Puddle Lights Rear *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 [front footwell lights], (or at least the facility for). Click the link or search the Wiki for footwell lights to see where they are ! and you'll need to utilise either these, or your newly fitted REAR [Footwell LEDs] , to fit your new rear 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

Interior door handle

LED strip I used

Shows wires for existing footwell lights

Location of wires within Multi-plug

Cutout in door card

Multi-plug

Cutout in door card

You'll need to remove the rear door cards first. This is done by undoing the 5 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) 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 handle escutcheon out of the way the door card should lift up and off with ease.

Once you have the door card off, you'll need to remove the speaker pod. This is the 4 philips screws around the OUTER 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 the door is ready, you'll need strip a few bits inside the car. First pull the front and rear door seals back enough to be able to remove all the B pillar trim. Start removing the trim from the top, theres 1 philips screw behind a rectangular cap at the top. The top piece should now come away. This reveals 2 screws in the middle section which when removed should allow the middle sections to be prised off. When this is off, undo the remaining 2 screws from the sill trim to allow this to be moved out of the way.

Going back to the door now, Feed your 2 lengths of wire into the rubber boot which is situated to the left of the speaker unit, and already carries existing wiring. Once inside the door, you'll need to feed it back out through the rubber trunking and out the other side. This is made easier with the rubber trunking removed - Easily done by closing the REAR door and gaining access from the FRONT door. At the car end of the rubber trunking, you can feed the 2 wires through either side of the multi-plug where there is a gap just wide enough to get it through, see pic for reference.

Once its through here, you can re-fit the rubber trunking, once again, this is made easier by doing it with the rear door closed and accessing from the front.

Now the wire is into the car, all that remains is to either tap into your rear footwell lights if you have them fitted, or if not - along the sill and up to the front footwell lights. I have rear lights fitted so it was easier tap into those, although this involved removing the front seat (or at least unbolting it and tilting it forwards) so that I could lift the carpet up enough to be able to feed the wire to where it came out for the rear footwells. It's probably just as easy to take the wires from the bottom where the seatbelt reel is, along the sill and up to the front lights.. The choice is yours here.

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 !