aceman

I just picked up OEM running boards from a 2015 GL (mine is a 2014) and it has the LED lights w/ a power connector.

Anyone know if there is a connection somewhere under the truck where i can connect these to? I looked, didn't see anything. I have a 2014 GL350 w/o the boards...since these can be dealer installed - i thought the harness must be somewhere...

Figured i'd ask incase someone knows/has done it.

thx in advance

Aceman

Minerva66

Oddly enough I was just coming here to ask the same question. I'm looking to buy and install running boards on my 2013 GL-450. Sellers of non-OEM running boards on Ebay all say the LEDs require wire splicing. What's not clear to me is whether the OEM running boards require wire splicing or if they're plug and play.

I want to install myself to save on labor costs and the non-LED install seems very easy and straightforward but the LEDs may require some work beyond my abilities, so I'm trying to decide if I buy LED or non-LED running boards.

These are the best instructions I could find with pictures, it may help with your question: http://idfr.com/lanotattachments/dow...d/577/store/1/

As an aside, where did you end up buying your running boards? I saw you posted previously about looking to buy some. Also, if you're able to determine the answer on the LED install given the above instructions and the OEM running boards you already have, please respond back.

aceman

Minerva -

Thanks for the post. I ended up getting my boards from a salvage yard. They have a little wear, but for the price i got them i can't complain!

With regards to the wiring - its definately a retrofit based on what i'm seeing. What i need to look into is when you press unlock at light, do the interior foot well lights (and thereby the running board LED's) come on. If they do - this is probably the way i'll wire mine up as well so thanks much for posting!

My truck is in the shop for service so you just potentially gave me a weekend project

Aceman

skw

See posts 3 & 5: https://mbworld.org/forums/new-m-cla...ml#post6554191

Minerva66

Thanks for the additional input. Reading your posts there and another poster's comments about one of the LEDs burning out is enough to convince me I should forego the lights. I figured if it was a few hundred dollars difference to buy the lighted version it was worth it, but considering the lights make it a non-DIY job for me plus I may have some non-warranteed issues with the LEDs in the future, I'll rough it and step on unlit running boards.

troymir350

That is my ML thread copied into your thread. Even though we are changing out to the AMG rocker panels, I will say the lights look really good lit up at night. Actually had a group of people gathered around our car in a restaurant parking lot when my wife hit the unlock button the other night. But, unless there are kids or small people, the running boards aren't the most user friendly.

aceman

Back from some travels and looking at where to splice my LED's in. Ideally - i'd like to splice into the puddle lights so they come on when you press unluck (vs. coming on only when door is open).

Just thinking at night, as you approach the car, would be nice to have the extra light around the entire car vs walking up and it lights up after door opening.

Anyway - does anyone have any wiring schematic showing where the puddle light wiring can be found (vs. taking door panel off) and/or where the fuse for them is if they have their own somewhere in the passenger cabin?

thx

Aceman

Minerva66

Aceman, what did you end up doing about connecting the lights? I installed my OEM running boards today and was hoping I'd easily locate a wiring harness in which to clip in the LED connector, but no such luck. I left the LEDs disconnected since I don't want to splice wires - that's beyond my comfort level. Was curious what you ended up doing with your LEDs.

aceman

Minerva,

I have them mounted, and like you haven't connected them yet. Splicing isn't an issue for me, i just haven't had time to get in the foot wells to find the correct wire to tap into.

I wish someone had access to some wiring diagrams - the puddle lights are the perfect light to splice into, i just don't want to be running into the door to do it.

Aceman

Minerva66

Thanks for the response. If you end up sorting it out please post back, I'd love to know what you end up doing. I looked around in the wires at the passenger foot well light hoping I'd find a wire harness but couldn't locate anything.

LAZARU5

I took delivery of a 2013 GL450 this month. I picked up the lighted running board kit today. I found this time lapse video which provides an overview of what is required to run the wiring harness to the SAM module in the passenger footwell. It's not a job that many DIYers will want to tackle.


I am hoping that someone will post a simpler alternative to activating the running board lights.

Count Laszlo

My goodness I would never want my rig torn apart like that. Wow.

LAZARU5

My 2013 GL450 has lighted door sills. Would it be feasible to attach the running board power and ground leads to the door sill lights? Not sure if these lights come on with the key fob or not. But I would be happy if the running board lights came on when the front doors were opened. I rarely unlock the doors with the key fob.

