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-   -   VW Polo DIY: Adding a boot lamp! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do-yourself/165467-vw-polo-diy-adding-boot-lamp.html)

The VW Polo sold in India lacks a lamp in the boot whereas the one sold overseas gets one. Cost cutting? You bet!

This is the boot compartment of the Polo sold in India:



And this is the boot of the Polo sold overseas:


(Source: Google Images)

They get an even better boot floor with a latch and anchoring hooks on either side to secure the luggage. One variant gets an additional 12V socket as well. We can only hope VW India includes these in the next generation MQB Polo when it is sold here. A light in the boot compartment is an essential equipment and helps during midnight pick ups and drops.

Parts Required:

Parts with the part numbers and the quantity follows:

1. Boot light - 1KD 947 101A - 1 no.



The light ships with a 43 mm festoon bulb. I replaced it with an equivalent festoon LED.

2. Terminal - 000 979 131 - 2 nos.



3. Connector - 3B0 972 702 - 1 no.



4. Wire - 1.25 sq. mm, Qty - 6 m

OR

Just get the harness from Aliexpress (they sell 4 for 10 USD or so) - cheaper than the individual components and saves time from crimping.

5. Heat shrink sleeve - 2 mm, Qty - 2 m.

6. Flexible metal cable - 3 m, Qty - 1 no. Available at hardware stores, this flexible cable is used to pull the harness and route it through the headliner and plastic trims.

Tools Required:

1. Dremel/rotary tool with the plastic cut-off wheel.

2. T20 Allen key/hex bit or equivalent Torx. bit.

3. Heat gun.

4. Soldering iron.

5. Utlity knife like the Stanley 10-175 (image).

6. Solder.

7. Flux.

8. Crimping tool (if the components are purchased separately).

9. Safety goggles (must-have during the cutting operation!).

Wiring schematic:



The lamp is connected to the door-open signal of the cabin light so it turns on the light when any of the door is open. If the car is locked and the boot-open button on the keyfob is pressed, it turns on the light as well.

Procedure:

1. We need to prepare the harness before heading to the car.

a. If the components (terminals, connector and wire) were sourced separately, crimp the terminal with the wire (each wire cut into 2 pieces of 3 m length) and insert them into the 2 slots of the connector.

b. If the ready-made harness was purchased from Aliexpress, simply extend the 2 ends by soldering the wires and heat-shrink the soldered joints.

To keep the 2 independent long cables together, use pieces of heatshrink tubing at definite pitches.

2. Head to the car with the necessary tools, boot light and the harness. Pry open the cabin light's diffuser lens and undo the 2 T20 Torx screws. Pull the cabin light down. Refer this link for details.

I had swapped the stock cabin light with the one having 2 reading lights, a central festoon light and the mic slot. I had also soldered 3 cables to the copper traces on the lamp to tap 12V for the footwell lights (door open signal) and auto-dimming mirror (permanent 12V signal).

3. Tie the harness with the flexible metal cable to route it. For the 2 free ends of the harness, simply wrap it with the cable and make a knot. Tie the connector end as shown below:



4. Open the driver side door and pull the rubber beading at the top.


(Image shown above is of the rear right door)

The beading exposes a small gap between the headliner and the ceiling. Push the knot-end of the harness through this gap and pull it through the cabin light slot. The connections can be done later.

5. Open the door behind the driver-side and pull out the beading at the top. Push the connector-end of the harness from the driver-side to the passenger-side and pull it out.



6. Open the boot and pull out the headliner trim. It comes off with bare hands - no prying tools needed.



Push the connector-end from the passenger-side door beading gap, towards the rear-trim gap and pull it out.

7. Using a 1:1 template of the required cutout (dimensions - 72 mm x 20 mm) on a printed paper, paste the cut template on the C-pillar bottom trim:



Note that there is a 2 mm offset on the cutout which is where we intend to use the cut-off wheel to permit some clearance for the final touches.

8. Pull out the boot lining below the trim before beginning the cutting process.



Use the Dremel/rotary tool with the plastic cut-off wheel to make the cutout. I used the 35000 rpm mode on the Dremel and it cut through the plastic like a hot knife through butter, but it was throwing the plastic bits all over the place so please wear safety goggles while attempting this. The utility knife can be used but is a time consuming process - I'd recommend the knife to finish/smoothen the cut edges.



Insert the lamp and check if the cutout is adequate. A tight fit is perfect but a larger cutout and the lamp will not sit perfectly and will begin moving around! Exercise caution while cutting and do it S-L-O-W-L-Y, one step at a time.

