-TRUNK LIGHT & MANUAL FAN OVERRIDE INSTALLATION-
-TRUNK LIGHT & MANUAL FAN OVERRIDE INSTALLATION-
March 17, 2001.
If your car did not come with a trunk light, it is very easy to install one. Here is what you will need:
1. PARTS
Trunk latch switch
Light and its wiring
harness
4' of wire (2' each
way)
Solder equipment
II. PHOTO GUIDE
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These are pictures of the switch that turns the trunk light on and off. It is a very simple bolt on installation. The wiring plug also simply plugs into the existing factory wiring harness. The plug is a one-pronged type. Remove the latch first, it is easily removed with the aid of a 10 mm socket wrench. Install the sensor onto the removed latch, and then bolt the latch back on.
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On the left you can see the light bulb and its casing installed. It simply snaps into place, into a pre-existing hole on the rear shelf support. You will need to route the wiring into the passenger side rear strut tower, where an open wiring plug is awaiting to be connected. You can see the connection in the picture on the right. The gray wires are speaker wires, so don't confuse them with the red trunk light wires. Be sure to use heat shrink to conceal and protect your connection, you can see mine, as they are dark gray and appears just on the left of the box-like wiring connector.
You will need the 4' of wire because the wiring that comes with the light is very short. If you remove the rear shelf, you might be able to use the light's wiring harness and plug it into the other half located in the strut tower, this other half has sufficient length of wiring to reach the light's wiring harness. However, removing the rear shelf can take a while, so I decided to put my soldering iron to good use.
Good luck!
Next, is a guide on how to wire in a manual fan override. So that you can turn on your fan, any time you please. It too, is very simple to perform.
1. PARTS
Electrical Wire (doesn't
have to be thick, 16 gauge will work)
Electrical switch
(on/off)
Solder equipment
II. INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
The factory setting for the radiator fan to turn on is roughly 180° F. This override will allow the factory circuit to be used (180° F. trigger) when your switch is on the "on" position. Once the switch is flicked to the "off" position, the circuit is cut, and the fan comes on. This override takes advantage of Toyota's built in safety circuit; if for some reason the wire to the temperature sensor is cut, burnt or simply removed, the fan is automatically turned on. Therefore, if you cut the circuit manually, the fan turns on at your command.
To test this theory, turn the key to the "on" position (without the engine running), and disconnect the temperature sensor connector (indicated within the red circle below). The fan should now activate. Until you reconnect the sensor wiring clip, the fan will stay on.
First step is to cut the green and red wire coming out of the temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is located at the thermostat housing, and can easily be seen from the picture above. Strip both ends of the wire you just cut, and solder it to separate pieces of the wire you bought (so that you just made the green wire you cut longer on both ends of the cut). Don't forget to use shrink wrap to cover and protect your solder. Run this new wire through the firewall, or anyway you can get it into the cabin. Install your switch in the cabin (anywhere you want, just make sure you have enough wire to get to it), and install the 2 wires into the switch.
To test if your modification works, place the key in the ignition, turn the key to "on" (your engine doesn't not need to run), and flick your switch. The fan should turn on when the switch cuts the circuit, thus simulating you pulling the wiring harness plug out of the sensor. At the position of the switch where the fan is not turned on, the factory temperature sensor fan circuit is used, the fan should turn on at approximately 180° F.
That's it! Good luck!
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