Golf 7 illuminated door sills retrofit

I would like to retrofit illuminated door sills on my Golf 7. I have looked at WDs but I am not sure about where I would connect them.

Maybe they just go in parallel with the footwell illumination, I think.

Does anybody know?

Hello,

I suggest you obtain the Official Factory Repair Information and have a look in the wiring diagrams for the comfort system / doors.

You should be able to see the "W67" and "W68" Fiber optic cable for left/right front sill panel ambient lighting are connected into the "J386 and "J387" door control modules.

You may also have to consider new/different coding? for the doors and maybe different door controllers too? I have not performed this procedure, so I could be wrong.

Hope this helps,

drpeter

thank you. it helps indeed but it also kills my project. I don't wanna take off the door panel so I cannot access the door module.

maybe I could really wire them in parallel with the footwell illumination, but then the sills would be on even with doors closed...

darkchina811 said:

thank you. it helps indeed but it also kills my project. I don't wanna take off the door panel so I cannot access the door module..

Click to expand...

You retrofitted heated seats and a Webasto aux heater, but don't want to take off the door panels...?

Perhaps he’s wary of potential rattles that may result.

With golf 7 the ambient lights are controlled from bcm not door control module.

You can tab to ambient light wires from the car frame side to the connector that goes to the door.

Do you want the sill lights on all the time or just when you open the doors? If the latter maybe easiest to tab to the roof light unit.

siLc said:

Perhaps he’s wary of potential rattles that may result.

Click to expand...

That would be a valid concern, but with proper care in reassembly (having replacement clips on hand for the inevitable breakage, having felt tape to replace factory NVH measures, etc) that can certainly be mitigated.

jyoung8607 said:

You retrofitted heated seats and a Webasto aux heater, but don't want to take off the door panels...?

Click to expand...

my list of retrofits is even longer but yes, I do not want to take off door panels because of potential rattles.

when a door panel is taken off, it just never goes back like put from the factory. I've been there before with 3 previous cars.

don't get me wrong, taking the door panel is very tempting. I could then replace the woofers, retrofit the light that illuminates the ground under the door, and wire up the sill.
because I just checked again the WDs and indeed W67/W68 are wired to the door controller. so the sill is not considered ambient light and is not under BCM control.
the two wires go back to the sill via the door connector, and this also creates the need to find the correct extra pins for the connector.

I don't wanna take the door panel, and now I am debated.

I could wire the sill in parallel to footwell light and live with the sill on with the door closed.
OR
I could do as above and add a reed switch somewhere for the door to switch off the sill when the door is closed.
OR
I should give up illuminated sills... but I have ordered them already :P

darkchina811 said:

my list of retrofits is even longer

Click to expand...

too many retrofits and may be cheaper (not to mention easier) to buy another with the features you want already installed

D-Dub said:

too many retrofits and may be cheaper (not to mention easier) to buy another with the features you want already installed

Click to expand...

and where would be the challenge/fun in that? plus, almost everything I did has indeed been cheaper than if ordered when buying the car. which I had bought used so I had to add stuff myself.

darkchina811 said:

my list of retrofits is even longer but yes, I do not want to take off door panels because of potential rattles.

when a door panel is taken off, it just never goes back like put from the factory. I've been there before with 3 previous cars.

don't get me wrong, taking the door panel is very tempting. I could then replace the woofers, retrofit the light that illuminates the ground under the door, and wire up the sill.
because I just checked again the WDs and indeed W67/W68 are wired to the door controller. so the sill is not considered ambient light and is not under BCM control.
the two wires go back to the sill via the door connector, and this also creates the need to find the correct extra pins for the connector.

I don't wanna take the door panel, and now I am debated.

I could wire the sill in parallel to footwell light and live with the sill on with the door closed.
OR
I could do as above and add a reed switch somewhere for the door to switch off the sill when the door is closed.
OR
I should give up illuminated sills... but I have ordered them already :P

Click to expand...

Just replace all clips when its off, check the book where the pins are before going to town, and use a suitable thin plastic tool to pry directly between the clips to unlock them (again read book) instead of bending the door panel to indirectly pull the clips out of their seats. I've taken all four door panels off on my Tiguan twice now, zero rattles. Polo 6C once, also zero rattles.

IMHO your concern is valid but disproportionate. Either you lack the finesse to handle plastic panels mounted to more solid objects (which is not meant personal, just matter-of-factly. I've had some great colleague's in my time in a workshop and one of the greatest mechanics i've ever had was also one you would never ask to help you remove/install anything plastic), or you just have bad luck.

darkchina811 said:

because I just checked again the WDs and indeed W67/W68 are wired to the door controller. so the sill is not considered ambient light and is not under BCM control.
the two wires go back to the sill via the door connector, and this also creates the need to find the correct extra pins for the connector.

