Door step light install

ZMAN24250 · November 25, 2022

I had a look around and could not find a clear cut tutorial on how to install step lights to our second gen legacys as most just attach them to the cabin dome light. This this did not satisfy me. I had a look and figured out how to wire these up to function correctly. The final result will function as factory intended with the step light only illuminating when that individual door is open; no other time. It is also wired into the correct circuit per factory intention so all factory fuses will be applicable.

Disclaimer: This is what worked on my LHD 1999 Legacy L wagon (30^th anniversary). Your individual mileage may vary. I also got OCD about how to wire my lights up so you will see I went a bit overkill; you can wire yours up per your own standards. Finally, the wire diagram shows a diode for the drivers side step light. I cannot figure out for the life of my why it is there. I did not install a diode and it seems to be functioning just fine. If you are concerned for your own install, you can install a diode in line with your power wire before you splice it into the main car harness.

To add in the lights to the door cards is easy enough. There should be existing bosses in the correct location for the screws of the light. It is then simply just cutting out the door the size of the light. You should see an imprint of where the light should be, just cut to this shape. I used a box knife and it came out fine.

Now lets look at the wire diagram.

On page 92 of this particular wire diagram I have:

Now the step lights can be seen in the red and blue boxes. Connector B30 and B101 are the connector for the door wire harness. The important connectors to locate are the B98 and B99 connectors (orange box) for the passenger side and the i2 and i3 connectors (green box) for the drivers side. These will locate the wires for each side.

These connectors can be found in the following areas as seen from page 152 of the same wiring document:

Drivers side:

As you can see, the i2 and i3 (white and brown connector) are under the dash above the fuse panel.

For the drivers side, the i2 connector is the white one and you need wire 6 on the connector which should be a blue wire with red stripe. This is your power wire.

Next on connector i3 (brown connector) you need wire 4 which should be a blue wire with orange stripe. This will be your ground wire.

For the passenger side,

You need to locate the B98 and B99 (Black and white connector) are in the passenger kick panel.

On connector B99 (White connector) you need wire 7 which should be a blue wire with red stripe. This again will be your power wire.

Next on connector B98 (black connector) you need wire 8 which should be a blue wire with white stripe. This will be your ground wire.

With wires located, you can now splice into these and run them into your door per your own standards. For me, I actually removed the wire harness from the door and added the circuit to the harness. It actually wasn't too much effort to remove the whole sub harness from the door so this is what I did. I got some pins off of old connectors and added them to the B30 and B101 connector as well as using the appropriate colored wires. The pins I got wernt quite right but they did work. If I were doing this again, I would recommend getting some pins out of this same connector from the boneyard. Pictures of my install below.