Adding Lighted sills / Scuff plates

[Tom Champagne]

I see the 17 Sport has lighted door sills in the front,was wondering if they can be fitted to a Limited or any other trim level Explorer?

 

[FlyTyinFool]

'17 Platinum has them too.

Nice touch.


MWS

 

[supr squirrel]

I see the 17 Sport has lighted door sills in the front,was wondering if they can be fitted to a Limited or any other trim level Explorer?

Typically the wiring harnesses used in vehicles are from the upper end models so they don't have to 'add' things to a harness for said upper end models. I'm guessing the connections needed are already there and you'd just need to add the illuminated sill. Out of curiosity since reading your post I've been doing a bit of searching and if I find a more definitive answer I'll post and let you know.

 

[peterk9]

There was some discussion on the illuminated scuff plates 3 years ago but no much became of it. No mention of whether or not the wiring was there for those without them.

Peter

 

[Tom Champagne]

I figured as much. Searching the web finds nothing for the Explorer but every other Ford product....go figure

 

[rmcalis]

I installed lighted sills on a Jeep Grand Cherokee (from a higher optioned one). It was a factory kit and the instructions said to tap into the floor lights or other light that comes on when the door is opened. Worked fine.

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

I, too, was considering trying to add the illuminated door scuff plates, but I just looked inside my wiring trough, underneath where the existing non-illuminated scuff plate is, and I see NO connectors tucked in there, which was surprising. However, in thinking about it, my XLT did not come with any "ambient lighting", so perhaps the wiring harness for the more basic Explorer deletes those connectors needed for the illuminated scuff plates? While that seems strange of Ford, to want to manufacture and stock at least two different wiring harnesses like that (to delete any extra connectors), who knows what lack-of-hindsight actions their designers might have taken? Seems to me that a single, "universal" harness for all that model year would make life easier on them overall.

BTW, Ford DOES make an add-on multi-color ambient lighting kit, in which you mount a couple of LED modules underneath each side of the footwells, as well as additional LED's for the console, cupholders, and forward storage pocket areas. Because I didn't like having nothing but darkness in the floor areas when driving at night, I ordered and installed one of these kits, putting the on-off & color-selection switch inside my console's storage compartment. It works well, and provides the light needed to visually enhance the floorboard areas for night driving.

I do not believe, however, that there is any way to retrofit and connect a pair of the optional illuminated scuff plates into this optional kit. Too bad!

 

[MM07]

Sounds like a good idea...

 

[Joe Stewart]

You can purchase oem ambient lighting kit for 200+, i have considered it, but not yet.

 

[peterk9]

Keep in mind that the add-on kit does not light all the areas the OEM does.

Peter

 

[Joe Stewart]

Correct Peter, and you have to drill holes in cup holder for that light. The other lights go under dash on drivers side and passenger side. No sill light or door handle light. That was factor in deciding against spending 200,00.

 

[MM07]

I have ambient lights, just not the door sill light threshold.

 

[Michael Blackburn]

I, too, was considering trying to add the illuminated door scuff plates, but I just looked inside my wiring trough, underneath where the existing non-illuminated scuff plate is, and I see NO connectors tucked in there, which was surprising.
SNIP

According to my wiring diagram the connector (C3369 Driver and C3370 Pax) is right at the very bottom front of the door opening behind the kick panel.

Fritz

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Hi Michael, thanks for your detailed information!

I just re-verified your information via my own OEM Ford Explorer Shop Manual as well; however, there must be a difference in the overall wiring harnesses used on the more basic models, versus the upper-level models (such as the Limited, Sport or the Platinum)... as I've torn apart both the kick panels and sill panels on my XLT, and, for the life of me, I cannot find those C3369 and C3370 connectors or pigtails anywhere.

Additionally, I also reviewed the sales brochure for the 2018 models, and it clearly shows both the "ambient lighting" and "illuminated scuff plate" options as NOT being available on either the base Explorer, or, the Explorer XLT version, but only on the the next 3 higher-level models... which leads me to again believe that they use different wiring harnesses between the first two levels and the following three models.

Too bad, as it seems to me that using a single version of the wiring harness could result in additional parts and installation sales, should a purchaser use their Ford dealer to obtain and install an upgraded feature here and there!

 

[Toddman41]

I'd like to add the led sill plates to my Limited. What do they run for the pair? Anyone else do this?

 

[Joe Stewart]

i found 1 drivers side used for 99.00 on ebay

 

[peterk9]

I'd like to add the led sill plates to my Limited. What do they run for the pair? Anyone else do this?

Search Results | Auto Nation Ford White Bear Lake

parts.autonationfordwhitebearlake.com

Peter

 

[Toddman41]

Soabout 265 yikes.

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

After reading the earlier posting by "rmcalis", where he was able to upgrade a Jeep with light-up sill plates, I started wondering if it would somehow be possible to connect a pair of Explorer lighted scuff plates to the same circuit that turns on the overhead map lights for a time, upon opening and closing the doors? Because my XLT never came with the ambient lighting option, only the overhead map light unit lights-up the car, upon door opening, and then it eventually times-out (using a fade-out method)... so, I wonder if there is a way to tie-in the two LED-equipped optional scuff plates to whatever circuit powers those overhead lights? Since the scuff plates are LED-equipped, I wouldn't think the addition of these units would create any concerns about overloading the circuit...

 

[xartic]

After reading the earlier posting by "rmcalis", where he was able to upgrade a Jeep with light-up sill plates, I started wondering if it would somehow be possible to connect a pair of Explorer lighted scuff plates to the same circuit that turns on the overhead map lights for a time, upon opening and closing the doors? Because my XLT never came with the ambient lighting option, only the overhead map light unit lights-up the car, upon door opening, and then it eventually times-out (using a fade-out method)... so, I wonder if there is a way to tie-in the two LED-equipped optional scuff plates to whatever circuit powers those overhead lights? Since the scuff plates are LED-equipped, I wouldn't think the addition of these units would create any concerns about overloading the circuit...

The only thing I can think of is that you would be able to but without controlling the color since it's probably wired with 4 wires instead of a (+) (-). I know on my 11 Mustang with the ambient lightning, the wires are RGB(-) for a total of 4 wires. It sends power to R for red LED to be lit for example. If you bought the lighted plates, I would imagine you could just change them to a (+) (-) only LED and hook it in the way.

I wired 2 strips of dual row white LEDs on my Mustang for rear lighting above where a passenger (haha who am I kidding) would sit in the back seat. Turning the front light on the driver side lights up the rear driver seat since I wired it in the headliner to the front map light and same for the passenger seat. I haven't had any issues with that since my power draw is still lower than the stock halogen bulb in the map lighting.