Puddle Lights Front *aftermarket* - fitting and wiring

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Overview Guide
Ford Model:	Mondeo Mk3
Petrol/Diesel:	Both
Estimated Cost:	????
Difficulty?	Easy
How long does this take?	30 minutes

Equipment needed :

Philips screwdriver

T25 torx driver

Small flathead screwdriver

Stanley knife

Several meters of wire (Black for neg and another colour for posi)

Scotch Locks or Soldering iron

self adhesive LED strip lighting (your own desired length)

Heatshrink tubing or electrical tape

Getting started

All Mk3 Mondeos have footwell lights, (or at least the facility for). Search the Wiki for footwell lights to see where they are ! and you'll need to utilise these to fit your new puddle lights. The idea is to take a feed from these and run it to some LED strip lights that you can fit on the underside of the door cards.

Doing the job

You'll need to remove the front door cards first. This is done by undoing the 6 screws around the edge of the door card. Theres a T25 torx in the interior door handle recess behind a plastic cap, (this cap is easily removed with a small blob of blu tack on the end of your finger), and a screw in the wing mirror cover which will also need to be removed along with 2 philips screws inside the door pull which are accessible by removing the inside of the door pull by prising it with a small flathead screwdriver. With the door mirror cover out of the way the door card should lift up and off with ease.

Door card screws

Speaker pod screws

Once you have the door card off, you'll need to remove the speaker pod. This is the 7 philips screws around the edge, NOT the 4 at the corners of the speaker unit itself. Once the screws are out it should pull out enough to undo the plug at the rear of the speaker and remove it completely.

Now you'll need to cut small holes into the door end of the rubber boot, or trunking that carries the existing wiring loom from car to door. Using a sharp stanley blade, make a small slit, just big enough for the 2 wires that you are using to fit through. The other end is different for each door, the passenger side has a blank grommit which you can cut easily to gain access but on the drivers side you'll need to drill a small hole and insert a small grommit yourself, see pics for position. An alternative to this is to feed the wire through the existing trunking and out through holes which you will have to drill in the centre of the multi plug itself. This option maybe neater, but a) I didn't think of it at the time, and b) it means my multi plugs are still intact should I wish to add further mods. Further details about drilling the hole below.. Also cut small holes into the rubber boot which is situated to the left of the speaker unit ( or feed through the actual boot itself if theres room ) another thing I thought of afterwards !!

Cuts in passenger boot/trunking

Cuts in drivers boot/trunking

Rubber boot to left of door speaker

Now, inside the car you'll need to remove the lower trim underneath the steering wheel. 3 screws at the bottom, 2 inside the small glove box. once these are out it should pull off. With this out of the way you'll be able to see where the wiring loom enters the car from the door. If you feel behind the sound deadening stuff, just underneath the multiplug, you should feel a hole on the inside of the door shut, about the size of a 2p. Using your best judgement, drill a hole just large enough to fit a small grommit in ( I used a 10mm drill and appropriately sized grommit ) on the outerskin of the door shut. If you miss the 2p sized hole, dont worry, you'll just have to go through both skins with the drill. Best to treat these holes with a bit of touch up to avoid rusting in the future.

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So now you've got your path from bottom of door to footwell light. Take your lengths of wire, best to use a bit too much and cut it exactly when your done ! Using the electrical tape, tape the 2 wires together, this means you can feed both wires at the same time and saves a bit of time. Start by feeding the wire through the boot to the left of the speaker. Now put your hand inside the door and feed the wire back out through the hole in the trunking boot. From here the wires go through either the blank grommit ( passenger side ) or the grommit you've inserted yourself ( drivers side ) and into the car. You have 2 options now, you can either go up and over the sound deadening stuff, or cut a small hole and go through it. Either way you need to get the wires to the footwell light fitting now, which is easy peasy ! Using your scotch connectors ( or soldering iron ) attach the black wire to the black wire on the footwell light, and the other coloured wire to the other wire on the footwell light.

Now that that end is connected all that remains is to connect the other end to the strip light !

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Cut a small notch out of the bottom of the door card, as close as you can to the door shut, but on the FLAT surface of the card. Now you need to re-fit the speaker pod and door card, leaving the wires dangling out of the cutout you have just made. When you know where you want to stick your strip light, cut the wires so that they reach and solder each wire to the corresponding +/- terminal on the strip. Use heatshrink tubing over the soldered joint to protect it from the elements, not essential really as it's behind the door seal and not open to the elements when the door is shut, but finishes it off nicely anyway !! Stick your strip on and enjoy the fruits of your labour ! nb: I eventually had to drill 3 small holes in the underside of the door card and use 3 small cable ties to hold the strip light in place as the adhesive was crap and it kept falling off ! Not had any problems since !

Patching into existing footwell lights

Cut out in bottom of door card

Strip lights I used

LED strip on the door