LAZARU5

The lighted door sills are attached with double stick foam tape. Fortunately, it is not necessary to remove the sills to access the connector. The lighted sills have a ribbon cable which attaches to the wiring harness under the plastic door sills.

I disconnected the ribbon cable and temporarily attached the cable from the running board. I did not connect both the sill and the running board at the same time yet. But the running board lights work fine when attached to the lighted door sill connector.

The lights do not come on when the key fob is used to unlock the car. They also do not come on when the rear side doors are opened. The running board lights on the passenger side will turn on when the front passenger door is opened. The running board lights on the driver side turn on when the front driver side door is opened. The lights will go out when the door is closed or if the door is left open for about 10 minutes.

This lighting behavior is not the same as the factory installed lighted running boards, but, considering the relative ease of attaching the running board cables to the wiring harness I think it is a good compromise.

I plan to disassemble the connector and solder a short length of cable with a small connector on it. The matching connector will be attached to the cable from the running board.

skw

So it would appear that you just need a switched power source, how difficult would it be to tap into wiring for the interior lights? There's DIY's for getting power near the rearview mirror for radar detectors. Perhaps wiring for the interior lights can be found there as well and tap from there down to the running boards.

LAZARU5

Yesterday was warm enough to get one running board installed. The installation is quite straightforward. However, since there are no instructions I did end up installing and removing the inner support section of the running board more than once since I did not understand how to route the LED light wiring harness.

It's necessary to remove the plastic panels on the front and rear door sills in order to remove the lower half of the panel on the B-pillar. The front seat needs to be in the most forward position in order to remove the B-pillar panel. There are two metal clips on either side of the panel which can be exposed after pulling back the rubber trim around the door opening. It's not necessary to remove the rubber trim in order to remove the panel. However, it may be necessary to remove the rubber trim to reinstall the panel. I am hoping that the B-pillar cover can be reinstalled without removing the front seat.

The wiring harness is supplied with an integrated grommet. It's necessary to remove the rubber cap located below the rear door which is a couple of inches behind the front edge of the rear door. I snaked a 3 foot length of insulated copper wire through this hole into the cabin. I routed the cable harness along the insulation stuffed in the B-pillar near the front seat belt retractor. I plan to connect the LED cable to the connector for the lighted door sills. But I may also look for a place to tap into an interior light. It don't think its worth the effort to completely take apart the interior in order to get the cable to the SAM module in the passenger footwell.

Mike450

Very nice to see some DIY here. Great job.

That vid above is similar to what needed to be done in order to install a factory hitch and sway control on a non-factory tow equipped truck. I installed a $200 hitch from U-haul instead. No way I was doing that or paying dealer $1800...lol

LAZARU5

I finished up the running board installation. The running board "kit" is not supplied with instructions so I decided to summarize the steps. My installation is not exactly to factory specs since I did not connect the LED light wires to the SAM module in the passenger front footwell.

The first two steps are only required if you intend to run the LED cable harness and hook up the running board lights.

1) Remove the plastic door sills for the front and rear doors. Use plastic trim removal tools to pry the sills from the clips. Wear gloves so you don't slice your fingers open with the sharp edges of the trim.

2) Position the front seat all the way forward and remove the lower plastic panel on the B-Pillar. There are four metal clips (two on each side) that can be revealed by pulling back the edge of the rubber trim around the door opening. There are also several plastic tabs held in place by the rubber trim. Once all of the clips and tabs are disengaged you will have to slide the plastic panel downwards to clear the upper B-Pillar cloth covered panel.

3) Remove the 3 plastic pushpin fasteners at the bottom edge of the front wheel well. Remove the 2 plastic pushpin fasteners at the bottom edge of the rear wheel well.

4) Remove all of the 6mm nuts from the bottom of the plastic rocker panel. This step requires a 10mm socket wrench. I found it helpful to use the air suspension feature to raise the vehicle to increase the ground clearance.

5) Fully open the front and rear doors. Pry the rocker panel away by disengaging the tabs along the top edge of the panel. Use plastic trim removal tools. Be careful to not gouge the top edge of the panel with the lower front corner of the rear door when you pry the panel away from the vehicle.

6) Remove the 6mm nuts holding the inner mounting bracket of the rocker panel in place. Use a 10mm socket.

7) Remove the front and rear jack points. You will need a long Torx 25 bit to reach the head of the screw holding the jack point in place. The screw is attached to a separate plastic piece that expands in the "frame rail" to hold the jack point in place. I was unable to remove the jack points and the plastic piece intact. I had to completely remove the screw and then fish out the plastic expansion piece from inside the frame rail. I was able to get this piece out on all four jack points. If you can't get these out, I don't think they will rattle around much and they are not required when reinstalling the jack points with the running boards.

