How to wire up tail light board to E30 without towbar

[soul4t]

Hi Guys,

I'm nipping off around Europe for the next year and am taking Bikes on a bike rack mounted to the back of my E30. I want to make sure I avoid any hefty fines and also ensure maximum safety.

I don't have any towbar or wiring for a trailer light board or otherwise at the rear of the car and have fairly limited experience with car electrics..apart from wiring up music stuff in the boot.

I've done some research and don't want to go over the top with it, so, do I'll need a light board, obviously, the majority of which (at the price I'm looking at) have the 7 pin socket.

Do I need to simply feed wires in at the tail lights in the boot, to a 7 pin wiring kit? Or do I need to use a 7 way relay with a power source?

Also, what is the best way to get the wires out of the car for the hook up? The car's got pretty good bodywork and very very little rust, so I want to keep it that way!

Is there anything I'm missing here?

All help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[Brianmoooore]

I've done a few posts on this. First question is: Do you have a lamp and fluids 'check' panel up near rhe interior mirror?

[soul4t]

Hi!

Thanks for your help on this topic too!

No, I don't have a lamp and fluids check panel, or any switches near the interior mirror.

2nd question

Cheers!

[miniblob]

Do E30's not have the loom already in place, as far as the boot - meaning you can get a connector plug with another bit of loom which then reaches to where the power socket would go??
Perhaps it was just one i had, which had a towbar fitted previously??

Brianmoooore will be the man to confirm though - if you can't find out using the search!!

[Brianmoooore]

No towbar loom on an E30, unless fitted as part of a towbar kit by a dealer.
Not having a lamp check system simplifies things a little, and means you can take the feeds from the rear light clusters.
How do yo intend to mount the socket without a towbar? A bracket sandwiched to the RH rear bumper mount?
Wire colours are in a post of mine in this thread: http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ght=towbar
To be legal, you need a warning system for the additional indicators. The cheap way is to include an audible device in the wires to the indicators on the socket, but a better solution is to replace the existing 4 pin indicator 'relay' with a 5 pin version, and add an extra wire from the centre pin of this to the trailer warning bulb position (two arrows pointing sideways) in your instrument cluster. This light will flash only if the trailer board indicators are working.

[soul4t]

Hi,

Sorry it took a while to get back to you, I'm glad it is simpler!

Prepare yourselves for some electronic ignorance... in advance, please forgive me...

Excellent, I was hoping I could just feed the connector for the existing wires...I've looked at the electrical connector that supplys the normal light cluster at the rear, it looks like it should come apart pretty easilly, can I just splice my extra wire in there and maybe hold it with some electrical tape? What is the professional way to do this?
I'm not sure how I'm going to mount the socket...I want a simple, and if easy, removable socket. But I don't think thats possible as I'll have to make a hole from the boot and ensure I have a water tight grommet, so once installed, it'll be fixed, ie not easilly removable...just answered my own question I think.
Does this sound any alarm bells so far?
I will need to find a way to secure it...I guess I could feed the socket wire through the topside of the tow point on the RH side, as long as it had a cover I could gather up the wire excess when it's not in use...I'm a bit nervous about detaching the rear bumper, I've had bad experiences with bumpers, but then again it's probably cause I didn't know what I was doing...I've read the bit on the other thread about there being 3 13mm nuts on the outside (inside lip at the back) and one 13mm nut in the boot...if this is it, I could fit a bracket like you say!

Thanks for the link about the wire colours!

I'd like to be legal and idealy like to do things properly, so, where abouts is the indicator relay? I can't seem to find it in the Haynes manual, it talks about an 'indicator switch'...which I expect is it, which is inside the steering column shroud...is that the one? If so, do I need to buy a BMW 5 pin relay/switch or is it a different, more common relay that I can pick up at Halfords? I presume that when I identify the 5th pin (you imply it's the middle one...but I can check when I replace it obviously) how best shall I attach the wire? I assume I'd remove the instument cluster (which I'd like to do anyway as half the cluster doesn't illuminate until hard acceleration or it gets a little tap), then find the empty pin in the indicator bulb (just to clarify, the one that looks like [ <| |> ] that blinks when indicating) inside the cluster and attach it with electrical tape?

I am cringeing at this point with the undoubted ignorance that I must be displaying! Please forgive it, and know that I really appreciate all the help I'm getting!

Thank you greatly,

[Brianmoooore]

E30 indicator 'relay' is under the steering column lower shroud. It's a 'standard' old sckool type unit, rather than anything too model/make specific.
These used to be available almost anywhere, but the only one I can fid now is RFL7 on here: http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... ashers.php.
You can splice all your tow bar wires into the body loom behind the LH liner of the boot. Remove the LH rear light bulb holder, pull down the top of the liner and pull it away. It's quite tough and won't tear.

[soul4t]

Ahh, Excellent,

Thank you for that, all is clear! I'll get my thinking cap on, and probably get the parts I need, then I'll have a go in a week or so!

Thanks for all your help, I'll let you know how it goes!

[soul4t]

Right,

I've found a lighting board and a wiring kit! £26 for both! The wiring kit seems to have an Audible relay installed, so if it all works honky dory, then I may just leave it as it is!

Thanks for all the help!...

I found a hold that sits just behind the middle of the rear bumper...I'm going to see if the wire fits through it, then I may be able to just drill 1 hole straight down from the boot, grommet it and tape it as much as possible to make sure it's water tight, then feed the socket into the towing hook, through the hole behind the bumper and then through the hole into the boot. I've taken the carpet bit away a bit to check out the wiring loom break out box, thanks for that BrianMoooore!

All is well!....(p.s Brianmoooore...still waiting for the injectors to return...ports are nice and clean)

[Gt6s]

How do you intend to mount the bicycle ?
When I fitted my towbar to tow ( no extra socket obvious )My Triumph Gt6 on an A frame the wiring was straight foward as a standard towbar instalation. That was done through the Triumphs taillights.

[soul4t]

Hi Gt6s,

I've bought a bike rack that 'hangs' off the back of the car.

The wiring kit is designed for cars without towbars!...it has a metal |_| (other way round) to hang it from somewhere I presume!...not sure how this will fair, but I'll let you know how I get on, the kit looks easy to assemble too, so thats great!

Thanks,

[soul4t]

Right,

I fitted the lightboard yesterday and all works perfectly!

The buzzer beeps when the indicators are working and the wiring kit provided me with blue clip on wire connectors which saved having to strip wires and bridge connections messily!

I had to ensure that the relay buzzer (Audiable device) was stowed away by near where I was taking the connections from the wiring loom, this ended up being at the upper left hand rear corner of the boot, there was a handy space behind the carpet trimming!

I did drill a hole through the bottom of the boot in a suitable location near the tow point, fitted a 13mm grommet tightly and the wire went through snugly. I am just going to use a small rope to secure the 7pin connctor to the RH bracket of the rear bumper and the tow point which should keep it steady!

I'm sure this is quite an unorthodox method to sorting this out, but I'm happy as it's been a great success and I've learnt more about the car!

Thank you everybody for your input...especially Brianmoooore as without the wire colour, I would have been lost!...greatly appreciated!