Car: 2001 Jetta Wolfsburg Edition (1.8T)

Lights: Hella Bora E-codes with fogs
Installation time: 2-3 hours
Tools needed: Set of Torx wrenches / sockets, screwdriver, cutting pliers, set of metric sockets, electrical tape, small sharp object (you’ll see!)

Other parts needed: Euro or south American lightswitch (if you didn’t have fogs previously) and wiring kit.

Installation
These e-codes were purchased from Potterman ( http://www.parts4vws.com ). A european lightswitch (“euroswitch”) was also purchased, as well as a wiring kit. The wiring kit from Potterman includes all wires, cut to lenth with appropriate vw connectors already installed, and includes a Hella relay already wired up. Each wire is also expertly labeled, and makes the install go MUCH quicker. Here’s an early morning shot of the new gear.

We began by removing the lower grill inserts (which are just snapped in) and laying out all of the parts and tools needed.

There are 4 torx screws in each fenderliner that needed to be removed. It helps if you turn the steering wheel one direction, and then the other when taking these out.

The top headlight screws were removed, and the headlight plug removed from the back of each housing.

The grill is held in by 2 screws near the center, and three clips. The clips are near each end, and in the middle. After the screws in the center are removed, we simply tugged at the grill to remove it. The hood release handle (the one that pops out) has to be removed from it’s linkage prior to removing the grill.

Once the grill is out, 5 more torx’s are revealed. There are three under the lower section of where the grill was, and one near the upper outside edges of the grill was. You can see 4 of the 5 in this picture.

NOTE:There were a number of torx’s under the car, near the front lower edge of the bumper. I didn’t count them, but they have to come out as well.

Once you’ve removed the 5 upper torx bolts, the lower ones (under the car), the 8 torx’s in the fenderliners, and the grill, the bumper is ready to be removed.

Here’s a shot of my father showing the difference between the old and new assemblies. My old ones didn’t have fogs, or a city light, and the reflector pattern is vastly different.

The new units were mounted. There are 4 points where they’re bolted in, 2 on top, and 2 on the bottom. The bottom ones would be hard to get to with the bumper on, hence the removal.

Now for the wiring. The wiring kit from Potterman was really helpful, as all wires were cut, had the correct connectors, and were all clearly labeled. One wire would go to each headlight, one to battery positive, one to battery negative, and one to the Euroswitch.

Before you can remove any wires from the headlight plugs, you have to slide a purple locking assembly out of the way, essentially unlocking all of the seperate wires in the plug.

We then used the small sharp object to remove the appropriate green plugs from the specified unused holes in the headlight plugs.

The wiring kit from Potterman had all of the correct wire ends and rubber grommets already on them. If you’re doing this with other wires, some people have drilled a small hole in these green grommets, and slid the wire in through that section.

To remove the stock light switch, put the switch in the ‘off’ position, and then press in on the knob. When it clicks, turn the unit clockwise 1/8th of a turn, and it simply pulls out. To remove the lower dash panels, there are 2 or 3 torx screws, and a big more pulling.

Our euroswitch instructions said to remove relay 173 from under the dash, which required digging a little deeper. Here’s a shot of where the relays are located (under the purple OBD2 connector)

The relay in question, and a bit of our directions. I wasn’t sure how we’d locate the right relay. It wasn’t hard…

The only wire left had fairly explicit directions.

After removing the wipers and the black blastic tray at the base of the windshield, the main wiring harness is visable. My father put a small slice in it the rubber boot, and threaded a car antenna through the firewall. On the other side, we taped a piece of speaker wire to the end of the antenna, and then pulled it back through. We then taped the wire from the relay (the one that had been labeled) to the speaker wire, and pulled it back through the firewall.

The label said it went to spot 8 on the euroswitch plug. Notice that the wire has the correct end and rubber grommet on it. Go Potterman!

The euroswitch install is basically like the regular switch removal. Prior to install, I put it to the ‘off’ position, and then pressed the knob inward, and turned it clockwise. This retracts the tabs that hold it in place. Here’s my switch installed.

The only thing left to do is clean up the wiring, and mount the relay. My father fabricated a quick relay mount, that used one of the existing bolts. We used a pop-rivet to hold the relay to the bracket. You can also see the gray wire going to the euroswitch; we followed the hood release cable to get to the back of the hood so it could go through the firewall.

The rest of the install was just re-assembly. The bumper and grill go back on just like they were removed. Here’s a shot of the finished product.