OEM Charge Port Light Mod

Doing a write up as promised with pictures for those that may want to attempt this awesome mod. I rate difficulty as a 5 or 6/10, while the premise is simple, execution is really down to skill/experience.





Disclaimer: This information is for learning purposes only. Attempt at your own risk. Altering your vehicle and/or wiring harness may result in a voided/denied warranty.


Now that the unlikely scary stuff is over, let's begin!!

This journey all began shortly after taking delivery of the car. I've read many complaints about the charge port lighting issue and didn't think it would apply to me much as I park in a well lit garage. Well turns out I was wrong and pulling in at night, the main garage lights are not on, and makes seeing the charge port area more difficult than expected. Even my wife made a comment on it when she went to plug it in, before I ever said anything about this issue, and shes not one to make an issue of car related things. I knew at that point something absolutely had to be done. I am personally not a fan of stick on battery powered solutions (and neither is my wife), for one batteries, for two, extra steps to turn on/off, and for three, looks clunky. No offense to those that went this route as it is still a valid solution, just not my style with how to do things. Ok let's do this.


Removing the charge port door/bay:

*If there is an easier way to remove the assembly, let me know, I'd be all for it!*

Open the port door and remove the port covers completely and set them aside. You will need a thin plastic pry tool to slip between the charge ports and the soft rubber trim as pictured.




Carefully work the rubber trim away and out away from the port. The rubber is permanently attached to a plastic trim ring that snaps around the port. The plastic can be cracked so be gentle. Once you have it off the port you can pull the rubber towards you, leaving a nice gap for the next step.





Next we have to get at 3 of the 4 clips that holds the whole door assembly onto the car. The locations are marked up in the next picture and are located by 4 plastic molding spots. Do not worry about getting to #4, it's hard to reach and unnecessary to get the door assembly out.




To get at these you will need to fit your hand/fingers in between the charge port and rubber trim, and feel for the plastic clips that will easily pop with just a little pressure. I recommend going in the order as pictured above. If you have really big thick hands, you may need someone with long skinny hands to fit.





Once you've popped those 3 clips the door should be able to pull out slightly with little pressure like pictured.





Now just pull the assembly towards the rear of the car and out simultaneously (maybe give a little wiggle as well), the 4th clip should easily let go and the assembly will be free. Make sure you hold the actual door about halfway closed as the edge can make contact with the car body, don't want any scratches. Once free, move the assembly out and towards the rear of the car to clear the door hinge.

 

Now that the door assembly is free of the car, you can see the clips that hold it onto the body panel. Now unplug the 2 wiring harness plugs. One for the door latch and the other going to the status light. Now that its disconnected, close the door and set the assembly down on a soft cloth, preferably a quality microfiber to keep from scratching while working on it.




Status light and mockup:


Sourcing a new status light was a pita. This is obviously not a part that gets purchased often and will most likely be backordered. Took nearly a month to receive one (I actually had ordered 2 from different suppliers, still waiting on the 2nd one to arrive, and a 3rd order got cancelled!). If someone wants to do this mod, I'll have an extra available for sale once it arrives. This is BMW part #63217428361. Another thing to note that this is version B, vs. the version C that my 2023 came with. No discernable difference otherwise, same part number.





Played around with a few different mockup locations for the light, but there is a body frame member that limits placement inside the body cavity. Because of this, the mounting location for the existing plug has to be removed so the new light can use that space. To do this, simply slide the plug the direction of the arrow and remove the wire from the mounting tabs as well. The mounting tabs will need to be cut off. I used a oscillating multi tool with a sharp blade and was left with a perfectly flat surface.





Next, start finding placement for the new light. The general area in this location will work fine, a little wiggle room either way will be fine for clearances. I roughly scribed the general size of the cutout where I wanted it. I marked it slightly smaller than the light itself so I can fine tune the fitment later.

