paperassgasket

edit:
yup... thought so.

crack open the old one and see how it's wired. maybe you can just do that to ur new one?
I'm assuming there's just a 3rd wire running from the + on the light to the brake switch or brakelight.
Is your turn signal a dual filament bulb in the new or old one?

4BangerCivic

Sorry for the confusion ealrier: there is a wire running connected to both the brake light and the turn signals - but i'm assuming thats just the power wire.

I'm not much of an expert on wiring - and the new brake unit isn't entirely disassemblable (i tried taking it apart last night) -- so I can't really get to the core of it where the wires are hooked up to the assembly. Would it be worth it to try and rig up the 3rd wire and getting a dual filament bulb for it? Me = ignorant. in the end i'll probably jsut end up springing for it to avoid the headaches

paperassgasket

well... if the new one doesn't use a dual filament than that won't work. and if you cant get it apart to rewire it than that won't work either...

4BangerCivic

I'm going to try again tonight to try to get the new one apart so maybe I can frankenstein it

paperassgasket

pics! (and links if u would)

4BangerCivic

OK Turns out my new light has housing that will NOT come apart (one solid unit) but doesn't nead to because everything just pushes out the middle hole (whoops, missed that the other day).



Now, the back of my old light does not look like the back of my new light. However, there's still just three wires coming into the old one, so if I can get the 3-wire wiring for this new light I could just swap a 3-wire setup for this 2-wire you see in the pic below and then attach 'em to the old wiring harness. Easy peesy, right?



At least that's what I'm thinking. But I don't really know ANYTHING about wiring or wires, so I don't acually know if getting a 3-wire setup is easy, or feasible, or what.



Anyone have any ideas? Hehe.

4BangerCivic

So, the Power & Brake Light Sensor are the two wires in the old setup that run to the bulb -- and the ground is off to the side, attached to what appears to be the rear of the housing.


So, when trying to get this new wiring setup going, should I have the two wires that run to the light be the same ones? And if so, should I just attach the ground to the back of the bulb housing like it is in the old setup (on the back of this new light housing there is metal, see pic below)

Or can I just use these black & red wires to connect them to the power & sensor wires on my harness and then buy a ground and just run that from teh harness to the back of the new housing?

Is it really that simple? It cant be - someone correct me.

paperassgasket

The bulb is grounded to the housing. That green wire grounds the housing to the frame.

new bulb appears to be dual filament so it will probably handle running lights + brake lights like your old one.
you can run both wires (grn/ylw & brn) to the +(positive) connect on the bulb
well... before you go hooking shit up and blowing lightbulbs take a min to think about what is happening here.

in your old setup: there are 2 power and 1 ground.
1 power for brake, 1 power for running lights (i'm assuming), and the ground from the housing tot he frame.
both filaments in the the dual filament bulb light up when the brake is applied, just one when the running lights are on. (i'm assuming)

the ground most likely grounds the bulb housing (what holds the light bulb in place) to the frame. that probably grounds to the SIDE of the lightbulb.

NOW, you see that little dangly tab thingy there on the? that's probably your ground.
connect the green wire to that and the red and black to the grn/ylw and brn wires.


but before you do any of this, is your old lightbulb a single contact or dual contact on the bottom???
it's kind of important because the two lightbulbs might operate differently.

4BangerCivic

old setup = dual contact

Nice. That picture definitely solidifies what I was pondering this morning. Looks like this isn't going to be nearly as difficult as expected. Just have a quick question about these wire terminals. When connecting the old harness to these tips -- do I simply get a segment of bare wire, insert, and crimp?

paperassgasket

no those are male end bullet connectors. your old taillight connections should just pull right out. (like sex)