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How-To: Swap SE tail lights for Titanium...


JScullin

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You can either get them off a wreck or order new from Ford. If you get them from Ford you'll need to give them a VIN from a Ti model because that's how the parts system works now (eBay has plenty). I ordered mine through Ford and they were $900 shipped.

 

Holy shit, why would you pay $900 for lights? Maybe that's the only feature I cared about from the Titanium model and I wanted the 2.0l, moonroof and glossy black 18's more? Maybe go fuck yourself. LET'S DO THIS!

 

Boom:
gGewTM2.jpg
How-to
Boot lid:
  • Pop off all trim fasteners on boot carpeting They come out easy w/a little force when you start at the corner. You can let it hang free.
  • At this stage you will have access to replace your reverse LED's.
  • Unclip the grey power lead to the tail light.
  • Use an 11mm socket to remove the 3 nuts holding in the lens assembly.
  • Pop in Titanium lens and secure with nuts.
  • Plug lens back into power lead and hit your unlock key to test they work.
  • Finish torquing nuts into place and reseat your carpeting with the fasteners.
Quarter panel:
  • Remove boot floor cover.
  • Pop out 2 fasteners holding in the scuff guard on the lower boot lip (you don't need to remove the whole piece).
  • Unscrew the 4 black boot liner fasteners.
  • Use masking tape to protect paint under each lens.
  • Pull carpeting back (it wraps around the boot lid truss) so you have room to access the light.
  • Use a 10mm socket or ratcheting spanner to unscrew the 2 nut/washers.
  • The other end of the lens is held in with a locking rubber clip. I used a small hammer to lightly tap it until it popped out. One came out w/the rubber clip attached, the other didn't. But make sure you pop it off the SE lens and reinsert it into the car before fitting the new lens.
  • With the lens removed unplug the power lead and swap out. Testing first before buttoning everything up. Make sure liner is properly tucked in behind the rubber seal.
  • Use fishing line or dental floss and a hair dryer to remove the SE badge. But we'll know what you did. We'll know.
Now enjoy one of the nicer party pieces of the car whenever you unlock your car or have your lights on.
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Is someone pressing the brake pedal in the pics? If not, unless I'm seeing things, it appears as though the center is lit up as well as the outer 'ring light'. Which is not the case on titaniums so maybe there's a wire that can be swapped or pulled from the harness to achieve the real look..
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Is someone pressing the brake pedal in the pics? If not, unless I'm seeing things, it appears as though the center is lit up as well as the outer 'ring light'. Which is not the case on titaniums so maybe there's a wire that can be swapped or pulled from the harness to achieve the real look..

 

They work like normal brake lights. LED ring is lit when you have the parking lights on, brake lights illuminate the whole center area when applied and are just half lit when not/remote locking.
Sound right?
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  • 2 weeks later...
You can either get them off a wreck or order new from Ford. If you get them from Ford you'll need to give them a VIN from a Ti model because that's how the parts system works now (eBay has plenty). I ordered mine through Ford and they were $900 shipped.

 

Holy shit, why would you pay $900 for lights? Maybe that's the only feature I cared about from the Titanium model and I wanted the 2.0l, moonroof and glossy black 18's more? Maybe go fuck yourself. LET'S DO THIS!

 

Boom:

[img=http://i.imgur.com/gGewTM2.jpg]

 

How-to

 

Boot lid:

 

 

 

 

  • Pop off all trim fasteners on boot carpeting They come out easy w/a little force when you start at the corner. You can let it hang free.

 

  • At this stage you will have access to replace your reverse LED's.

 

  • Unclip the grey power lead to the tail light.

 

  • Use an 11mm socket to remove the 3 nuts holding in the lens assembly.

 

  • Pop in Titanium lens and secure with nuts.

 

  • Plug lens back into power lead and hit your unlock key to test they work.

 

  • Finish torquing nuts into place and reseat your carpeting with the fasteners.

 

 

Quarter panel:

 

 

 

 

  • Remove boot floor cover.

 

  • Pop out 2 fasteners holding in the scuff guard on the lower boot lip (you don't need to remove the whole piece).

 

  • Unscrew the 4 black boot liner fasteners.

 

  • Use masking tape to protect paint under each lens.

 

  • Pull carpeting back (it wraps around the boot lid truss) so you have room to access the light.

 

  • Use a 10mm socket or ratcheting spanner to unscrew the 2 nut/washers.

 

  • The other end of the lens is held in with a locking rubber clip. I used a small hammer to lightly tap it until it popped out. One came out w/the rubber clip attached, the other didn't. But make sure you pop it off the SE lens and reinsert it into the car before fitting the new lens.

