Tail Light Retrofit- AMBER turn signal

One thing I've always hated about my 3 was how they use the Brake light as the turn signal. I'm a big believer in a dedicated color(amber) for turn signal. Unfortunately a lot of manufactures are going away from that in favor for the brake/turn combo. Maybe it's cost savings.IDK, but I am out to change that.

I started looking into just purchasing the European model 3 Tail lights which have an amber turn signal factory(its required by law over seas to have a orange signal). The problem I ran into was the US spec cars are programmed to use the brake AS the turn signal. Which means than even if I got a European lamp, i would still need to find a way to change the computer system to flash a dedicated output for the turn signal.

So I purchased a set of stock tail lights and cut them apart. While inside I painted the chrome black which gave i a much cleaner look. Then I retrofitted a 3" Diode dynamics HD amber LED strip where the OEM reverse was. For the reverse, I retrofitted a 3" white LED strip right next to it(inner). The wiring was a bit tricky as I had to tap off the 3rd brake light for dedicated "BRAKE" then the front camera side markers for a dedicated "TURN" signal. Overall worked pretty well!

In the trunk, pass side there's a harness. Blue wire is 3rd brake light which is where I tapped off.

Running the turn wires through the trunk boot. fun stuff

here's a video showing the functions. They might look dim, but its out in direct sunlight. I assure you they are bright
Also you may notice they are hyperflashing because the car isn't seeing any load(i disconnected the stock brake/turn wire) I left them as is, but if it get annoying I will throw a resistor in there.

Also Decided to do blackout headlight, and AMBER DRL mod

 

[Hellajdm]

I’m still having turn signal alert but lights still work

 

[thebestiam1]

I’m still having turn signal alert but lights still work

Do you mean the turn signal fault? Or the hyperflashing on the left hand side?

 

[Manksgloob]

No errors what so ever yet. Are you still having the turn signal fault? I assume there is a fix for it?

@thebestiam1 I think your best bet would be to DM @Nomisal -- they mentioned they were doing some further testing and, when fixed, could potentially send out a special, corrected version of the harness:

.....

Thanks for the info. This is not a problem of your cars or lights. There's a special circuit in adapter that "tricks" controller in a car, tells turn is "on" while it's off in a real (when braking). Seems that version of the controllers in your cars slightly differs from the others and needs more current in that circuit. I'll do some experiments, correct this and send special versions to you.
Strange that about 50 adapters were sold before amazon stocking and no one had reported such behavior.

.....

 

[Hellajdm]

Do you mean the turn signal fault? Or the hyperflashing on the left hand side?

I have both at the moment

 

[Nomisal]

Yes, guys. Just tested the updated version for some cars 21+ year.
It turned out that 21 M3 of my friend has had such a problem, but he just didn't notice or didn't care about. Left car controller needs to see 3 times higher current in the turn signal than usual.
I'll produce an updated version soon and send to anyone who need it.

 

[Nomisal]

@Manksgloob @borland​

About fitting outers and inners. Did you remove this shim?

 

[RocDeef]

I have both at the moment

Yeah I couldn't get either to go away so I'm back to my original lights (I can't stand error messages on my screen). I do have a set of alpharex that I'm going to put on to see how I like. I'd much prefer the updated Tesla ones.

 

[borland]

@Manksgloob @borland​

About fitting outers and inners. Did you remove this shim?

View attachment 815352

No. None of my newer body side Model Y lamps came with any shim washers like that. A washer the thickness shown in your photo would not make up enough of the differences I found between the dis-similar lamps.

As I pointed out earlier, the newer Model Y body side lamp lenses, which are made in China, are dimensionally different than the earlier model 3 lamps, which are made in USA.

Most of the Model 3 lamps I've seen photos of on eBay are made in USA, while the newer Model Y lamps are made in China. It could be when Tesla farmed out lamp components to some China factory, Tesla made dimensional changes to the lamp design, which then got implemented in new injection molds. I do see that there are some grey market Model 3 lamps being sold that are Made in China. Could be your car was made with lamps from China?

Below is a screenshot of a Model 3 grey market lamp I found on Alababa.com. Notice it is labelled "Made in China".

I did notice on my old Model 3 body side lamps, that they do have metal shim washers as shown in the photo below,

 

[borland]

Yes, guys. Just tested the updated version for some cars 21+ year.
It turned out that 21 M3 of my friend has had such a problem, but he just didn't notice or didn't care about. Left car controller needs to see 3 times higher current in the turn signal than usual.
I'll produce an updated version soon and send to anyone who need it.

'Needs 3X higher current' ? This does not make sense to me. Is it that the later, 2020-2021, cars left side controllers are now faster at detecting faults and because your adapter is taking too long to decode the harness lamp signals and then switch on the appropriate lamp. And thus a error warning on the center touch display.

 

[RocDeef]

Yes, guys. Just tested the updated version for some cars 21+ year.
It turned out that 21 M3 of my friend has had such a problem, but he just didn't notice or didn't care about. Left car controller needs to see 3 times higher current in the turn signal than usual.
I'll produce an updated version soon and send to anyone who need it.

That makes sense why it's happening on my 2020 Model Y, and why it's only happening on the driver's side. Excited for an update!

 

[Coolson205]

I brought the adapter, my said turn signal is at fault measage came up. I tried switched the adapter, same thing. I have 22 LR

 

[thebestiam1]

I brought the adapter, my said turn signal is at fault measage came up. I tried switched the adapter, same thing. I have 22 LR

Where did you happen to buy the tail lights from?

