Discovery II Rear Turn / Brake Light Wiring

Craig t

Member
Dec 5, 2008
12
0
Hope you all can help me... feel like I am missing something real obvious here. I purchased a rear tailight converter ( towready brand #119130 3 wire to 2 wire) to combine my turn and brake signal on my 2000 Disco II. Now, I've looked through the site and found Greg Davis's wire marking list which is great. My question is where do I cut into the harness? Behind the passenger rear tailight? I assume I need to trace it back a bit in the harness to get to the brake and indicator lights... I do not need to run the tail light through the converter correct? I am missing something simple here....

Brake - green / purple into coverter
Right Indicator - Green / white into conveter
Left - green / red into coveter

Then wire connect the indicator wires out of converter correct? NOT using green and purple brake wire....

Last but not least... will this affect my tow harness?

Thanks,

Craig
 

nrene

Well-known member
Dec 16, 2006
759
0
Lovettsville, VA
photobucket.com
Having just removed one of these things from a new-to-me DII...

The PO wired it from behind the left taillight for Stop, Tail, L-Turn and ground. The 5th wire snaked under the door seal to the right taillight for the R-Turn.

Now, the real question is... WHY? If you have a factory tow harness, it's already done for you from the factory. Even though it comes out in a UK tow connector, it's *NOT* wired like they do in the UK... it's wired for the US using the standard 4-wire configuration shoved into the UK standard connector.

EDIT-- The tow harness connects to a plug behind the Right Tail light...
 
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Craig t

Member
Dec 5, 2008
12
0
I appreciate the info... I may have missed something here... I removed my rear bumper for an offroad unit. So, I am trying to rewire the tailights for the removed turn signal from the stock bumper. I would rather just use the stock wiring harness.
 

dbeard

Well-known member
Oct 14, 2011
65
0
Lebanon, PA
Has anyone had any luck with this? Looking to do the same thing in preparation for a Greg Davis bumper. My last trip wheeling resulted in my stock bumper being blown apart, and I currently don't have turn indicators. I would like to wire up my tail lights to blink for indicators instead of going to a separate light. Has anyone had any success with this towready conversion? Are there decent instructions with this kit?
 

DiscoPhoto

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2012
2,581
76
Vermont
Do you have a roof rack? I converted my turn signals into my reverse lights, and my reverse light is now my worklamp, works like a charm.
 

dbeard

Well-known member
Oct 14, 2011
65
0
Lebanon, PA
Do you have a roof rack? I converted my turn signals into my reverse lights, and my reverse light is now my worklamp, works like a charm.

I was considering going this direction, but I do not have a roof rack at the moment. This is why I was considering making the tail light indicators as well. Just not sure how to go about doing that.
 

bmxer06pa

Well-known member
Mar 8, 2010
300
0
I have unsuccessfully tried the trailer wiring converter two times. I never could make it work properly. If I was you I would buy the amber bulbs and put them in the reverse lights and rewire the blinker to the reverse lights like in the Greg Davis instructions. After dealing with my blinkers intermittently working for 2 years I finally ditched the trailer wiring converter and used the amber bulbs. It took me 20 mins to redo and now everything works properly. If you don't have a roof rack I assume it would be easy enough to attach some LEDs to the spare tire carrier for your reverse lights.
 

JohnB

Well-known member
Oct 18, 2007
2,292
12
Oregon
Mine came with the factory plug and convertor. I had to tow a trailer a few weeks back and figured this would be a no brainer. Unfortunately the factory conversion ecu was full of water.

Went to U-Haul and bought the euro to US adapter module for $16.95http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Wiring-lights/Tow-vehicle-wiring/U-Haul-4-Way-Flat?id=13684 and had all my lights wire up in about 15 minutes.
 

KyleT

Well-known member
Mar 28, 2007
6,059
8
39
Fort Worth, TEXAS
converting the tail lights to a combo brake tail doesnt work well on a D2, at least not for me... would go all wonky and fast blink funky and show the trailer icon on the dash...
 

pschuler

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2006
616
3
MD
converting the tail lights to a combo brake tail doesnt work well on a D2, at least not for me... would go all wonky and fast blink funky and show the trailer icon on the dash...

I converted mine semi-successfully. It worked but when I touched the brake at a stop light with the signal on it would blink more rapidly. No trailer icon though.
 

listerdiesel

Well-known member
There are various issues with any modification of the Discovery 2 trailer wiring, not least of all is that there are TWO indicator relays, one for each side.

Disco2LHDIndicatorRelays.jpg


These are the two small yellow relays to the left of the fuses in the fusebox under the dash.

Converting to have the stop lights working as indicators isn't easily possible either.

Peter
 
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dbeard

Well-known member
Oct 14, 2011
65
0
Lebanon, PA
Sounds like my best bet would be to get amber bulbs for the reverse lights, and wire up a work light for reverse. How difficult is it to wire up a worklight to work with reverse, but also be able to come on with a switch in the cabin.
 

pschuler

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2006
616
3
MD
Wire up your one of your rear fog lights to the work lamp and splice in the reverse wire.