 

  • With the lens removed unplug the power lead and swap out. Testing first before buttoning everything up. Make sure liner is properly tucked in behind the rubber seal.

 

  • Use fishing line or dental floss and a hair dryer to remove the SE badge. But we'll know what you did. We'll know.

 

 

Now enjoy one of the nicer party pieces of the car whenever you unlock your car or have your lights on.

 

 

Use masking tape to protect paint under each lens?????

Please explain.

 

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Thats $900 if you can get a dealer discount of 30%. Retail price for these Ti lights is $1320.40. Although the swap is plug and play, you still have to pull away all the liners. These are Ford Parts. You'll need to get a Ti VIN # from the lot to give to the parts clerk, just to make sure the correct parts are ordered. Although these P/N's are correct you can't be to careful.

 

See the first post for excellent directions on how to change out the tail lights.

 

DS7Z-13405-B $228.15

DS7Z-13404-B $228.15

DS7Z-13404-D $423.87

DS7Z-13405-D $440.23

Total $1320.40

Edited by Gkinla
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A funny thing happened on the way to the forum.

 

Thanks for the info on the Ford Parts links. I did order from my dealer but was able to convince them to discount the lights 20%, so not to bad. I checked the lights at the dealer for cracks or scratches, we were talking, I checked the boxes for the correct part number which were okay. When I got home I got the inner backup lights replaced in 20 minutes. I started on the right side and lucky I did, before I removed the original I checked the new lens for sameness, guess what it was a LH. I got two different PN's on the boxes but the RH was packaged wrong. I'm happy I started the right side or there would be three correct and one incorrect. This way here it's at least symmetrical.

 

 

The reason I mention this if anyone else wants to go this route check the PN's in the box before you start.

 

 

Half way there. The new correct lens will come in next week, I'll just leave it this way until then.

 

 

It's gonna look nice.

 

 

a10daae7-17d7-4530-9922-de3b55dcbc20.jpg

Edited by Gkinla
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Completed Ti Tail Light installation.

I took about one hour total for the swap. Real easy, again follow the excellent instructions in the first post.


Protect the paint, the lens assy. can get away from you.



image-11.jpg



Pop off the grommet. And re-use it.



image-9-8.jpg



Completed assembly. It really looks good at night, I didn't get a chance to take a night time photo.



image-12.jpg



I also rebadged with the chrome on black gels. Hood, trunk, steering wheel and four wheels. Subtle change but effective.



image-13.jpg

Edited by Gkinla
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So I just went out and tested the brake lights again to see what you're describing.

 

  • When the car is running, with the parking lights on, the outer ring is lit, and the center red is partially lit. When you apply the brakes the center red fully illuminates and the 3rd brake light comes on.
  • When you apply the brake w/the lights off, just the center red fully illuminates.
  • Opening a door, or unlocking the doors w/the remote, illuminates the outer ring. Not sure about when you shut the car off.
  • Locking the car changes the tail light state from outer ring to center red, then off.

 

Is that how a Ti lights up? I have not seen another one around here. Let alone at night.

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Guest RRF985
So I just went out and tested the brake lights again to see what you're describing.

 

  • When the car is running, with the parking lights on, the outer ring is lit, and the center red is partially lit.

Is that how a Ti lights up? I have not seen another one around here. Let alone at night.

 

Everything else was as you describe except the one point above. My centers are not lit with the exception of one LED on the sides near the ring. Here are my lights:

 

84905ee9-6d14-434f-8df6-cf877228fd4e_zps

lights2_zps9ef6181d.jpg

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Everything else was as you describe except the one point above. My centers are not lit with the exception of one LED on the sides near the ring. Here are my lights:

 

[img=http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/RRF985/Fusion/84905ee9-6d14-434f-8df6-cf877228fd4e_zps237b736b.jpg]

[img=http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/RRF985/Fusion/lights2_zps9ef6181d.jpg]

Thanks for the pictures, I have not seen a Ti in the wild at night either. It looks like I/we have a little research to do if we want correct Ti lighting. If I had a way to get wiring diagrams for the Ti and SE I might be able to figure it out. Or, maybe the wiring in the car is different and it's impossible to do without major mods.

 

If someone could help out regarding wiring diagrams it would be much appreciated. I've been all over the internet and can't come up with a site that has wiring diagrams to look at.

Edited by Gkinla
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It seems weird that Ford would have a different harness just for the tails between models; but I can see why. Since the S/SE models don't have the outer ring, that center area is your parking light and stays lit. But on the Ti it's the red ring acting as the rear parking lights.

 

So perhaps changing/removing the wire on the harness pin-out at the car will disable the parking light of the center, but not lose the directional function.

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