Passat W8 interior light into VW T5 without modding cubby hole.

I’ve been running led down lighters in my corrado and love the effect, so I made the choice to fit the passat W8 interior light into my T5.

What you need:

  • VW Passat W8 interior light – VW or Ebay your choice
  • Wiring plug – 893-971-993
  • 2x Repair wires – 000-979-103
  • 1 way superseal connector, male and female
  • Soldering Iron and solder
  • Heat-shrink

 

How to do it:

Power everything off and disconnect the battery,  remove the light lens off the old light and remove the 2 cross head screws, there are 2 plastic tags one each side that need to be flicked in and remove the old light unit.

In the hole the light has just come from there might be a little adaptor plate that needs to be removed.

Test fit the new light and you might find it hits against the cubby hole,  a lot of guides show you chopping the corner out of the cubby hole.

I went for a different approach, With a sharp blade trim all the plastic off where the wiring plug should go (you should have the original terminals sticking out) now carefully bend the terminals up over 90 degs.

Now we solder the repair wires directly to the terminals off the interior light,  cut the repair wires in half and solder 3 off them to terminals 3-4-5, once complete solder a length of wire to terminal 1 (I soldered a short length of wire the this pin and used the 1 way superseal connector so the light can be removed if needed) Heat-shrink all the terminals on the passat light.

Once all soldered onto the Passat light you then you need to put the pins in the correct position on the adaptor plug,

  • Passat W8 light   –
  • Pin 1                        –   Connect to pin 17 on the back of the light switch
  • Pin 3                        –  Pin 1 on adaptor plug
  • Pin 4                        –  Pin 3 on adaptor plug
  • Pin 5                        –  Pin 2 on adaptor plug

Once finished it should look something like this:

Now you fit the light by hooking the back edge in and pressing the front edge up into place.  Connect the wire to the light switch up, re-connect the battery and enjoy all your hard work 🙂

 

  1. Andre Leal Reply

    hi. i’m owner of vw polo 6n2 (september 2000) and i want to know if is possible change the interior light by the Passat W8 dome light (as you did with the vw t5) but without modding the cubby hole or anyone adaptation??

    • Toby Gardner Reply

      As long as the shape looks the same it should work, I dont have a Polo to be able to test it. 🙂

  2. felix Reply

    Hi cool tip …. I wonder could I get the light in black plastic as apposed to gray ?

    • Toby Gardner Reply

      The VW part number is xxx-xxx-xxx with 3 digit colour code that follows.

      For example 3B0-947-105C Y20
      Y20 = Pearl Grey

      Have a look but ‘m not sure they make them in anything else other than Pearl Gray or (7G8) – pure beige

      • Andrea Perinelli Reply

        Qual’è il pin 17?

  3. ThomasC Reply

    The minor detail that seems to be missing here is what to do with the wire on terminal 1?

    Where does this go?

    • Toby Gardner Reply

      If you read a bit further down it states what pin to connect to on the back off the light switch.

  4. Alan MacFarlane Reply

    Hi, good write up. Have fitted the light to my T4 caravelle. The light I removed stayed on for about 10 seconds after closing the drivers door. The passat light goes out as soon as the door closes – any idea if it can be set up to delay switching off?

    • Toby Gardner Reply

      I’m sure on the T4 the delay was built into the light itself, where as the passat/T5/golf 4 all have a central convenience module that controls the delay.
      You could try fitting a battery or cap to hold some power to give a delay and fade but not sure what size you would need.

  5. Ivan Reply

    Hey, whats the best way to remove w8 light? I put it, but metal frame went in. Now i want remove light, fix frame and put it back. But i dont know how to remove it,i afraid that i dont broke something. From buttoms side or side whe are metal clips? I did not trim plastic like you did.
    Thank you 😀

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