Dome Light Installation, Rear
01-06-2005, 02:04 AM
#1
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Location: McDonald, PA
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Dome Light Installation, Rear
I just did the rear dome light mod on the xB. I made a real nice write up with lots of pictures. Too bad I have no place to host the pic's. Anyone that wants to see the write-up and install pic's, just PM me and I'll E-mail them too you. 56K....you better not ask !!
Maybe someone might like it enough that they might host it, and it could go into the tech section. :?:
**IkhonLord - Edit**
Here is the Write Up:
Carefully remove the 2 plugs from the headliner at the rear with a long screwdriver prying at the center of the plug. This gives you a little play in the headliner. Be careful not to pull down to far on the headliner or you might put a crease in it. It has enough play to get an arm or hand in there.
Remove the factory dome light, unplug it, and remove the dome light fuse in the engine compartment (#15). Oops, there goes your settings on your clock, your radio station presets, your trip odometer mileage, and remember to press the "SSP" button on your radio for a few seconds to reset your sounds to your car type. It goes back to tC, everytime the power is removed. But, the Pic shows a long coat hanger pushed to the rear to fish the 3 new wires you need to install a new dome light. One ground wire and the two power wires (one is hot, and one is switched thru the door switches) that hook up to the plug on the new dome light.
Here are the 3 wires needed, fished to the rear. The two power wires, I wraped with electrical tape before I fished them. I didn't want any chance of them rubbing over the years and maybe causing a short. You can see that the headliner has alot of play in it. BE CAREFUL not to bend to much or you might crease it. You'll also notice up there is where the juntion box for the radio antenna is. Those two dimples you see in the headliner, is about dead center in the middle. At least it was on mine. The new dome light also cannot be installed all the way to the rear. It has to go forward somewhat, because of the clearance between the headliner and the roof of the car. You'll see the headliner starts to slope at the point you can mount it.
I wire spliced the two power wires into the factory wires. I got the splices from Radio Shack. The blue/yellow wire is hot all the time. You'll see the red wire is the one I used to fish back to the new dome light mod. The red/yellow wire is hot only thru the door switches. here I used a green wire. It was all I had around at the time. You can also see the electrical tape wrap job I did.
Finally the completed wires at the rear. The 2 power, with the push on spade ends crimped on. (Radio Shack) And the one ground wire with the round eye terminal end. All I had was a lot of green wire, so the power wire and the ground are the same color, but the different terminal ends make it Murphy proof. the ground wire goes to either one of the mounting screws on the back of the new dome light. The power wires go to the plug end on the new dome light. It does not matter which one you connect them to. It's DC, and it'll work perfect hooked up either way.
Now I drew a outline of the entire light assy. on a piece of 8 by 11 printer paper. Then I used Petroleum Jelly and smeared it all over the back of the light to make a transfer onto the paper of the section that I need to cut out. Think of the piece of paper as the headliner, and I was trying to cut as much as I needed, to make the light fit flush with the headliner. And you want to cut your headliner only once !!! That's the scary AND expensive part if you mess up. That is why I did not cut all the way to the outline of the dome light you see drawn. Be sure and mark your patt
Maybe someone might like it enough that they might host it, and it could go into the tech section. :?:
**IkhonLord - Edit**
Here is the Write Up:
Carefully remove the 2 plugs from the headliner at the rear with a long screwdriver prying at the center of the plug. This gives you a little play in the headliner. Be careful not to pull down to far on the headliner or you might put a crease in it. It has enough play to get an arm or hand in there.
Remove the factory dome light, unplug it, and remove the dome light fuse in the engine compartment (#15). Oops, there goes your settings on your clock, your radio station presets, your trip odometer mileage, and remember to press the "SSP" button on your radio for a few seconds to reset your sounds to your car type. It goes back to tC, everytime the power is removed. But, the Pic shows a long coat hanger pushed to the rear to fish the 3 new wires you need to install a new dome light. One ground wire and the two power wires (one is hot, and one is switched thru the door switches) that hook up to the plug on the new dome light.
Here are the 3 wires needed, fished to the rear. The two power wires, I wraped with electrical tape before I fished them. I didn't want any chance of them rubbing over the years and maybe causing a short. You can see that the headliner has alot of play in it. BE CAREFUL not to bend to much or you might crease it. You'll also notice up there is where the juntion box for the radio antenna is. Those two dimples you see in the headliner, is about dead center in the middle. At least it was on mine. The new dome light also cannot be installed all the way to the rear. It has to go forward somewhat, because of the clearance between the headliner and the roof of the car. You'll see the headliner starts to slope at the point you can mount it.
I wire spliced the two power wires into the factory wires. I got the splices from Radio Shack. The blue/yellow wire is hot all the time. You'll see the red wire is the one I used to fish back to the new dome light mod. The red/yellow wire is hot only thru the door switches. here I used a green wire. It was all I had around at the time. You can also see the electrical tape wrap job I did.
Finally the completed wires at the rear. The 2 power, with the push on spade ends crimped on. (Radio Shack) And the one ground wire with the round eye terminal end. All I had was a lot of green wire, so the power wire and the ground are the same color, but the different terminal ends make it Murphy proof. the ground wire goes to either one of the mounting screws on the back of the new dome light. The power wires go to the plug end on the new dome light. It does not matter which one you connect them to. It's DC, and it'll work perfect hooked up either way.
Now I drew a outline of the entire light assy. on a piece of 8 by 11 printer paper. Then I used Petroleum Jelly and smeared it all over the back of the light to make a transfer onto the paper of the section that I need to cut out. Think of the piece of paper as the headliner, and I was trying to cut as much as I needed, to make the light fit flush with the headliner. And you want to cut your headliner only once !!! That's the scary AND expensive part if you mess up. That is why I did not cut all the way to the outline of the dome light you see drawn. Be sure and mark your patt
Last edited by Davestoaster; 12-14-2009 at 08:32 PM.
01-06-2005, 02:38 AM
#3
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Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 2,337
Use this space:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/scionxb
You have to join the club but it's free.
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/scionxb
You have to join the club but it's free.
01-06-2005, 02:25 PM
#7
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if i remember right there was someone that did this back in the summer. he used the same factory domelight and put it in the trunk area.....
it will be interesting to see the comapreason between them...
waiting for pics....
it will be interesting to see the comapreason between them...
waiting for pics....
01-06-2005, 04:06 PM
#9
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01-08-2005, 05:00 AM
#13
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Vacaville, CA
Posts: 101
Great and a truely useful lighting mod that involved no LEDs or neon, or colored lights of any kind (finally)! The only thing different I might have done is used JB Weld to epoxy the nuts onto whatever surface so you don't have to use 2 wrenches at once to tighten everything down.
I'm definately doing this mod
PROTOCULTURE
I'm definately doing this mod
PROTOCULTURE
01-08-2005, 11:23 AM
#16
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SL Member
Team N.V.S.
snick snick , slick slick. so nice. hmm makes me wanna do the same , well that and some nice lil maps for up front. gotta be in a depressed dimple tho to make it match how the center(stock) light is. anyone know how to get the headliner to dimple like that?