 

I used a 3/16" drill bit and made 4 holes inside that marking, be VERY careful to keep the holes straight in line!! There is no going back after this. If you want more room for error with your holes, use a smaller bit. Now using a small file, I filed down the remaining left over plastic and then slowly filed away material until the light fits snuggly into the opening (continually test fit until perfect). To clean up the filing burrs, use a sharp xacto knife, I also used this to slightly shape and smooth the exposed edge inside the port area, using very light pressure. Result is a smooth and flush fitment, and the light practically snaps into place. Feels good man.





Plug wiring termination:


Next is the wiring, which is relatively simple, just tedious. There is also 2 ways you can go about this, using new weatherpack terminal flat pins that will just require crimping like factory, or soldering the new light wires onto the existing pins. I chose to do the latter, because even though I do have the proper crimper, but I was out of the proper sized flat pins and did not feel like ordering and waiting at this point. If you do not have experience soldering, especially with very small gauge wire, buy the proper crimper and pins, you'll thank me later.


Start by removing the cover/mount of the connector by pressing or prying the small tab as pictured. It's a bit tight but be gentle and work it out :-D Once you have that out you will now have the male connector with the exposed pins.




To de-pin this, you will need to depress a small metal tab to release the pin, and slide it out of the body as pictured. I highly recommend doing only 1 wire (matching positions from each light) at a time as the wires are not marked differently and need to be matched accordingly. From there, depending on your method (crimp or solder), it's simply remove the matching wires, your method of splice, and re-insert pin back into body. Make sure to bend the the little locking tab back up, otherwise it will not lock-in and could back out. After your done, you should be left with 2 lights tied together into one connector. This would be a good time to plug both assembly connectors back into the car to test operation and make sure it works properly, otherwise you may have a loose termination somewhere to check.





Final assembly:


From here, all that needs to be done is to afix the new light into position as well as a new spot for the weather pack connector. For the light, I used some 80grit sand paper to lightly groove the plastic surfaces on both the light and the port assembly. It's not pretty, but plastics can be difficult to adhere to, and this is never to be seen. Use some 50/50 isopropyl alcohol to clean the surfaces of contaminates and let dry. Using a clear 5 minute epoxy, spread an even amount on both surfaces, avoiding the immediate area around the light itself to prevent any squeezing through. A toothpick works well enough. Press the light into position, add a little more epoxy to the corners just in case, and squeeze and hold in position until the epoxy sets up. You could use a clamp, but I just used my hands as the epoxy sets up within a few minutes.

 

To affix the weather pack connector, I used some 3M VHB double sided tape (automotive grade) and attached to the top of the new light so it would be in a similar position as before.





All that's left is to reinstall into the car! Plug it in, carefully guide the assembly back in the same way it came out. There is grooves in the body panel that help align it. Once the main assembly is back in position, make sure it's fully seated, there should be no movement pushing/pulling on it. Then push the rubber port trim into place if it didn't already seat itself, it pushes on easily around the port and might give you little clicks. All done!

Total cost was around $85

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks! Sorry not sorry!

 

Thanks! I get a bit obsessed when I get into a project and it becomes a bit consuming until I'm finished (wife calls me an autobot lol), so I'm taking a break on mods for now, but I do have a few ideas I'm holding close to the chest until I can flesh them out. Overall the car is just a DD right now so nothing huge, but I could see down the road after it's "retired" of doing something really crazy like a dual motor awd.

Now there's an idea!

Thank you! I tried to make it as easy as possible for everyone with mod experience or not.

 

Wow thank you guys, really blown away by the response this little mod has gotten!

My wife says I should make/sell these lol. Told her I don't think the price point that would be required would be attractive to most people for such a little mod.

 

I have finally received another status light that I had ordered ages ago and could not be cancelled. Let me know if anyone is interested in purchasing it, it would save a lot of hassle hunting one down.

$85 shipped to lower 48 US.

*Mods, if this isn't allowed please delete.