Nicholbry

Bought these on eBay because my '90S4's tail lamp sockets are corroded, 1 bulb is inoperable while the others won't be for long. I realized after ordering them that they are not for US model cars. Everything is the same except one socket has 2 contact points on my car while all the sockets in the new piece have only single contact points. Additionally, there is an extra prong on my car at the plug where the new piece is missing a prong.

My question is, does anyone have any experience adapting these to work on the US cars? If not, any ideas on how to potentially approach the project?

I'm aware that there is a thread here that explains how someone adapted Nissan Quest sockets, etc and hand-made a new harness for these tail lights. I even purchased them and started the project before deciding to try these Euro sockets out 1st instead.

Thanks for any help you kind folks can be.

Mark Anderson

I believe you can use them as is but in a pair. The difference is that one rear light will not work both tail and stop. I think the USA uses 2 for stop and euro just one.

ROG100

I bought a lot of them and we are going to add the correct socket - either the modified Quest or another type.
With used being $200 and new $400 - these are a perfect alternative.

Nicholbry

There's still the issue of the plug, however. My car's harness has an extra prong while the new Euro piece has the opening filled in where the male prong would typically fit. Would u simply drill that filling out? You can barely see this in the image I provided.

Thanks guys!

ROG100

Depends what the extra "prong" does. We can add another wire if needed.
Sean is going to look at what is needed to bring the harnesses in line with the USA standard.

Nicholbry

Awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Please let me know Roger.

richvm

there is no need to modify. It's plug n play just as Mark said. These are Euro harnesses and work just fine.

dr bob

Euro harnesses have the extra bulb filament for the intrgated rear foglamp function. IMO this is a desirable feature. If you choose not to use it that's OK, but you still want to use a dual-filament bulb (same as stop/tail bulb) in that socket.

US cars (mine anyway) have the wiring in place to support that rear foglight function. You can buy the switch (our usual suspects), and put it in the factory location where the intensive washer button lives now. It's virtually plug-and-play.

Nicholbry

Not quite plug n play unfortunately from what I can see here. My existing harness has an additional metal prong in the plug assembly than the new Euro harness will accept. The female location for the prong in the Euro assembly is filled in. If you look close at the picture you can just barely see where it's filled in.

Don't know if it makes a difference, but my car originated in Canada. There are a few differences in my car and US cars and this may be one of them.

Alan

Can't you just pull out the dummy plug for that position?

While there were DOT regulations at the time that caused USA light to be different - the ROW config is not really so different. Instead of 3 markers per side at the back where the inboard one is a combination brake light, the ROW models have 2 markers in the outboard positions and a brake light only in the inboard one - it is always dark with the brakes inactive. The outboard most marker is a combination with the fog light on an ROW model - but this is not normally enabled on USA cars - as noted you do need a dual filament bulb there to work correctly even just in marker mode (you can use the brake light bulb). You'd just need a pair of new single filament 21W bulbs for the brakes.

Alan

Nicholbry

Possibly...I'll look at it more closely, but it seems to have been hot-filled with a glue or silicon as opposed to an insert. This is why I posted the thread...didn't wanna start carving the parts up without seeing if someone had gone the path before me. I'm not sure if I were to dig out the filler that....a) there would be metal contact points inside, or...b) if there were contacts undernesth the filler would I be able to remove of the filler enough to make adequate contact of the metals for conductivity.

Thanks Alan for your information....thank you all.

ROG100

Sorry about the delay - lots of other irons in the fire 8>)

Had time to look at these.

Some background.
USA Harness 87 to 95 - 928 631 465 02
ROW Harness 87 to 89 - 928 631 465 01 - No rear fog-light
ROW Harness 87 to 95 - 928 631 465 00 - With rear fog-light

With a lot of help from Earl Gillstrom - thanks Earl.
All will work in the standard rear tail light. The only difference is the double filament "black" socket - USA cars - below the reverse light on the cluster and the double filament "green" socket - ROW cars - on the bottom row at the farthest position from the "black" socket.
Double Filament "black" socket = USA harness - 465 02
Double Filament "green" socket = ROW harness with rear fog-light. - 465 00
ALL single filament sockets = ROW harness with no rear fog light. - 465 01

For those playing along I need to confirm the following ----
USA Harness added one extra rear red marker light at the double filament "black" socket with the brake light.
ROW Harness added a rear fog-light at the double filament "green" socket.

I believe the ALL single filament ROW harness with no rear fog-light was for use in Countries other than the USA that did not require a rear fog-light.

ROG100

On the 928 631 465 01 the whitish plug in the 3rd hole in the main harness plug can be easily removed.

White Lightnin'

Pardon the confusion here Roger, but how can "ALL single filament" sockets/bulbs function as a brake light (versus running lights)?

I am pretty sure at least one of the sockets needs to be double filament to accomplish this.

ROG100

Hi Barry - because unlike the other two harnesses each bulb holder only uses a single filament bulb. So on the USA harness these is a double filament - market light 5W/Brake light 21W. On the ROW harness there is only a brake light and no market light. So on the bottom row - all red section - there are three single filament sockets - 2 x 5W marker lights and 1 x 21W brake light.

I hope that makes sense.