I don't wanna take the door panel, and now I am debated.

I could wire the sill in parallel to footwell light and live with the sill on with the door closed.
OR
I could do as above and add a reed switch somewhere for the door to switch off the sill when the door is closed.
OR
I should give up illuminated sills... but I have ordered them already :P

Click to expand...

Ah ok so you’re referring with the ambient lights to ground lights what light up when the door open? Because the ambient light strips on the door cards that light up when dark enough, I know for 100% fact are controlled from BCM. Door control module has control for door handle light and ground lights. That’s pretty much it.

Again, if you want the lights on when the doors open, why can’t you tap to interior roof light? That has pin that is connected when doors open.

The illuminated door sills are actually controlled by that doors controller in the door….with the sills being wired to what is actually called the "exit lights" pin outs...

I know this as I fitted the red/white puddle lights from the Passat into the red reflector place..& wired to the "exit warning lights" pin outs on the door controllers. Then you need to code each door controller separately to tell it it has exit lights installed....I did a big write up this on the MK7Golf forum...

The tricky bit in your case is that you have to wire through the door rubber wire housing/hose thingy....so that's a nice big connector...

Just to follow on from above here is the link to my how to guide for the exit/puddle lights..including how to remove the door cards..

https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13887

From the technical drawing for the door controllers, Pin16 on the blue 32pin “S004” connector is designated as “Ausstiegs-Warnleuchte”, which translates as “Exit Warning Lamp”. It appears that this pin is on all versions of the driver & passenger, front door controllers. On the GTD/GTI/R, VW use this for the illuminated door sills.
Also we need to connect to a ground pin which again is the same for all versions, Pin5 on the blue 32pin connector, BF_GND (Bedienfeld GND) translates as “Panel GND”.

Now for VCDS!
Plug in VCDS to re-code both the drivers & passenger door control modules as follows:-
· Select Control Module [Select]
· [42-Door Elec, Driver] & [52-Door Elec, Pass] will need coding separately.
· [Coding -07],
· [Long Coding],
· [Long Coding Helper],
· Byte1,
· Bit2, tick the box marked “Door exit/warning light installed”.

You may need what is referred to as a "highline" spec door controller..as lower spec ones I think do not have the pin outs....much like the pin outs required for folding mirrors..

VAG-Dave said:

The illuminated door sills are actually controlled by that doors controller in the door….with the sills being wired to what is actually called the "exit lights" pin outs...

I know this as I fitted the red/white puddle lights from the Passat into the red reflector place..& wired to the "exit warning lights" pin outs on the door controllers. Then you need to code each door controller separately to tell it it has exit lights installed....I did a big write up this on the MK7Golf forum...

The tricky bit in your case is that you have to wire through the door rubber wire housing/hose thingy....so that's a nice big connector...

Click to expand...

Yes, that is correct

The big block connector is nothing to be feared. Very easy access from car side, just need to remove the kick panel. The car side connector has long enough wires so you can pull it visible and add new pins to it.

On the door side, well, you need to remove the door card and woofer speaker element. Then you'll get access to the door part of the connector. The rubber can be slid from top of it to gain access to the wiring and pull new wires to through it.

I added BSD and door card ambient light wiring to both doors so I did have to do it twice as these were separate cases.

ok, I went into the reference scans section and found 3 MQB cars with same door controller (also same HW/SW) and the coding enabled for the exit light. so I have a capable door controller.

guess now or then I'll take the leap of faith to remove the door panel. I'll wait to have all the parts so I can do all three retrofits at once.

ok after some time I took that leap of faith and pulled the door panels. I was prepared for a bigger headache but it was not that bad. those clips are nasty, some won't just come off the door side and there is a high chance of breaking the panel where the clip attaches. the speaker rivets were also a pain in the ass, definitely the hardest rivets I have drilled, and trust me I have drilled plenty. I had spare clips ready and I ended up needing two each door.

anyway, I installed the puddle light from pin16/5, after coding it worked straight away. I spliced the positive back to the car, it will feed the illuminated door sill. I also pulled the wire for the BSD led because it's a parallel retrofit.

I was stumbled when I found out the crimp pins I bought for the door-to-car connector won't fit, I found the P/N on ETKA so I am really perplexed. since I don't have the correct pins I had to leave the two wires loose into the connector housing.