reported that he couldn't get the car into gear after playing around with some of this stuff). It is not enough to add an amber turn signal, you also need to prevent the stop lights from flashing

On top of that, there are reports of the SJB driver's being damaged by incorrect connections, meaning a new SJB being required, not a path I want to go down.

It *may* be possible to use one of those 2 wire to 3 wire converters, but I would rather find someone that has successfully done this mod, rather than experimenting (I have 14 days to get this fixed otherwise I need to pay for a full new inspection). This model Mustang was never sold in Australia, and up until very recently any 2008 being imported from the US would have to be converted to RHD, so were all professionally done...

Cheers,
            Chris.

[Aussie-67]

Ok good luck. 

[Gallop]

This may help - https://www.allfordmustangs.com/threads/converting-rear-lights-to-euro-standard.1100868/

I thought perhaps looking at how the Europeans have done it may provide some insights.

[ctann]

Thanks for the link. I read through that thread, and it had some great "Cautionary tales"...  As far as I can see there is only one person in that thread that had actually succeeded (Aussiando), and he ran into many challenges on the way, eg:

"everything was going well until the turn LEDs would not work so i ended up switching to led strip lights under the rear lens reverting back to just 3 x red tail & 2 x red brake in the original lights. all went well testing with hazards but when i tried the left indicator it hyperflashed and no doubt due to no load on the rear harness. so next I reinstalled the 2-3 way converter to provide a load for the rear indicator and done! "

Now this conversion must have been done many times while doing RHD conversions on S197s, so there must be a robust/professional way of doing it - I would love to start with something that works! :)

Cheers,
           Chris.

[scollist]

Try calling MustangMotorsport in Melbourne. They would have done many and might have a solution on their site (or know who to talk to).