Comments on: Footwell light for your BMW E36 . . . DIY!

By: Cookie

Cookie — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:47:20 +0000

Hey,
Didn’t say u did anything wrong. I was just wondering if it were possible to connect the well lights up to the headlight switch, so they only came on when the headlights were on.
Also, do you think festoon bulbs would work well for footwell lights???

By: Sebastiaan

Sebastiaan — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:43:00 +0000

Hi there!
Just received all the stuff and connected the lights just as shown above….
Result: the lights i connected come on when i turn the dome light off… and vice versa!
so it works the opposite way!
what have i done wrong? already tried changing the wires but it had the same effect.

Thanks,
Sebastiaan.

By: Cookie

Cookie — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:56:45 +0000

Hey Jarozila,

great DIY, but i was wondering if you knew how to do that same thing, but have the well lights come on with the headlights…? also to have them with blue LEDs?

Cheers,
Cookie

By: Mike Feeney

Mike Feeney — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:06:09 +0000

Thanks for a great site, i do a lot of journeys at night to visit my GF who lives 200km away
So i got an E36 as its economical, reliable, comfortable and quick enough
will definately be using this Footwell lighting mod as my bottle of water, coke, whatever.. always goes missing somewhere under heavy breaking

By: Jarozila

Jarozila — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:40:56 +0000

Hi ffdfsdf,

the way I wired the footwell lights is that they are off when you drive. The footwell lights work in conjunction with the dome light. When you open the door they come on and then fade out alone with the dome light. You can also have then turned on, along with the dome light, but you would probably not really want them on when you drive.

Even with them on though there is no noticable reflection in the windows, as the footwell lights are tucked in under the kick panel out of sight.

Hope this amswers your question.

By: ffdfsdf

ffdfsdf — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:38:45 +0000

isn’t it a bit disturbing at night? maybe even cast some reflections on the windows?

By: Jarozila

Jarozila — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:04:18 +0000

Hi Barney,

I would assume so. What I suggest you do is take your dome light out and unplug it. Use a volt meter to check which wires have power – that is what I did to work out which wires I needed to tap. From memory, one wire will have constant power and another wire’s power will work in conjunction with the door. You will be able to work it out.

By: Tony Sticks

Tony Sticks — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:23:29 +0000

@Barney: Maybe Jarozila can answer?

By: Barney

Barney — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:58:49 +0000

I just gave this 5 stars to offset Jarozila’s accidental 3-star rating. (c:

Do you have any idea if the procedure is much different for an E36 convertible? Still the brown wire coming out of the dome light?

By: squid 66

squid 66 — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:21:50 +0000

Fuel leaks on fuel tank e36 318is coupe, has any one ever taken fuel tank out, i have to due to breather line leaking on top of tank any tips is there access through floor.