S14 Zenki Euro-glass headlamp leveling circuit wiring

ONLY for ADVANCED technical discussion about the 240sx!
User avatar
NukeKS14
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:50 pm
Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
AC Cobra Mk IV Rep.
2020 Civic Si

Post

After lots of searching, dead-end upon dead-end I finally managed to acquire all of the parts I needed to wire up the EDM leveling switch to my euro headlights. I realize this is going to be a super-niche DIY because they were rare to begin with and even fewer are changing hands these days. Some dude cranks out the harness for $250 but, I do electronics and instrumentation work to pay the bills in between project cars so, I'd rather just do it myself and learn something in the process. Also I've been itching to solder something.

Here are the wiring pinouts that I used, from the S14 SR20DET manual in our very own Service Manual Library

Image
Image
Image

Sweet! That's the easy part, now I just needed the connectors and the switch. These things are pretty damn hard to come by and people seem to want big money for the switch if you can even find it as a Nissan part. A little digging and I found out that Subaru bought some of their switches FROM NISSAN around the same time and this is WAY more popular and readily available in that camp. Goofy looking 'Subaru' logo there :naughty:

Image
Image

You're going to want to search for a 2002-2005 Impreza headlight leveling switch. It'll have an 8-pin connector (2 are actually fake nibs but I'll show a picture below.) They come up on ebay for a reasonable price all of the time.

The connectors are a lot easier. Here's a link where you can get them.

Image
These are the male connectors for the headlight assemblies so you'll need 2 of them. Make sure you get the option that works for you. The default is just the shell so you'll need a pigtail (connector with wires and pins already installed so you just have to solder to the wires) or the whole connector kit with pins if you want to do it right and have a nice clean looking harness.

Image
And the connector for the switch You'll just need 1 of these.


Now that you've got connectors and your pinouts, you're good to go! In case you don't regularly read wiring diagrams I'll do a simple pinout of how to wire it all up:
Image

What I did was source the 12V on the headlamp harnesses from the fuse box in the engine bay. I just used a simple add-a-fuse. This is going to draw the most current of the two 12V supplies in powering the actual motors in the headlamps. I think 18 gauge wire should be plenty.

The OTHER 12V from lighting is the arming voltage. I drew that off of a common wire I tapped off of in the cabin, in my radio harness. This one you only want to come on when your headlights are on and it's going to be supplying the power to the 'location' part of the leveling circuit that tells the motor to go up or down until it reaches the commanded position. This one won't be carrying much current at all.

The last part is the ground. I went ahead and supplied a common ground wire between the switch and each of the headlamps, then terminated it at the passenger headlamp on a standard ring lug terminal. This way I only have 5 wires that are running from the cabin to the headlamps (ground, and the 4 wires associated with positions 0,1,2 and 3.) Less to fish through the firewall that way.

Happy wiring!


User avatar
float_6969
Moderator
Posts: 19857
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 pm
Car: CA18DET swapped 1995 Nissan 240sx (too many mods to list)
2015 SV Leaf w/QC & Bose (daily)
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Contact:

Post

Thanks Aaron! (This post is a sub ;) )

User avatar
NukeKS14
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:50 pm
Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
AC Cobra Mk IV Rep.
2020 Civic Si

Post

Thanks!! I'll follow up with some pics and video when I finalize the harness and get the switch mounted hopefully this weekend.

User avatar
NukeKS14
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:50 pm
Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
AC Cobra Mk IV Rep.
2020 Civic Si

Post

I finalized the installation earlier tonight and took a video. You can see that the circuit isn't powered on until the headlights are, then the switch illuminates in the position that it's currently in and moves the headlamps.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mSKLqr84fvQ


Return to “240SX Technical Forum”