2012 Ford Focus Towing lights

[Solask]

Looking around the 2012 Focus I see no clean way to install additional lights into the exisiting housing and run wires under the car...
Are there any other 2012 Focus owners that have a towing light solution they like?

[Pusherman]

Diodes from Blue Ox. Uses the same bulbs as the OEM.

[Solask]

Has anyone installed additional bulb in the red tail light housing on their 2012 Focus? I dont want to mess with diode kit. It seems to me there is room to get the bulb in.

[bdickson]

Originally Posted by Rkh

Has anyone installed additional bulb in the red tail light housing on their 2012 Focus? I dont want to mess with diode kit. It seems to me there is room to get the bulb in.

Additional bulbs involve drilling the back of the light housings. If you remove all the tow gear when you sell the car, you'll have to replace the light clusters. Diodes are easier to install, and can be removed cleanly. Why ever wouldn't you want to use them?

[tncruiser]

i plan on magnetic tow light on my 2012 explorer, if you drilled hole in your lens there would be no need to replace the lens when you sell the car you just leave them installed as the sockets cost less than $10.00
brianj

[Solask]

Originally Posted by bdickson

Additional bulbs involve drilling the back of the light housings. If you remove all the tow gear when you sell the car, you'll have to replace the light clusters. Diodes are easier to install, and can be removed cleanly. Why ever wouldn't you want to use them?

Bdickson...I assume you have no experience with the 2012 Focus which is what I'm soliciting here. The tail light asm. comes out in less than 2 minutes and uses a single connector going to a bundle inside the car. Meaning, the many, many, splices would be done on the asm. once you have it out...It may be rare, but diodes fail. Happened to a friend of mine and caused some strange issues (cant remember details). My car has separate amber blinkers which requires additional adapter and diodes if I want to utilize blinker, running, and brake lights correctly. That's 6 diodes and a bunch of splicing. I know I can drill a hole in the housing much quicker in this application.
I also noticed that Blue Ox sells a red LED tail light kit for $90 off etrailer. Only requires a 9/16" hole.
HAS ANYONE USED THESE LED TYPE LIGHTS. ARE THEY BRIGHT ENOUGH?

[Doghauler]

We have a 2012 Focus, went with regular bulb kit, works just fine. The only problem you may encounter is when you drill the hole in the lens housing a lot of it may end up inside! The only way that worked to remove all the filings was to rinse the housing with water and let it dry before reassembly. Air, vacuum did not do it, nor did altering the speed the hole was drilled at. There seemed to be a lot of static build up that drew the stuff well into the lens, even drilling from the underside to keep material from falling in did little to help.





The end result however looks just fine!

[Solask]

Doghauler, thanks for the post! Did you install the lamp in the lower section (running light) or the upper section (brake light)?

How did you route the cable to the front? I have no easy way of getting under the car unless I want to buy some jack stands..I figured I would just run it inside up to the front door, out the front door and under the hood from the front..

[Doghauler]

The bulb is in the lower portion of the lens to the far right of the factory bulb, you can see it as the dark spot to the right in the photo. As for running the wiring it is under the car coming up below the left taillight then under the trim to the right. It would be difficult to run the wire without a lift as even with 4 jack stands at each corner it would still be too low to see what you need to do much less do it. There are a lot of plastic panels to run the flat four wire harness under but a hoist would be preferred for safety if for nothing else. You will also need to get a battery disconnect, or have to remove the neg battery lead before towing to save the electronic controlled transmission.

[Solask]

Thanks doghauler. I've got a battery disconnect installed already and have towed the car with magnetic lights several times now. If I dont get the cable cleanly routed it almost negates the advantage of installing the lamps. I'll have to noodle on this more...I don't like the magnetic lights...Maybe there is a shop that rents lift space near me.

[Doghauler]

A long shot, but perhaps your Ford dealer would run the wire for you, they should only need a hour at most? Better than crawling under jack stands and if the strip one of the plastic retainers they have to fix it! Good luck!!

[mrt_1111]

I own a 2012 ford focus hatch back. I just finished putting in the regular bulb kit. I routed the wire along the passenger side under the molding and along the door frame (the rubber door seal pull off). It was easy to do. The hardest part is getting through the fire wall. There is a large rubber grommet. I used a coat hanger and pushed it along the side of the grommet, attached it to a single wire and pulled it back through. I had to do one wire a time.

Mark

[Muddypaws]

I was able to wire up two different cars (both hondas) by running the wire into the passenger compartment, then under the carpet near the kick panels to the rear, and through existing holes to the light sockets.

You probably have a couple of grommets in the firewall that aren't too crowded to get an additional 4 wires through. You might even find find one or more that are unused. I've worked on several Fords and have never had a problem finding a way in.

[Dutch Star David]

Originally Posted by Pusherman

Diodes from Blue Ox. Uses the same bulbs as the OEM.

Camping World used Roadmaster diode kit on my 2012 Explorer (LED tail lights). Maybe they wired it incorrectly but it eventually "killed" my BCM and the car wouldn't start at all. Cost CW about $1600 to restore the car to factory. Now we are trying to figure out what to do next.