8) If you decide to hook up the LED lights you need to remove the rubber plug on the bottom of the car that is just a couple of inches behind the front edge of the rear door. You can verify that you are removing the correct plug by holding the inner part (Basic Carrier) of the running board up against the car and removing the plug that aligns with the large notch on the inside edge of the carrier.

9) Use a suitable length of stiff wire to identify a path for routing the cable from the outside to the inside of the vehicle. See photos in previous post above. I used a three foot length of insulated 14 gauge copper wire.

10) Tape the wires from the LED harness to the snake wire and pull the cable through. Push the large grommet on the cable into place until it properly seats against the body.

11) Mount the inner part (Basic Carrier) to the body. There are eleven 6mm nuts along the top edge of the carrier and five "acorn" style nuts along the bottom edge of the carrier. I had to remove some plastic flashing from the bolt "slots" on the bottom of carrier. Don't tighten up the nuts until the jack points are installed.

12) Install the supplied rubber plugs into the holes where the jack points were originally mounted. These plugs cannot be installed after the jack points are in place.

13) The running board kit includes four spacers (called Mounting Consoles) to lower the jack points so that they hang below the bottom of the running boards. The front and rear mounting consoles are not the same. The smaller mounting consoles are for the rear. The mounting consoles interlock with the running board basic carrier and are held in place with two of the 6mm "acorn" nuts. There are two rubber seals on the top side of the mounting console. Use a utility knife to cut through the cross in the middle of the seal. Doing this allows you to easily push the mounting console over the bolts holding the jack points in place. It is easier to snap the jack points supplied with the running boards into the mounting console before installing the mounting console on the vehicle. It's not necessary to use the plastic expansion piece and screw to secure the jack point to the mounting console. In fact there is not enough space for the plastic expansion piece above the rear mounting console. I did install these on the front mounting consoles. They are not supplied with the running boards.

14) After the front and rear jack points are installed tighten up all of the 6mm nuts along the top and bottom edges of the basic carrier.

15) Before installing the outer step platform, check to make sure that all of the slots where the tabs snap into place are free of any flashing. I only encountered excessive flashing on one of the two basic carriers in the running board kit.

16) Remove the small plastic cover on the top edge of the outer step platform. This is located just below the front edge of the rear door. This piece needs to be removed while installing the cover so that the corner of the rear door does not damage the top edge of the outer step platform.

17) Remove the clip holding the LED connector cable in place on the outer cover. Doing this allows you to more easily connect the cable before snapping the cover into place.

18) Position the cover in place but don't engage any of the tabs. Check that the front and rear wheel well covers are on the outside of the running boards. Snap the cable connectors together and secure the cable to the running board cover with the two metal clips attached to the harness. There are two notches in the edge of the cover for these clips.

19) It's a good idea to test the lights before snapping the cover into place. I stripped the ends of the wires about 1/8" and shoved the bare wire ends into the door sill light connector along side the metal pins in the connector. It's easier to do this test after disconnecting the ribbon cable. There is a release tab on the bottom of the sill light connector that needs to be pressed in to remove the ribbon cable. Be careful not to short out the cable connector.

20) Carefully align the tabs on the top edge of the running board cover and snap the top edge of the cover in place. Do the same along the bottom edge. Make sure all of the bottom tabs are properly positioned before snapping any of them into place. They are fairly difficult to disengage. Reinstall the small plastic cover removed in step 16.

21) Press the pushpin fasteners in place in the front and rear wheel wells.

22) I decided to tap into the sill light connector to supply power to the running board LED lights. I did this by removing the pins from the connector and soldering short lengths (about 10") of wire to the pins. There is just barely enough room to reinstall the pins into the connector housing with the extra wires piggy backed onto the pins.

23) I installed a couple of RC model servo cable connectors at the other end of the 10" cable. This way in the event that the running boards are ever completely removed it won't be necessary to cut the cables. The small connectors I used are not suitable for a connection on the outside of the car, however, they should be fine for the connection on the inside that is not exposed to water. I routed the cable in such a way that it would not get damaged when snapping the door sills back into place.

24) Reinstall the lower cover on the B-Pillar. This is fairly difficult and it helps to have some plastic trim removal tools and a lot of patience.

25) Reinstall the front and rear door sill trim.

26) Wait until it's dark and open the doors to admire your work!