 

[Lardyboy]

I purchased a model 3 in march this year, its a 2022 model with the updated li-ion battery and the Ryzen chip set, however it came with the old style tail lights, and like some "not all" on here I was a little bit miffed, today I received replacement lights "at my cost I may add" there is good and bad news I am afraid, the inner "boot lid lights" come with the new 4 pin connector, however older cars come with 3 pin, so without cutting into the loom "which will no doubt void warranty" these do not fit, so you are stuck with the existing 1 x reverse light & 1 x fog light.

Now for the good news, the outta lights that have the new "C" shape brake light and the much better full length indicators DO WORK yippeee, please excuse the quality of the video, wife has never done before.

Hope you find this useful, drop me a PM if you want further information.

1, existing lights

2, new outta lights

 

[Manksgloob]

.....

...bad news I am afraid, the inner "boot lid lights" come with the new 4 pin connector, however older cars come with 3 pin, so without cutting into the loom "which will no doubt void warranty" these do not fit, so you are stuck with the existing 1 x reverse light & 1 x fog light.

.....

Looking sharp! As bad as the US-spec lights were, it seems downright awful and shortsighted the way Tesla shoehorned the turn signal with the brake lights, and the fog/reverse lights in the EU/UK version. Your post confirms my suspicions that the outboard light swap would simply be plug-and-play in your region.

I'm not sure if you've seen @borland's post regarding the construction of a harness to go in between the 3-pin wiring and the 4-pin boot/trunk-lid lights. I realize the differences between the regional specs might make the information less useful in your situation, but I can at least confirm that it was successful for my US-spec car.



Although we don't necessarily need to swap the inner-most pair of lights on the US-spec cars, I had wanted better consistency across the running light brightness as well as improved fit-and-finish. I succeeded on the former goal but not so much the latter. The four lights now all match and fit with each other better, but the fitment to the body of the car is definitely......better in some ways and poorer in others. I removed some washers on one of the lamps to get it to sit closer to the body but I'm still not satisfied.



I fear it's a hopeless endeavor though. When I removed the original lamp from the left side of the boot/trunk-lid I found a bunch of VHB tape that had been installed (perhaps from the factory). I suspect this had been the only way to get the lamp housing to sit flush with the body of the vehicle at the time (2018), and I believe it's an issue with the shape of the vehicle panels since the new light does not sit flush and would benefit from the use of additional adhesive in approximately the same locations.



I digress though. I'm still pleased with these modifications overall. I'm thankful to @Nomisal for selling the outboard light harnesses and to @borland for teaching me how to fish for the inner ones.

 

[borland]

.......so you are stuck with the existing 1 x reverse light & 1 x fog light.

These later model Y tailgate (boot) lamps, both left and right, support FOG and REVERSE. However for your UK spec car, the wiring harness only provides wiring for REVERSE on left and FOG on right.

One could easily make a plug-and-play 3-pin to 4-pin wiring adapter for 2 x REVERSE and 2 x FOG. lamps.

 

[sk001]

I purchased a model 3 in march this year, its a 2022 model with the updated li-ion battery and the Ryzen chip set, however it came with the old style tail lights, and like some "not all" on here I was a little bit miffed, today I received replacement lights "at my cost I may add" there is good and bad news I am afraid, the inner "boot lid lights" come with the new 4 pin connector, however older cars come with 3 pin, so without cutting into the loom "which will no doubt void warranty" these do not fit, so you are stuck with the existing 1 x reverse light & 1 x fog light.

Now for the good news, the outta lights that have the new "C" shape brake light and the much better full length indicators DO WORK yippeee, please excuse the quality of the video, wife has never done before.

Hope you find this useful, drop me a PM if you want further information.

1, existing lights

2, new outta lights

Hi there, thanks for the detailed review.

I do have a 2022 M3 with Ryzen that got delivered with the older lights.

1. Can you please share the part numbers you used for the new tail lights?

2. For the inner boot lid lights that came with the new 4 pin connector, does that mean that you only replaced the 2 outer tail lights and did not purchase the 2 inner tail lights?

Thank you!

 

[Lardyboy]

These later model Y tailgate (boot) lamps, both left and right, support FOG and REVERSE. However for your UK spec car, the wiring harness only provides wiring for REVERSE on left and FOG on right.

One could easily make a plug-and-play 3-pin to 4-pin wiring adapter for 2 x REVERSE and 2 x FOG. lamps.

one maybe able to but my wiring experience is limited "CAD designer" great with a PC but not so with practical things like this, wish I could pay someone to make them for me, would have loved to have had these inner lights plug n play but alas no :-(

 

[Lardyboy]

Hi there, thanks for the detailed review.

I do have a 2022 M3 with Ryzen that got delivered with the older lights.

1. Can you please share the part numbers you used for the new tail lights?

2. For the inner boot lid lights that came with the new 4 pin connector, does that mean that you only replaced the 2 outer tail lights and did not purchase the 2 inner tail lights?

Thank you!

1502086-99-D & 1502087-99-D

 

[Lardyboy]

1502086-99-D & 1502087-99-D

sorry i missed the last part, i purchased the whole lot, the addition light number were 1502088-00-B & 1502059-B but the connector is 4 pin and my car has 3 pin, really anoying, def because the outta ones just plugged in and worked a treat :-(

 

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Just found this thread… lovin the amber turn signals and the blacked out front headlights from the OP.