Dingy wiring for rear lights on Forester

Question

I have a new 2015 Forester which I will tow, and am looking at dealing with the rear lights (brakes, turn indicators, running lights), which have to be slaved to the motorhome's. The usual approach to using the car's own lights is to run wires to the rear of the car and use diodes to isolate the car and motorhome lighting circuits, and this has worked well on my previous two dingys.

It looks a little harder on the Forester because of the isolated nature of the rear light clusters and the limited space therein to mount diodes. Not to mention all the interior trim hiding the wiring. So I am wondering whether anybody has any advice on how to set about this.

Or is it more common to use the magnetic "rabbit's ears" style of lights, and put them on the roof just when towing?

What has everybody done?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Paul.

carringb · Answer

Have you thought about installing rear fog-light lenses? The US versions all have reflectors in the rear bumper, but in the rest of the world those are rear fog lights. This would be an easy way to add turn/brake lights to the rear of the car without touching the stock wiring back there. And maybe supplement that with a relay to turn on the normal running lights?

This is what I plan on doing to my Fiesta when I make it towable, since I don't want to risk any bulb-out errors. I don't like magnet lights because they will scratch the paint even there is even a little dirt or dust in between.

dutch_12078 · Answer

I don't know how the Forester is laid out, but on our RAV4's, I was able to make the connections and fit the diode packs inside the driver's side kick panel. The only thing I did in the rear was figure out which color wires were for which functions so I could find them in the wire bundles behind the kick panel.

ductape · Answer

^ on my Ford I took the harness apart at the junction behind the rear bumper and put the diodes there.

canadianembassy · Answer

Thanks for the thoughts, and the implied undesirability of magnetic rabbit's ears. I decided to dig deeper to see what I cold do.

I think that the main difficulty I foresaw was getting to the wiring behind all the interior trim at the rear. Not wanting to cause damage by pulling in the wrong places or removing the wrong bolts, I finally went to my Subaru dealer and asked him how to get at the wiring. He was very helpful, and I think I can do what I need to do.

If all else fails, ask the experts!

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Dingy wiring for rear lights on Forester

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