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Pairing the ceter reverse light to additional reverse lights
JCW GarageInterested in John Cooper Works (JCW) parts for your 1st Generation MINI? This is where JCW upgrades and accessories for the Cooper (R50), Cabrio (R52), and Cooper S (R53) MINIs are discussed.
Pairing the ceter reverse light to additional reverse lights
I am changing my 2004 R53 tail ligh assemblies to include an extra reverse light. Before I do, does anyone see any red flags in doing this? My new tail lights are like this one:
Personally, I wouldn't do it.
It looks like you'll lose the top two brake lights & in Massachusetts an inspection station may not allow 3 backup lights.
Held this old one out, the picture from the link is what I have so that would be a facelift model car. What are you trying to accomplish? Are the pre-face a different light configuration?
There seem to be dozens of different rear light units for Minis.
The early R53, say '02-'05, had:
top = brake light
center = amber directional (much safer than red in my opinion)
bottom = brake & tail
reverse is a single light under the rear bumper.
Later cars moved the reverse light into the light cluster - the one in the link appears to be:
top = amber directional
center = red brake & tail (reflector in the middle?)
bottom = reverse
the original central reverse light was then used for the rear fog light (option?)
So even if the socket on the back of the light unit is already modified to account for the different order of lights, there's no wiring in the plug for the reverse light. You'd need to tap into the center reverse light wiring & somehow connect it to the new lights on both sides.
If you want a better reverse light, put a 50W halogen bulb in there - about $10 from your friendly auto parts store - no tools needed, just reach under the back bumper & twist the bulb out & put the new one in. Dealer wants $47 to do this.
Edit:
It's hard to tell from the photos in the link, but the newer lights may
be in the same, correct order. But even if the plug fits, which it may not, there's still no reverse light wiring in it.
Last edited by MVPeters; Dec 26, 2017 at 02:03 PM.
Reason: update
50W seems to me a lot of heat for that tiny plastic fixture. You can argue it works fine, as more likely you are not in the reverse gear long enough for the excessive heat to build up. If the impatient driver not seeing you are in reverse, the same idiot will not see a 500W bulb either. You cannot cure stupid.
As you can see, you only need to change the wiring so that pin 1 of the bulb holder panel receives a reverse signal instead of the rear fog signal. The other pins are all compatible.
The easiest way to accomplish this is in the wiring harness that runs down the left side of the car, which carries the wiring for all of the rear lights. The harness is accessible from the side access panel in the luggage compartment. After you find the relevant wires in the harness (by color code), all you would need to do is cut the rear fog wires, and attach short jumper wires from the reverse signal to the rear fog wires going to the taillights. In this way, it isn't necessary to run any new wires to the taillights — just utilize the existing wiring.
If you are serious about doing it, I can write up the detail steps for the wiring modification.
Originally Posted by MVPeters
If you want a better reverse light, put a 50W halogen bulb in there
It may work out, but the wiring, socket, and connector weren't meant for such a high wattage. Safer to use a bright LED bulb instead. You're lucky that the reverse signal comes directly from a switch on the transmission instead of going through the body control module like other lighting. Otherwise it would have risked blowing out the BCM.
Not sure if they’re available separately, but the backup light harness from the MINI facelift tail light retrofit kit should make everything plug and play. I didn’t use mine since I was only converting to the facelift amber Euro lights from the all red US FL lights. I sold the stock lights, but I don’t remember if the buyer needed the harness. I’ll see if I can find it this weekend.
RB-MINI - that's a nice conversion kit, pity it's NLA. For completeness, I take it that a new switch panel is also needed along with the dealer programming.
Presumably, there would then be an un-used front fog light switch, so it would be worth installing those & getting the programming done all at one time.
Yes, a new switch panel and programming are necessary for any fogs added, but you don’t have to use the rear fog from the kit. You could just install the grille/filler plate that most face lift MINI’s came with since the rear fog option was rare.
Pairing the ceter reverse light to additional reverse lights
I am definitly serious about doing this, I am trying to do it in a way where i will be able to recover from any f'd up issue I come accross. I always seem to hit an "unknown" LOL. Thanks for the diagrams etc. Oh yeah, would the "rear fog light" be the same as what I am calling the centered light below the bumper or the "centered reverse light" ?
The center reverse light is white and is in the bumper of pre face lift 1st gen MINI’s. When the face lift MINI’s came out (‘05 model year) the reverse lights were moved to the tail light housing and a black grille plate filled the spot in the bumper unless it had the red rear fog light option.
Oh yeah, would the "rear fog light" be the same as what I am calling the centered light below the bumper or the "centered reverse light" ?
The rear fog lights in your 2004 R53 is the top bulb in each tail light (#1 in this diagram).
