Importing both my 500s to Spain and need to change over the headlights and rear light clusters for european versions.....
They are both 63 plate cars with motorised dipped beams on the headlights and the rear clusters and wiring need to be altered as the reverse light and fog lights are on the wrong side.

First off, has anyone done this or the reverse before?

Will the new headlights be self adjusting - or do I need to get them adjusted once fitted?

Is there an easy way of sorting out the reversal (swapping over) of the fog light and the reverse light? ie a part of the wiring loom in the boot just to swap out and change for the european version etc?

I popped in to see the local concession dealer (Jeep/Alfa/Fiat/Hyundia/Mazda) here in Gandia and they a)don't hold any parts - WTF! .. I mean no routine parts at all b)felt the need to refer the question of changing the lights over to european version, to Fiat in Italy

I am capable of doing the work myself, although I am more used to working on 40-50year classic cars... re the question on the headlight set up... my last classic Rover P6, you could have just adjusted the headlight screws to get the dipped beam to move to the right etc.

Clearly I have more parts in my workshop than the local (within 30kms) dealer LOL

I've seen a couple of threads in here somewhere recently on this subject, so have a search.

Wiring will probably involve extending the wires across the car. Time consuming.
Headlamps will need to be adjusted once fitted. Any garage can do, or aim at a wall yourself.

Running a RHD car in Spain may be a little inconvenient after a while, and they'll be worth nothing when you sell them, now or later. Have you considered just leaving them in the UK and buying local cars in Spain?

portland_bill said:

Running a RHD car in Spain may be a little inconvenient after a while, and they'll be worth nothing when you sell them, now or later. Have you considered just leaving them in the UK and buying local cars in Spain?

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These cars are not big enough to be an issue with whether RHD or LHD.

The car market here in Spain is very very different to the UK. My £18500 three year old TwinAir Duologic is worth £5600 as far as we buy any car is concerned.
There are very few second hand TwinAirs for sale nationally here (40 out of 1300 fiat 500) and even a nicely specced 1.2 sport is still worth €11000 at three years old... So the maths doesn't work. £5500ish each for both the TwinAir and the Sport convertible to then spend €11000-13000 each on the near alternatives at similar age/mileage/condition.

Unlike the UK which has a massive lease market and a huge second hand car market, the Spanish generally buy a car and keep it a long time

Having used both cars here for months, you realise that you see ticket booths all the time in the UK.... Here you don't pay for parking when you go shopping generally

We sold our BMW X3, as this really didn't make sense as a RHD, but the Fiats are completely different.
Also from an insurance right off point of view, they are worth more here than the UK... not less

Done several searches I have not found anything much relevant on changing standard headlights units on a 500, I know the bumper needs to be removed... what else should i know.

If I am buying online, what do I need to be aware off? Are there only three different types of headlight - pre 2015, post 2015 and Xenon types?
Thanks in advance

From my late version of ePER it does appear that there were no changes to the lights, so the choice is as you say, pre-'15, or post-'15, or xenon.

Are there such things as breakers in Spain?

Any European Ebay site try?

I was mainly after some technical pointers... was there anything I should be aware off.
Also I would prefer new. I can buy new ones on ebay.es, but strangely there are more suppliers on here in the UK (with the RHD headlights that I don't want), than Spanish companies. The rest of the stock comes from either Germany or Italy... and really I just want standard new Fiat or new equivalent lights.
Ideally I need to find a parts supplier in the Valencia (or at a push Alicante) region that I can buy parts from as and when I need.

Right so here is my feedback on this, just incase anyone is doing anything similar. Spoke to two Fiat main dealers in Valencia and AUTOMOVILES DUMAR which seems to be a family run business couldn't have been more helpful. Even through my Spanish is a little limited at the moment and their English also, they bent over backwards to source me headlights and rearlights for both cars from Fiat Madrid. Paid a 25% deposit the parts arrived 2 days later. Second dealer wasn't helpful. So this not only provided me with the parts, but I know where to take the cars if they need major work etc.
The replacement Mopar lights from Fiat, come complete with everything, including bulbs fitted.
The front headlights are simple and there is no adjustment necessary as they are pre set up. They can be adjusted vertically if you wish, but the only reason for this that I can see is poor front end alignment.
Remove all of the bumper screws and pop the front bumper, one side at a time and there is need to remove the whole thing.
The headlight motors activate on first use and move to the dashboard settings.

The rear lights were a little more tricky, as the European lights swap over the reverse and fog lights. So the live feeds for the fog and reserve lights need to be swapped. The easiest way to do this is remove the boot carpet and side liners. Pop the bulb holder and the correct pin on the plug and wire should be obvious enough. Locate the wire in the loom on the otherside of the rubber grommet, cut and then you need feed new cable across. Speaker wire is ideal as you need to swap the two live feeds across the car.

Red convertible received it's Spanish ITV (MOT) yesterday

I'm a bit late to this party, but i reckon you didn't need to change the wiring. You just needed to tell the lights they were LHD.

D

rallycinq said:

I'm a bit late to this party, but i reckon you didn't need to change the wiring. You just needed to tell the lights they were LHD.

D

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LOL bit late now! via the MultiECUscan?
I have the TwinAir to do later in the week!

Looks like MES has the option under body computer adjustments
Not surprising with hindsight, they would not want a different loom for RHD cars.

Robert G8RPI.

g8rpi said:

Looks like MES has the option under body computer adjustments
Not surprising with hindsight, they would not want a different loom for RHD cars.

Robert G8RPI.

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That was my guess. OP, just tell the car its LHD.

D

rallycinq said:

That was my guess. OP, just tell the car its LHD.

D

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Spoke to the dealer today when collecting my second set of lights, they didn't know what I was talking about.
I await my OBD 2 adapters I ordered last week and I will have a look.

You can look without connecting to car. Run MES, select your car model and the body computer and click on "simulate" instead of connect.


Robert G8RPI.

Right so under CAN set up it indeed hints that you can "change the drivers side" or the "configuration of the rear fog lights".
Changing the drivers side seems to me that it must have way more unintended consequences than differently configured rear light clusters!
Changing the configuration of the rear fog lights is more interesting, but there is no mention of a configuration change for the reverse lights?
Do I need the code card to try this?

Hi,
I think changing the fog light will automatically change the reverse light as they are the same circuit on opposite hands. I think you are correct that changing the general RHD setting to LHD could give issues. You should not need the CODE card for this change (try it in simulation). These changes are reversable so as long as you remember (or better, note) what you changed from, you cnn change it back.

Robert G8RPI.