My wife recently backed her 2001 Caravan into something and destroyed the tail light. I was able to readily obtain another from a 2003 or 04.
Hadn't yet removed the original so didn't notice until I got home that the new models use a single, multi-filament bulb for both tail and brake where on the original, they used two separate bulbs.
So... her vehicle has two separate leads for brake and tail lamps. Can I rewire or otherwise modify to work with the new, single bulb?
Many thanks.
"Scott Dudley" wrote: 2001 Caravan
I need to replace a broken tail light. I found one from a 2003/04 Caravan that has a 2-filament bulb for both tail and brake lights where the original used two separate 1-filament bulbs. Can I rewire my car to work with the new, single bulbs?
_____________________________________________________
Yes. New wires are not needed. Discard the two old cable plugs and splice the car wires to the single plug from the new light assembly. The brake wire goes to the brighter filament in a 2-filament bulb. View the sketches below in lucida or courier font.
Good luck.
Rodan.
===============================================
(CONN) BRAKE/TURN ___
-------------------| | UNBROKEN GND---|___| BRAKE LIGHT PLUG ___ ------------| | UNBROKEN | GND---|___| TAIL LIGHT TAIL | PLUG
-------| | | | ___ ------------| | BROKEN GND---|___| TAIL LIGHT PLUG ___ GND---| | BROKEN
-------------------|___| BRAKE LIGHT BRAKE/TURN PLUG
============================================
BRAKE/TURN ___
-------------------| | UNBROKEN GND---|___| BRAKE LIGHT PLUG ___ ------------| | UNBROKEN | GND---|___| TAIL LIGHT | PLUG TAIL |
-------| | | | | | ___ | GND---| | NEW ------------| | BRAKE/TAIL
-------------------|___| PLUG BRAKE-TURN
===========================================
You could splice the existing tail, brake, and ground wires into one socket.... My question is -- how little do you value this repair? Is it worth some meager savings to have mismatched rear light housings on a 2001 Caravan? I'm hardly a safety nazi, but if a car came into my shop with mismatched lights, I would first suspect that it fails a state safety inspection due to non original design safety eqipment, then I would go to the book to confirm my suspicion.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are talking about replacing only one of the housings, true?
Toyota MDT in MO
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