For the vast majority of 2002-2004 MINI, the rear fog light option was never programmed/activated, and the top bulbs do not ever light up. If your car doesn't have a rear fog toggle switch, then essentially you don't have rear fogs and it is quite normal for 2002-2004.
For 2005+, the rear fog was moved to the center of the bumper (where your reverse light is now). If you update your tail lights, you have a choice of either leaving your current reverse light as-is (for a total of 3 reverse lights), or converting it to a rear fog (requires new toggle panel, red fog light fixture, and programming). I had 3 backup lights in my R52 and I appreciated the extra light.
Well, almost!
On my early '02, the top lights are brake lights & do light up.
Presumably, if I had the rear fog light option programmed they wouldn't - or would they serve both functions?
Short video here - unedited, so skip to about the 45-second mark.
(Note - there is some flickering initially - that's the bulb check running when I was experimenting with LED bulbs. Since there's nowhere on my dashboard to display a bulb out warning it's pointless; I should really get that switched off.)
On my early '02, the top lights are brake lights & do light up.
It doesn't work that way from the factory. Are you the original owner? There was a fairly popular wiring modification to make the top and bottom bulbs turn on together for the brakes, and your car probably has it. The modification involved simply inserting a short wire jumper between two pins in the tail light connector, which causes the brake signal to go to both bulbs.
From the factory, the bulbs operate as in the diagram I posted earlier (which is from the owners manual).
No, I'm the 2nd owner. The first, a relatively elderly lady, was highly unlikely to have modified the rear lights!
I've seen reference to that jumper before; when I experimented with LEDs I looked for it, but it all seems very factory. I'll look again next time I'm in there.
No, I'm the 2nd owner. The first, a relatively elderly lady, was highly unlikely to have modified the rear lights!
But then again, those aren't the standard tail lights, but with white turn signal lenses that had to be purchased separately ($200-$300 from the dealer) and swapped in. Was she someone who would do that?
The video may be a bit mis-leading. The camera was too close & the 'glare' from the LEDs changes the appearance.
The units are definitely red & amber - the 'fried egg' look. The clear cover is getting a bit hazy which doesn't help. Maybe this snapshot is better.
I'm certain it's all original from May 2002. It's too cold, even in the garage, to do any further dismantling!
hi folks anyone know a trick to get the rear bumper backup/fog lights out of my 2013 mini? i need to replace the entire assembly including the lens but don't want to snap any plastic parts....
The rear fog lights in your 2004 R53 is the top bulb in each tail light (#1 in this diagram).
For the vast majority of 2002-2004 MINI, the rear fog light option was never programmed/activated, and the top bulbs do not ever light up. If your car doesn't have a rear fog toggle switch, then essentially you don't have rear fogs and it is quite normal for 2002-2004.
For 2005+, the rear fog was moved to the center of the bumper (where your reverse light is now). If you update your tail lights, you have a choice of either leaving your current reverse light as-is (for a total of 3 reverse lights), or converting it to a rear fog (requires new toggle panel, red fog light fixture, and programming). I had 3 backup lights in my R52 and I appreciated the extra light.
I need to do this modification because I'm installing a tow hitch to the mini and the reverse light needs to come out as a result. I plan to wire newer r53 lights w/reverse back up and somehow tap into the center bulb signal. Is that what was done here? Any clues from anyone on achieving this reliably? Is there a part number for a harness to make this work?
As you can see, you only need to change the wiring so that pin 1 of the bulb holder panel receives a reverse signal instead of the rear fog signal. The other pins are all compatible.
The easiest way to accomplish this is in the wiring harness that runs down the left side of the car, which carries the wiring for all of the rear lights. The harness is accessible from the side access panel in the luggage compartment. After you find the relevant wires in the harness (by color code), all you would need to do is cut the rear fog wires, and attach short jumper wires from the reverse signal to the rear fog wires going to the taillights. In this way, it isn't necessary to run any new wires to the taillights — just utilize the existing wiring.
If you are serious about doing it, I can write up the detail steps for the wiring modification.
It may work out, but the wiring, socket, and connector weren't meant for such a high wattage. Safer to use a bright LED bulb instead. You're lucky that the reverse signal comes directly from a switch on the transmission instead of going through the body control module like other lighting. Otherwise it would have risked blowing out the BCM.
bump
could you reupload these diagrams? seems like they were taken down.
to rkw - from 5 years ago!
After several years with a 50W halogen bulb in the reverse light (& no over-heating issues), I replaced it with an LED. I found an 1156 LED quoted as 100W, which it can't possibly be, but it is very much brighter than the 50W halogen. eBay search > ba15s 1156 p21w 100w <
For those with early cars where the top bulb never works, here's a jumper photo I found to enable them as brake lights:
This has nothing to do with reversing lights!
Last edited by MVPeters; Sep 26, 2022 at 12:44 PM.
Reason: added link
Nice to have a voice of reason, instead of cheering for mod for mod sake.
