I had a request to do a write up on my interiors lights, I did it around 6 months ago and didnt take pictures at the time so I will try to do the best that I can. Alot of reading, not a lot of pictures. This is from a 1998 4runner, so Im not sure if all the wiring would be the same. And I also dont have a sunroof or lighted sunvisors.

Although I had a bright LED panel from Oznium for the dome light, I wanted all the interior lights (front map, middle dome, rear dome, added footwell lighting) to come on when any door was opened or when my alarm was unlocked. For the front map lights I tried to wire to my existing lights but I kept blowing the 15amp dome light fuse in the engine bay fuse box. I then found on ebay the same style rearview mirror and light set up but this one had a door switch in it, I believe it was from a tacoma or 2nd generation 4runner, I dont know why toyota didnt continue to use the set up with the door switch.



That made the install much simpler. The outside cover just pops off with a flat head screwdriver between the plastic and headliner, preferably in the back so if you scratch it then you wont see it. There are then 4 screws that connect the whole rearview mirror/light assembly, those screws also act as the ground. Unscrew those 4 and then the whole thing will drop and just undo the connector. For the new assembly there are only two wires for the connector. One for power for manually turning it on and one for the door trigger. For the existing manual power wire i just cut and then soldered and heat shrunk the wire to the new connector. For the door switch wire, I ran a wire from the front lights to the center dome light. I unwound a cheap metal coat hanger to run under the headliner between the front lights and middle dome, and then tied the wire to one end of the coat hanger and then pulled it through.



I soldered one end of the new wire to the connector for the front lights. The other end by the center dome light, I used a quick splice connector to the dome light door wire. I dont remember what color wire it was, but if you follow around the metal on the dome light from the door position on the on/off/door selector switch to the position on the dome light connector then you should be able to find it.


For the rear dome light, it was really fairly simple. I was a little worried about it, I figured I was going to blow some fuse or something but it has worked perfectly fine since I have done it. Remove the lower door sill trim on the drivers side by removing the screws and then popping it off and the kick panel just slides out.



This is where all the wires come in. The black and white wire is the 4 passengers door trigger which is actually a ground wire. The red and white wire is the door trigger wire for the rear cargo door. For this all I did was connect the two wires, I stripped some insulation off each wire and connected the two with a really short wire.

And now for the footwell lights. I got some 12 inch led strips off ebay for 10 bucks for a pack of two. I was initially planning on installing them on the ground underneath the front seats for the rear lights and under the dash for the front lights. But there was no way that the strips were going to attach anywhere under the dash, so I decided to attach them to the seats, and since I was doing the fronts there I decided I might as well do the rear as well.



I went to home depot and got some small L shaped brackets and nuts and and bolts and then some sort of 12 inch metal straps used for roofing. I drilled holes in the metal straps and attached the the L shaped brackets with the nuts and bolts. I removed the seats, just four bolts on each seat, they should be under some plastic caps that just pop off. Make sure to disconnect any connectors that are connected to the seat before removing them from the car, for me it was just the seat belt connector on the drivers side. There were already holes on the bottom of the seat, that were used to attach the seat covers, that I was able to attach the brackets to with more nuts and bolts. Here's a back view of it that shows them.



The LED strips had adhesive on the back so obviously I just stuck them to the metal. Here is a simple drawing of how I ran the wire to the lights.



I ran two wires from the drivers side kick panel, under the carpet and then out the hole on the carpet for the seat belt wire on the drivers side and then cut a hole in the carpet on the side of the center console and then ran the wires under the center console in front of the parking brake and then cut a hole on the carpet on the passengers side of the center console and then the wires came out under the passengers seat. Make sure to make the wires long enough for when you move the seat back and forth, but not too long so that you get them caught up in the tracks. You shouldnt have to remove the center console completely, just pop off the trim that surrounds the parking brake and possibly the trim around the shifter, there are no screws, just clips, so it just pops off.

I went to autozone and looked for some quick release connectors for anytime in the future that I want to remove my seats, like when I was redoing my interior. I looked and couldnt find any and then asked if they sold anything like that, and they really had no idea what I was talking about. I actually ended up being able to get some for free from my work because of a recall thats going on.



The passengers side wire ends I soldered and heat shrunk to one end of the connector and then the other side of the connector to the wires of the LED strips. The wires from the LED strips sucked, they used tiny speaker wire. And then for the drivers side I spliced a wire to the wires I had running through, as seen in the picture. And then attached those wires to the connector and then to the LED strip.

As to where the wires connect to the car at the kick panel, its going to depened. The negative wire I connected to the door trigger black and white wire. As for power, you are going to have to find a wire that has constant power. I had already installed a Viper 5701 alarm with remote start and used a relay for the domelight supervision so I just hooked up my positive wire to the constant power wire going to the relay. And that wire for the relay was hooked up to the 12 volt constant wires (red and red/white, there are two) at the ignition switch harness. Those are the fat wires that connect to the key cylinder.

I have a switch that I plan on connecting to the door trigger wire so that when I press it, it would act as if I had a door open and turn on all the lights, I just havent hooked that up yet.

I know there werent alot of pictures so if you have any picture requests for certain spots that I was talking about feel free to ask or feel free to ask any questions.