9. Pry open the C-pillar trim using the hand at the top - there's no need to pull it out completely!



Push the connector-end of the harness to the gap between the body and the C-pillar, and route it towards the trim where the cutout was made.

10. Plug the connector to the lamp and insert it into the slot.



11. Connect the 2 bare ends to the luster terminal where the door-open signals trigger the cabin lamp.



Check if the boot lamp lights up. If it's a bulb, polarities do not matter. Else you may have to reverse the festoon LED at the lamp OR reverse the terminals of the harness.

12. Replace the C-pillar trim, the boot trim at the top and the rubber beadings of the doors. None of these need any tools whatsoever. Just give the trims a solid knock once they are in place to ensure the V-clips lock in their respective slots. Screw the cabin light back in place and replace the diffuser lens. Test the light by locking the car and unlocking the door and the boot using the keyfob.

Results:



Thank you for reading!

Wonderful solution to a very conspicuous omission by VW in India, superb execution to OEM standards! Hope VW reads this thread and are prompted into action

Yet another gem of a DIY Ganesh, Splendid! clap:
The lengths you go to document all the parts and listing required tools, yet another 5-star thread. I always wanted the boot lamp for my Polo GT as well, I tried couple of Chinese LED stick ons, it didn't work out well, they get switched on by itself and drain the Duracells quickly.
I am thinking of using my original interior light, which is lying idle after I bought the one with map reading lamps, as a boot lamp. I haven't thought this through, but my idea is to mount it under the parcel tray and hook it up to the actual cabin lamp. While mounting it shouldn't be a problem, it's the cable works that's the problem, can't do discrete for this setup. And I would also like to remove my parcel shelf quickly as I carry my bike in the car at times.
Any suggestions on how to go about this? Or should I copy your DIY? stupid:
Thanks,
D.

Very detailed and cleanly executed.

On my Palio, I had done a not so clean DIY by pulling a line parallel from the cabin light along with the speaker wires which were already installed during ICE time. Only negative was, one of the doors needed to be open for the boot to light up.

Brilliant DIY write up with clear instructions..clap:

It is sad that brands like VW don't provide some basic thing like these in Indian market.

We had problems with our Polo TDi
- lack of under- body protection which 'eventually' led to oil starvation and engine seizure
- loose exterior trim, keeps falling..
- Equipment level is poor compared to rest of the vehicles in the same segment.

Looking forward for more DIY write ups..

A brilliant DIY Ganesh, like always. I bet even doctors don't operate on patients with such dedication like you work on your Polo.lol:
From where did you buy the 43mm festoon LED? Can you please share the link. I am planning to replace yellow bulbs with LEDs in cabin, boot and foot-well lights.

WoW, Gannu_1 you are the guru of DIY installs here. Please mention the aliexpress link for buying harness.
I came across vagtune.in website they are offering electric foldable mirrors for Rs. 35990.
Is it worth the amount?

Gannu Bhai,

I want to connect the trunk light to the bcm. Just wanted to know that the power wire will come from T73a/65 pin.

For Ground wire can we use any nut or metal contact point?

Where is connection 98 rear lid located.

@Gannu_1; excellent implementation.

That's the same as the cabin light's 'always on' positive signal coming from T73a/65. I have tapped it from there instead of the BCM.

Yes. Prefer a nut but crimp the cable end using an appropriate ground/earth crimp terminal and use the nut or bolt to secure it.

Inside the boot lid's trim. Instead, remove the boot's interior cladding on the left side and you'll notice a nut there. Use that as the GND connection.

Volkswagen should sponsor you for all your awesome DIY stuff! Its truly amazing to see mods for nearly every aspect of a Polo posted by you!

Thanks. Did a similar install on my Baleno Sigma 2020. The post is here - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post4741622











Cheers...

Thanks for such amazing write-ups which makes these DIYs seem so easy.

Ordered the boot light recently during the AliExpress 11.11 day sale. Adding the link below:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3281...27424c4dwiT4kw

Seller: NEWM Autolight Store
Amount Paid: Rs 450

The shipment arrived in 20 days. It already had LEDs.




Followed this write up word-to-word and it turned out to be a perfect job.






The final result:

Hi Gannu_1,
Thanks for the great guide. But if one wanted to turn the light on only when the boot is open, would it be a good idea to run an LED strip in parallel to the boot status switch? I'm concerned about driving the LED strip off a connection that's meant for a sensor. Would it be a better idea to get a fuse tap from the fuse box, run a wire to the boot and use it to power the LED strip, with the boot status switch used only as a switch and not a power source?